Cutting is a competitive horse sport that requires the horse and rider team to single out a specific cow from a herd of about thirty head of cattle and keep it from the rest of the herd for two minutes.

It’s not as easy as it sounds! You need a horse that has “cow sense” to participate in this sport, since the horse does most of the work on his own and is judged by his ability to do the job without interference from the rider.

Quarter Horses, Paints, and Appaloosas are the breeds most commonly seen in cutting competitions.

This sport has its origins in ranch work where cowboys and their horses would separate a cow from the herd for branding and doctoring.

(photo By Panades - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2...

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