Time and time again, I have left the herd feeling all the way from terrific, to close to suicide watch.

We’ve all felt the pain after a poor run.

One time during a clinic, a woman said to me, “I bet you’ve never cried like this.” I said, “Are you kidding? I have the corner on that market. You are an amateur crier.”

It’s easy to lump the whole run together as really good, or really awful, and not think another thing about it. (Well, maybe you ponder it a bit longer if you experience the low end of the totem pole.)

I once had a friend suggest that I should make a decision about how long I was going to feel badly about something based on how truly wretched or slightly off my error really was. She was not speaking about cutting. Her advice applied to any poor performance or social faux pas. Hiccupping in church might be a one minute embarrassment, while crunching your car in a parking lot might be three or four hours. Set a timer. When the time you set is over, let it go. It’s great advice.

I have always known that I am not particularly talented on a horse. Now my sister Nicki, who never really pursued riding, is a natural beauty on a horse …. seat, hands, the whole thing. However, I have used my apparent weaknesses to my advantage. I have worked to figure out (and still do) all the bits and pieces every step of the way. I know that way of thinking helps me continue to learn. It can benefit you enormously, too.

What really matters over the long haul, to take your cutting to a world-class level, is your ability to see your experience in very distinct segments. This includes everything from how mentally focused you were, to how well prepared your horse was, to your ritual before you went in, to watching (or not) cattle, etc., etc. You get the idea. I have only just started my list. Any ONE of those I have already listed could be out-of-whack and you would be riding below your potential. Ignore this fact and your progress will crawl at a snail’s pace.

And just as importantly, if you don’t acknowledge what you did well, you will take the looooooong road to getting confident. So few people say to me first thing after their run, “Boy, my herd-work was so good! Did you see that second cut? And also, I FINALLY sat still through the turn.” Most people shake their head and lament everything that went wrong. It’s easy to wallow around in beating yourself up. Some are so stuck on their mistakes they refuse to even see one good aspect of their run.

You might say, “Well, Barb, if I don’t mention those negative things, my trainer sure will.” Here’s a revelation. Obviously you have no control over your trainer or anyone else. But you can still mentally or verbally acknowledge all your good stuff. You are in charge of your own confidence building.

I see learning to ride and show a cutting horse as consisting of seven large skill sets. Each one of these has many, many sub-skills. I don’t say this for you to feel like, “Geeeez, I’ll never get all that.” Instead I am breaking it down so you can figure out where you are within each one and then take the next step from there.

All of us (I don’t care if you are a multiple world champion) have a spot somewhere along the continuum from 0 (I don’t know anything about this) to 10 (I have nothing more to learn). Every one started at 0 and no one ever gets to 10. Since you are never going to be finished learning, a HUGE secret is to enjoy where you are as you enthusiastically look forward to learning the next step.

So here are my seven categories. It’s not that I feel these have to be everyone’s absolute seven. They have just worked for me in my own learning and in my teaching:

1. Mental and emotional skills to perform at your peak under pressure as well as make the best out of difficult times.

2. Horsemanship knowledge and skills to be able to effectively communicate with your horse in and out of the herd.

3. Herd-work skills to maneuver well in a herd, choose the best cow in a particular situation, and earn credit for your score.

4. Ability to be accurate and in the correct position as you work the cow; anticipate and counter a cow’s moves with grace and speed.

5. Ability to school your horse so you can maintain his correctness and become pro-active instead of a vulnerable passenger.

6. Showmanship skills to escalate your competitive advantage and be consistently successful in competition.

7. Ability to design your own program and your horse’s program according to what you enjoy and stay compatible with your personal standards.

In the future I will often refer to these categories. I will break the skills down within each section.

Sometimes as you master one seemingly small element, many other things will fall into place.

It doesn’t matter so much about your God-given talent. What does matter is your willingness to build your confidence by improving your technical abilities within the skill sets, giving yourself credit for what you have learned (and can do with relative ease), and then taking the next step to improve.

Recently someone asked if I would write or record a Bobby Knight kind of pep talk so they could play it to themselves before their run.

I’ve been thinking about that suggestion a lot!

My personality is certainly different than Bobby Knight’s personality. However, the concept of having key ideas to say to yourself before your run is a great one. It is critical to your success.

Interestingly, you ARE saying things to yourself before your run. It’s so much more effective to plan them so you are focused and ready to go when your name is called … instead of feeling anxious and distracted.

When you practice good mental preparation, after a while, these ideas become embedded into your subconscious so they will … in time … guide you automatically to good decision making in the herd and while working a cow. Awesome!!!

