Boyd Rice (left) and Todd Crawford

Todd Crawford competed at his first NRCA Snaffle Bit Futurity in 1989 at age 31 and was originally a reining horse rider and trainer who occasionally rode a few cow horses.
The now 52-year-old Blanchard, Okla., trainer started as a reiner and has earned more than $850,000 in that discipline, but he’s also earned more than $2 million with reined cow horses and ranks as that discipline’s all-time leading rider.

Boyd Rice, 45, Spearman, Texas, a career earner of more than $3 million as a cutter and four Fort Worth Triple Crown cutting titles, didn’t compete at the Snaffle Bit Futurity until he was 37, in fall of 2002. Five years later, he claimed the 2007 National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity Open title with Oh Cay N Short.

From 2007 through 2009, Crawford and Rice ranked as the world’s top two reined cow horse riders. Crawford’s earnings exceeded $487,000 and Rice’s exceeded $328,000 during those three years, according to NRCHA records.

Rice recently guided Billie Burke Boon to a No. 11 finish in the Open Finals at the 2010 Snaffle Bit Futurity to earn $20,125 with a performance that included an event-best 222 in herd work, the cow horse equivalent of cutting. Crawford placed No. 15 in the Open finals aboard Slide Me Please to earn $13,500 with go-round and overall performances that included some of the top reining scores.

While Crawford said he’s gradually developed into a reined cow horse competitor who occasionally competes as a reiner, Rice said, “I’ll always be a cutter.”

The pair agree that expertise in their original equine event helps them compete consistently well aboard cow horses, too.

“The last few years, the majority of my business has shifted to more cow horses than reining,” Crawford said. “I unfortunately don’t got to too many reining shows. I go to the [National Reining Horse Association] Futurity, the [NRHA] Derby and the NRBC, but that’s really about it. The guys at the top of the reining are the guys that do it all the time. I like doing it and I want to keep doing it, but I just can’t go [to as many reining events]. I have another business.”

At the same time, Crawford said occasionally testing his skills against the world’s best reining horse trainers gives him a solid edge during his reining runs at cow horse events.

“That’s one reason I want to stay involved [as a reining competitor],” Crawford said. “The better I am at the reined work, the better I can hopefully do it with my cow horses.”

Rice and Crawford have been friends several years. The cutter said the “former” reining horse trainer helped him a lot when he first decided to try riding cow horses.

“Todd Crawford has helped me as much as anybody,” Rice said. His considerable cutting experience obviously gives him an edge in the herd work part of the cow horse events. At the same time, Rice said even now, reining remains a bit challenging for him.

“The reining was real foreign to me,” Rice said. “I had no idea with it. It took me about five years to get decent at it.”

Several reining and cow horse riders have helped him and he’s returned the favor by helping them with their cutting, Rice said. “I’ve met a lot of people that I didn’t know.”

The toughest aspect of competing consistently well with both cow horses and cutters, Rice added, has been managing an extremely busy fall schedule.

“I have a lot of good help,” Rice said. “The worst part is being gone [from his North Texas training operation], but I don’t go to any small futurities, so that helps. As soon as the Snaffle Bit Futurity is over, I’m home the whole time. I’d rather take one there and take a shot at $100,000 than go to all the small [cutting] futurities, for all those expenses.”

As a young horseman, Crawford attended Findlay College in Findlay, Ohio. There, he learned mainly about reining, but also served as a cutting turnback rider for NRHA and NCHA Hall of Fame member Dale Wilkinson, one of his earliest horsemanship advisors.

“It was a good start, I guess,” Crawford said. “What’s fun about all these events is competing your best and trying to do your best.”

Asked if it seems strange to him being know more these days as a reined cow horse trainer than as a reiner, Crawford said, “I don’t care what they label me. I’m happy to be doing what I’m doing. Fifteen years ago, I was known as one of the reiners. Now, to most people, I’m a cow horse guy. Maybe 15 years from now, I’ll be a roper.”