06/21/2025
I found this, this morning and couldn't have said it better myself. I have this with not cutters but reining horses. There is something said for raising babies in fields in a herd and with creek crossings and hills sides. Might they get bumps and scraps but they are amazing horses for everything from arena work to the outside work and trail rides. Let them be horses!
Many years ago we had some folks with some high dollar cutting horses join us rounding up cattle, promising to show us "how to round up cows..." They were done by 10:00, bloody and banged up, horses done, lathered, stove up and limping. And uh, no cows..... It wasn't the horses fault. They were probably good at what they were bred to do and used to doing which was moving around an arena cutting cows... One of the things I've seen over the years is you can't bring arena, or flatlander horses to rough country and expect good things to happen. Again, not the horses fault. I don't think most people really get that handling rough country is something that takes a lot of skill and hard learned lessons. Horses aren't born knowing it, how to lean into a hard pull, sitting down on a steep descent, shifting weight and momentum, where to place their feet, and it gets even more challenging with the weight of a rider on their back. It's just not a fair thing to ask of a flat lander horse, and it's likely to get both horse and rider in a bad spot.
Thinking back, those cutting horses might have made decent mountain rides with a lot of experience, they had the try, but they still lack the heavy bone and hoof needed to hold up in those conditions. Just two very different types of horse.
So, my advice to those who want to ride rough country, consider getting one that grew up like this from day one.....