Talking to yourself to set up a good run might go something like the following.

(Please feel free to edit and revise the following in whatever way empowers YOU. These ideas are just a starting point.)

“Today I’m going to show.

I am ready. My horse is ready.

Each of us is wherever we are at this moment in time. Perfection is not our goal.

My desire is to exhibit our very best for two-and-a-half-minutes.

I never focus on results directly. When I do my job well … results take care of themselves.

I am here to do everything under my control at the highest level of my ability.

This includes warming-up my horse and getting myself into a calm and focused mindset before I show.

I will develop and utilize a herd work plan. I will review it before my run so I feel comfortable in the herd.

I am cool … yet aggressive. I drive way out on my cuts.

If things don’t go as planned in the herd, no problem. Due to the nature of cattle … and their movements … an on-the-spot change in plan is often part of my herd work. No problem. I love being flexible and smart in the herd.

I’m good at making great decisions on the spot. I stay cool. No matter what happens, I can handle it. I tell myself, to stay cool.

Once my cow is cut, I ride my horse well.

I am with my horse moment-by-moment. I find great rhythm working the cow … sitting deeply and softly when I need to and using my feet patiently, yet proactively when I need to do so.

I’m all about rhythm and flow.

When possible, we stop the cow. When not possible, we stay even and accurate.

I am a great showman because I build my run.

I am cool … yet very aggressive.

After I quit each cow I review exactly what I have accomplished and what I need to do to build my run and finish strong.

When I go back into the herd between cattle, I know what I need to do to build my run.

Above all, I am here to be the best I can be … and have a great time … and help my horse be the best he can be.

If I make errors, no problem. It is all part of the game of improving. No one escapes this.

I am going to do the things that are under my control … extraordinarily well.

When I do that, I celebrate success because I have done all I can do. I let go of all that is not under my control.

Right now, I am going to stay cool, have fun and build a good run.

Woohoo!”

It’s easy to get so wrapped up in all the technical things we need to do moment by moment that we lose a strong connection to the cow.

Maybe you’ve found yourself working the cow in the vicinity of the cow, but not really feeling strongly ON the cow.

Perhaps when things get going fast that invisible bond between you, your horse and the cow gets even blurrier.

We trainers have all different ways of talking about relating to a cow.

While they are all valuable (position, “stop the cow,” “rhythm working the cow,” etc.) a way to think about working a cow that gives the process more focus and energy is to “keep pressure on the cow”.

By pressure, I’m talking about the following range of “feel” with a cow.

The least pressure is staying intensely focused when a cow is not interacting in any way with you and your horse.

This could be walking, trotting or loping to a fence or towards the turnback people.

In this instance, you can’t do anything directly to affect the behavior of the cow, except not weaken in your mental focus on the cow and correct physical position in the arena relative to the cow.

In this situation, no matter what the cow is doing, you are focused on it.

The most pressure is intensely controlling a cow you are working that is under the influence of the moves of your horse.

This is typically achieved by striving to stop a cow whenever possible.

Adding the word “pressure” to your thoughts about stopping a cow, makes stopping the cow, staying on the line, keeping the rhythm, etc., come to life!

For example, it will help you stay more on that technical “line” we trainers speak of because you have the purpose of maintaining pressure on the cow.

One word of caution … use the word “pressure” to ramp up your feeling for the cow … but not your anxiety.

High energy and calmness can coexist.

When they do, you have the highest potential to be passionately in the game, yet perfectly synchronized with the technical aspects of all you are doing.

“What advice can you give a new cutter that becomes very anxious and out of control when the cow takes off running when practicing in a large round pen … and your biggest fear is the unexpected STOP. Any advice or practice tips you can share to help get control of this?” ~ KGD

This can be a really scary situation … not to mention sometimes a little dangerous.

My first thought is a rather obvious one, but I have to mention it.

Stay safe. I don’t really know how this horse stops when he goes fast. If he stops on his front end every time … that is difficult for anyone to ride.

For the clarity of this article, let’s assume that if this rider does the “right” stuff, her horse will stop correctly.

There are three things that must be in alignment for stops to be comfortable at high speeds:

1. Both the horse and the rider must rate the cow.

By this I mean that if as a rider you are dreading the stop and you’re not focused on reading the cow, there is no doubt you will most likely keep your feet in your horse and cause him to stop on his front end.

Riding cutting horses has a tremendous amount to do with reading a cow … slow or fast.

It takes time to trust your horse and yourself as you read faster cattle. However, that being said, you can talk to yourself constantly while working a cow and tell yourself, “Read the cow. Read the cow. Read the cow.” This mantra helps you focus your eyes and mind on the cow instead of thinking about the fear of the speed … and over time you WILL learn to read a cow if you focus on it.

