The Energy City Cutting Horse Show and Limited Age Event attracted some of the best riders from Western Canada to the Estevan Exhibition Grounds from Aug. 20 to 21.
Rob Thiessen, Canadian Cutting Horse Association representative, said there were over 70 cuts per day with beginner riders showing one horse in non-professional classes to trainers showing five horses in the trainer classes. He said each of the classes was set up to accommodate the level of its participants keeping each of the events competitive.
The Cutting Horse Show featured a variety of Canadian Cutting Horse Association (CCHA), Saskatchewan Cutting Horse Association (SCHA) and National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) classes with the chance of winning purse money and year-end points for the Canadian championships available to the participating riders.
“You can compete all across the country if you want and there are year-end awards for each class, so people are travelling all over competing for who is best in Canada,” said Thiessen, noting cutting has a rider separate a cow from its herd with the horse keeping the animal separate on its own. “Being that there is some pretty tight races this year a group of those people from all over came and competed here to try and win the year-end, so we had some really good horses.”
Thiessen won the open futurity riding Chex Lil Mite, which is owned by Frehlick Quarter Horses, at the competition. Of the 11 local riders at the event, competitors Candice Asplind, riding her horse Mias Miss Boon, won the $1,000 Novice Horse Ranch aggregate, Justiss Daoust took second place in the aggregate on Rio Rey Dinero, which is owned by Sharon Carlson, in the $2,000 Limit Rider and Cassandra Eaton won the second day show in the $2,000 Limit Rider class. Westlock, Alberta's Glen Beveridge won the Open aggregate on STP Overdrive, while Don Hudson, from Spruce Grove, Alberta, won the Non-Pro on Ginas Miss Rey.
“We have probably 10-15 people involved in the cutting industry (locally) in some form or another and we like to spread our shows around the province a bit,” said Thiessen, adding the last time Estevan hosted a cutting show was 15 to 20 years ago. “I was just talking to all the people that are here that are involved and they were all excited about trying to have a show. We got good sponsorship, we have a good arena, we have good grounds to do it in and we have access to hotels and restaurants, so it's a good site to host a show.”
