NATIONAL CUTTING Horse Association events awarded $35 million in prizes last year. Major event winners can take home as much as $200,000. (Photo courtesy of National Cutting Horse Association.)

Novices should steer clear of young horses that have just begun their cutting career. Mowery, an NCHA Hall of Fame trainer with $2.1 million in prize earnings, works with Harrah’s 2- to 6-year-olds and “campaigns” them on the competition circuit, trying to amass a substantial show record to increase their value. He advises beginning riders to start with a seasoned gelding, usually 7 years or older. “A good, trained, smart horse can be the best teacher in the world,” Mowery says. “He’s going to be a little more forgiving for the mistakes a beginning rider is going to make.”

Prices for horses vary dramatically; the best ones can command a small fortune. One NCHA Hall of Fame mare, Meradas Little Sue, which earned some $700,000 in competition, sold for a record $875,000 at auction in December 2001. Strong stallions go for $300,000 to $500,000 and more. The average sale price at the spring 2005 cutting-horse auctions was $19,500. Ironically, the most appropriate horse for a new rider, which can be had for as little as $5,000, rarely makes a good investment.

As riders progress in the ring, some of the more passionate competitors also become hooked as investors.

“If you want to get in and hold your money together, then you have to look at top bloodlines and possibly a mare that will hold her value and whose offspring will be worth some money,” Mowery says. “But if you’re looking to learn to ride, I recommend a good, solid gelding, and there’s a chance he will decrease in value a bit.” A valuable horse can actually pick up a beginner’s mistakes and eventually lose his edge.

As riders progress in the ring, some of the more passionate competitors also become hooked as investors. Real estate financier Glade Knight started with one cutting horse for his Virginia ranch. “I just did it for relaxation, to play cowboy on the weekend,” he recalls. But Knight became increasingly fascinated with the sport. With business taking him regularly to Fort Worth, Knight began attending serious cutting events, such as the NCHA Futurity competition, which takes place every December.

Eventually, Knight brought a horse trailer to the Futurity, purchased six cutters and headed back East. Soon even that was not enough, so he purchased a ranch in Weatherford and hired trainer John Mitchell to run the operation. Now they have 150 horses in their Texas breeding and showing program.

“The ranch operation is probably more a place for raising kids than anything else,” points out Knight, who loves to have his children and grandchildren join him there. He believes the environment teaches young people valuable work lessons and raises their self-esteem. “To me, you treat the horse the way you would treat people—you build confidence, you build trust,” he explains. Two of Knight’s sons who work with him in the hotel business are also active cutting competitors.