As you learn to read a cow better, you will let begin to sit before the cow stops, which allows your horse to stop on his hindquarters.

2. A horse must be collected and have some propulsion to stop well.

The rider aids collection and propulsion (or hinders it) with what he or she does with their feet while traveling with a cow.

Regarding the stops, make sure your seat is down and stays down as your horse stops AND turns.

Your feet need to be OUT OF HIM during the entire sequence of stopping and turning.

Only when you are traveling with a cow do your feet re-enter the scene to guide or propel a horse.

My suggestion is to really understand (with the help of a trainer or mentor) this entire sequence and practice it on the flag as well as on cattle.

It does take practice and must be built at slow speeds before it can be done well at fast speeds. A flag helps a lot here.

3. Your upper body must stay soft and pliable, especially your hips and your lower back.

Your center of balance is in your lower abdomen. Your hips should feel soft and heavy and your back rounded for stops.

I agree with the concept of “push on the horn” if you are just beginning to cut.

Beyond that time, I believe it is better to tell yourself to “Get heavy and soft in your hips,” as you stop. I prefer this to “push on the horn” which makes your arm stiff which takes your balance out of your core and actually stiffens your entire upper body.

I do think it’s a good idea to gently use the horn as a balancing lever by pressing against it if necessary from time to time, but not as an end in itself.

When someone tells you to push on the horn, press gently and then get heavy in the saddle … consciously tune into softening your hips and lower back.

While these suggestions are not all inclusive, they are the three main ideas that come to mind to help you develop ease with speed.

In time you will come to love feeling the rhythm in controlling a fast cow. In the meantime, practice the above, and be patient with your learning curve.

This month, I thought it would be fun for you to help me respond to the following note I received:

“Hi, Mrs. Schulte! I have just now started to ride cutting horses ……. I was wondering if you had any tips for someone like myself who is just now starting to cut. Thanks!” ~ Liz C

This note gave me pause to reflect on one of my biggest beliefs.

No matter if you are just starting out, or if you have been cutting for a long time … it’s always about the basics.

I thought a list of basics could serve Liz well, AND be a source of reminders to all of us about making sure OUR OWN fundamentals stay sound.

I think it would be beneficial to Liz, and to all all of us, for you to comment at the bottom of this article with any advice you have for Liz starting out. Please feel free to comment on my suggestions as well. Your comments will be posted under this article on our website.

Here are my Top Ten Tips for freshman cutters:

1. Find a horse that suits your needs.

2. Find a trainer/mentor you can trust and who can teach you well. Never underestimate the importance of being a good match with that person personality wise. Just because a trainer is supposed to be “the one” per another person’s opinion, you have to feel comfortable in the relationship.

3. Learn the rules via the NCHA Judges’ Rules and Guidelines.

4. Learn to be very proficient at cutting for shape. You will use this fundamental skill for the rest of your cutting life no matter how skilled you become at cutting specific cattle.

5. Seek to become a better horseman or woman. Keep learning basic horsemanship skills. Become a student of the horse and cutting through any and every educational resource you can lay your hands on … free, borrowed and purchased. Take what works. Leave the rest.

6. Understand where you are supposed to be on a cow. You can’t get there if you don’t know where you are going. Then learn how to get there.

7. Understand and then seek the rhythm of the stop, draw, “drag” through the turn, acceleration to stop the cow sequence.

8. Cultivate mental and emotional skills as diligently as you cultivate technical cutting skills.

9. HAVE FUN. It’s a challenging sport no matter if you are just starting out of if you have been cutting for a long time. Never lose sight of the fact it is just a sport and you are in it to have fun.

10. As long as you love it, NEVER GIVE UP. Blue skies are just around the corner.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Go ahead and agree or disagree with what I just said.

What are your greatest pearls of wisdom?

Your advice could really click for someone just starting out. It could help them avoid some of the pitfalls you endured along your way

Each month I typically write a cutting article that shares specific cutting tips.

However, during this past Futurity in Fort Worth, I attended the best cutting event of my lifetime.

The NCHA celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Futurity by inviting all living Open Champions to compete in a cutting in Will Rogers Coliseum.

The draw began with the 2010 champion rider, Lloyd Cox and ended with the first Futurity Champion rider, Buster Welch.

Buster Welch, 83, who won the Futurity five times, scored 221 points, as the last rider of the cutting on Bet Hesa Cat, the 2011 Mercuria Open Champion horse.

