A brand-new year that so far looks exactly like the last one.

My new year got off to a perfect start, being just where I wanted to be, doing just what I wanted to do.

The Cutting horses are coming to town and will be having a big competition here at the fairgrounds for the next four days. For those unfamiliar with Cattle Cutting it's a competition that came straight from a Cowboys everyday job, just like breaking bucking horses, and roping cattle, being able to cut one steer or heifer out of a herd and move it to where you want it to go takes a coordination between man and horse like no other cowboy skill.

Being herd animals cattle want to stay together but sometimes the cowboy needs to pick an individual steer or heifer out of the herd and move it to a different area so instead of roping it and dragging it to where you want it to go its much quicker and easier to cut it out of the herd and make it walk to where you want it to go. Most folks may not realize it but it's a lot easier to throw a lasso over a steers head than it is to get it off again, so it's quicker to make the steer walk, And that's where a good cutting horse comes in.

The way it's supposed to work is you show your horse which steer or heifer you want to cut out of the herd and the horse will force that particular steer out of the herd and prevent it from going back again until told to stop. This requires a lot of coordination and skill between man and horse and is actually fun to watch.

It's one of the few times you will see a cowboy holding onto the saddle horn because after that horse has locked onto that one heifer the cowboy lets the reins go slack and the horse, without much input from the rider, will spin around so fast cutting that heifer off from where its not supposed to go that it can actually unseat the cowboy. This behavior has led to cutting horses being given names like Spinderella, and Spindalee.

Sounds like it's going to be a busy week because there's also a gun show here at the fairgrounds this weekend. And even though all things gun related have been deleted from my memory banks, I'll probably attend just for old times sake. There will be no pictures to prove that I was there because pictures have never been allowed at any gun show I've ever been to. But with everybody carrying a cell phone now days I'm not sure how they would keep that from happening  ..... hmmmm something to think about .

                             theboondork

Huge horse trailers have been pouring into the fairgrounds all day each one loaded with horses and their entourage of flies.

some of the Cowboys stay at the RV Park in their combination horse trailer and RV

The good news is the cutting horses are going to be doing their thing about 100 yards from where I'm boondocked. The bad news is their going to be in the covered arena which is extremely difficult to take pictures in. Some of the Dressage events were in this arena a couple weeks ago and hardly any of my pictures turned out any good. The horses were down low in the dark area of the arena, and the riders were on top of the horses in the sunlight, and that seldom works for photography.