For those craving more equine action after last week’s rodeo, Alex Fraser Park will host the Quesnel Cutting Horse Show this weekend (July 28-29).
Participants from all over the western provinces will make the trek to test their finest horses in the agility contest that sees riders try to separate a cow from a herd of its chums and keep it in the middle of the arena for as long as possible.
The name comes from cutting the cow from the herd, and then cutting the cow off from getting back to it.
Robin Hay, director of the Quesnel Cutting Horse Society, says the event, which started in the mid-2000s, attracts a lot of professional trainers and some really impressive horses.
They aim to have about 80 contestants take part, with one of the featured events being the four-year-old derby. This will showcase young horses in their first full year of competition.
“These will be the up-and-comers,” says Hay, “They’re the future stars of cutting.”
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Events will begin at 9 a.m. and the derby will take place around noon each day.
While contestants pay an entry fee of $290 to take part, spectators are welcome to come see all the action free of charge.
Cutting has not quite caught on in Quesnel thanks to the high prices of the horses, but Hay says he is trying to grow a local interest in the sports and mentioned a clinic on offer a month ago was really well attended.
“It’s got a lot of people talking about it,” he says, “but it’s an expensive sport like polo or hunter jumper equestrian.
“You need a pretty good horse specific to the discipline.”
The cutting event will be open to beginner classes; however, Hay says: “If you’ve got a backyard horse you can gee and haw and steer around, you can go in one of those classes and try your hand.”
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