History unfolded in front of my eyes. It was a chronological visual of how our sport has evolved over the years.

Every competitor exhibited true determination to show their champion ways.

Jody Galyean and Austin Shepard tied to win the cutting, each with a score of 230.

The entire audience, including me, was inspired, moved, proud, on our feet, and in awe of these champions.

I felt lucky to ride cutting horses and be among these heroes.

I cherished the comradry of an audience who all felt the same and same and shared a rare moment in time.

The proceeds of this cutting’s DVD benefit the NCHA Foundation and may be purchased through the NCHA. Here’s the link so you too may share the memories.

Herd holders are talking. Cattle are changing positions. Your horse needs to stay with you as you both moving fluidly through the herd.

Then, there are all kinds of the things going through your mind about what to do … what not to do … which cow?

It’s easy to become so involved in the moment that you lose connection with your horse. Suddenly you need to make a fast move with a cow and your horse might not respond immediately … and then, it can be too late to get where you need to go.

Here are a few exercises you can practice to stay connected with your horse in the herd.

1. During your warmup, play with guiding your horse primarily with your feet.

Walk in small circles with your hand down.

Think about where you want to go. Look ahead from where you are to where you want to go. Subtly point your hand in that direction low on your horse’s neck.

Then use your feet to shape your horse’s body to point him in the direction of where you want to go.

Don’t forget to keep you eyes glued on where you want to go … not on your horse’s neck.

Be patient. Help your horse with your reins if you need to do so, but primarily ride with your feet.

2. During your dry work, practice how you would move your horse during a cut.

Stop. Rock your horse back and pivot one way.

Then, move some distance on a line, and then repeat the stop, draw and pivot motion on the other side.

Consciously think of your cuts as occurring in a wedge similar to a fuel gauge on the dashboard of your car.

This practice will help you use your hands and feet to move your horse in a smooth, predictable, and effective sequence during a cut.

3. When you ride at home, practice seeing the cattle, feeling your horse, and THEN making a move with a cow.

Instead of going in and cutting a cow without much thought, observe where the different cattle are located that you will cut before you enter the herd. There might be, for example, a yellow baldy to your right, a black mott to the left, etc., etc.

Pause. Slow down.

Consciously feel your horse as you move in a targeted direction in the herd.

If your horse bends his body the wrong way, make a correction by pressing the opposite calf of your leg into your horse’s side. This signal will usually cause his body to become aligned again.

If your horse’s head is pointed the wrong way, slow down. Use your opposite calf at the same time you point your reins in the direction you want to go.

Stay cool. Stay conscious of where your horse is underneath you. Make mini-corrections moment-to-moment.

Move slowly and strategically, all the while feeling your horse as you move through the cattle or into the cow you want to cut.

These actions will keep you connected with your horse as well as with the situation at hand.

It IS important for a number of reasons.

The cow is what’s happening at any given moment in cutting. It’s like the tennis ball in tennis.

There is one big difference between the cow and a tennis ball.

In tennis, if you take your eye off the ball, you won’t even be in the game! In cutting, if you take your eye off the cow, your horse might cover for you.

With that being said however, your constant focus on the cow determines how you ride your horse so you can be in control of and in rhythm with the cow.

If you look down at your horse, you can’t be accurate and rhythmic.

In the world of sports science, looking anywhere but exactly where you need to focus reflects doubt, distraction or negative emotions on the inside.

Here are some tips to keep your eyeballs watching the cow:

1. Script your thoughts as you work the cow. Tell yourself to “Watch the cow. Watch the cow!” no matter what is going on. Scripting is one of the most powerful mental tools at your disposal. It is completely up to you to do it. Most importantly, it works!

2. Pick a place on the cow to watch.

	Some trainers say the neck.
	Others recommend the eyes.
	Paul Hansma said he watches the entire cow’s body when interviewed during an "Insights" Webinar).
	Dan Hansen said he likes to watch the cow’s legs to be able to read the cow, (again during an "Insights" interview).

3. Put some energy into watching the cow.

You can kind of … or sort of look at the cow … or you can stare that sucker down!

Staring a hole in the cow has much more umph to it than just looking in the direction of, or over the top of the cow.

4. Video yourself. Make one of your disciplines to count how many times you took your eyes off the cow in a run.

Then, when you practice again, use the above suggestions to watch the cow.

When you show the next time, watch your video and compare the number of times you glanced downward to the first time you videoed.

I’m sure you’ve noticed how uncomfortable it can seem when you move out of the middle third of the arena and travel across the pen toward the outer thirds of the arena.

