The National Cutting Horse Association Circuit Finals kick-off will be held Sept. 24-26 at the Goshen County Rendezvous Center in Torrington, Wyo.
The event is the first of 12 District Circuit Finals, which includes the United States and Canada. Wyoming is in the 3rd District entitled Big Sky, including Montana, North and South Dakota, and Minnesota.
“This year, the National Cutting Horse Association decided to put on circuit finals, along the same lines as the rodeo people do, and to divide up the country to circuits,” said Jack Enright, president of the Wyoming Cutting Horse Assoc. and director with the NCHA.
The Big Sky event will have cutters coming from within the District as well as Colorado.
All eyes will be on Torrington since it is the inaugural event opener. In addition, the event will welcome NCHA members from Texas. Enright said they have been working on getting everything right with a lot of help.
“We’ve been very lucky here in Torrington, we have had Lex Madden from Madden Brothers really help us out supplying cattle, and also the fair people (Rendezvous Center) have been really good to work with, so we’re looking forward to a big show,” he said.
The cutters and their horses will sort a cow from a herd of three in two and a half minutes with their well-trained horses. The sort is judged on accuracy and control with the goal of being correct and under time to gain points, with the highest score taking home money and prizes.
The classes are based on either the horse’s lifetime earnings or the riders, so people and horses with similar experiences can compete against one another. Cutters have accumulated points based on their placings at previous shows, and the top 30 in each class will now be competing in Torrington for the final placings.
Nebraska is also in the circuit lineup as District 7, the Heartland District, scheduled for Oct. 28-31 in Lincoln.
In Torrington, the sorting events will be held Sept. 24-26 at 8 a.m. daily. The public is invited, and admission is free.
The show will be streamed live via Facebook at www.facebook.com/emarieequine