It’s incredible that within the space of five to ten feet, you feel like you go from a sense of having it all “handled” (in the middle of the pen) to being in the North 40 pasture on the ends.

Trying to work the cow and keep it all together with yourself and your horse can be a little tricky on the ends!

The fact is, in most situations, the faster the cow and the longer the distance travelled, the less controlled it can feel.

When you arrive at the wall, there could be even a couple additional aspects that can magnify this situation even more:

• YOU want to get the heck out of Dodge and get back to the middle of the arena where you feel safer, so you may not stay as patient and in time with the cow on the ends. This can translate to fidgeting in the saddle, kicking too soon, and feeling rushed.
• YOUR HORSE might not want to travel all the way to the ends and wait if you are not comfortable, or if you don’t ask him to do so.
• Over time some horses can “get smart” and try to stop short of the wall. This usually translates into turning way too quickly when the cow moves. That usually means you end up coming off the wall way ahead of the cow. 

So in the spirit of overcoming the above challenges, when the cow travels all the way to the wall and then comes back off of the wall, it is good to keep these things in mind: 

1. Be clear about what affect you want to have on the cow when it leaves the wall.

• You want to ALLOW the cow to travel to the middle of the arena. If you get ahead of the cow enough to cause the cow to stop and or turn before it approaches the middle of the arena, you cannot regain control the cow in the credit earning center third of the arena.
• When you are aware that your goal is to allow the cow to approach mid-arena, then you feel much more aware and purposeful in how you use your feet and seat to slow down or speed up to achieve this. You do not want to get ahead of the cow coming out of an outer third of the arena.

2. With a new clarity of purpose about how you DO want to influence the cow, you can now obtain that special rhythm needed to flow off the wall smoothly.

• Make sure you stay at least even or slightly ahead of the cow as you travel to the wall.
• Arrive at the wall at a right angle to the wall and even with the cow.
• Allow the cow to “drag” your horse off the wall, which means you stay low and patient as the cow departs first. This is similar to any time you work a cow, but that sense of waiting is even more dramatic on the wall, and absolutely necessary.
• Become increasingly aware of allowing the cow to travel to the middle of the arena. Then get in a position to stop the cow.
• With a new sense of a target for the cow, mid-arena, you will be more likely to ride to help your horse rate the cow appropriately.

We have a natural tendency to want to go with the cow immediately and move our bodies in different gyrations!

At the very time when we need to be the most quiet, intuitively we want to DO SOMETHING to contribute to the action.

But of course, what we need to do is exactly the opposite.

It’s at the precise moment of the turn that we need to allow a horse to turn on his own.

We can collapse deeper. We can keep our eyes on the cow. We can position our feet just right.

But, ultimately our job is to allow our horse to do his job and turn on his own without our interference.

There is an exercise to help you learn how to let your horse do the work in the turn. This exercise is actually done without working a cow.

It’s about learning how to turn your horse around smoothly and easily.

I’m not talking about incessantly turning your horse around and around in the back of the arena.

I’m talking about learning how to do a slow pretty turn as a practice for riding your horse on a cow.

The key word here is “slow”.

When you have form, rhythm and consistency outside of the herd, you will have the same when you work a cow.

When you learn to turn your horse around slowly and consistently, and you follow the same steps each time, both you and your horse will feel more confident.

I’m not promoting an exact form of turnaround here. But you do need to have certain steps that you do each time.

Here are my suggestions.

First, is … slow it down. From there you can build speed later if that’s important to you.

Next, before you even make a move, see in your mind what you are going to do. This takes only a moment to do.

You might think something like, “Okay, I’m going to walk … then stop … then draw back … set up the turn … be smooth … then turn.”

Now, walk or trot … then stop your horse, and draw him back so he has his weight mostly on his hindquarters. This might require just lifting the reins, or backing up several steps.

The next step is the one that often gets neglected.

Pause and prepare your horse to turn.

I often see this sequence instead … during the walk-stop-draw phase, before there’s been a step back, and a pause. … the horse is already being swirled around.

Sometimes the horse’s nose is to the outside. The shoulder is sticking out on the inside, and the rear end is not anchored. It’s flipping around in a very unattractive manner.

So instead, get slow and methodical.

Do the mechanics in your mind. Add the feel of the flow and the smoothness before you do the exercise.

As you do the steps, make sure each segment is complete before you move on to the next one.

Stop. Load your horse’s rear. Tip the nose in the direction you want to go.

Be patient. Set your horse up to turn. Allow the turn.

You want all to feel smooth and grounded.

You want your horse to feel that way too.

Slowing down and being smooth outside of the herd will help your turns as you work a cow.

Remember to stay slow.