mane-event

The Mane Event III Cancelled, Mercuria Rescheduled

mane-eventCutters won’t be walking to the herd at The Mane Event III, which has been cancelled due to the high costs of cattle. • Photo by Kelsey PecsekIn late June, Rocking K Productions announced that The Mane Event III, scheduled for Aug. 16-21 at the South Point Equestrian Center in Las Vegas, had been cancelled. The official notice, posted on southpointcutting.com, cited concerns over cattle costs.

“At $100 or even $85 per head, for a weekend cutting that comes to $255 to $300 for one entry for just the cattle charge. It is difficult, at best, for an aged event, but impossible to ask you to pay that for a weekend show,” the release stated. “We left no stone unturned in trying to reach a better deal. The cattle are there, but not the price.”

The event was scheduled to include five weekend shows over six days with a total of $89,000 added. A Mercuria/National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) World Series of Cutting event was also on tap. The $50,000-added Mercuria event has been rescheduled to take place at the West Texas Futurity in Amarillo, Texas.

“Skip Jones called me and asked if it would be possible for him to get that Mercuria show,” said Chubby Turner, who heads the NCHA’s World Series committee, which met on June 24 during the NCHA Convention. “We didn’t have much time, and he puts on a great show and the cattle are no problem.”

“We looked at it as an opportunity to bring a special event to the West Texas area and the Panhandle of Texas,” said Jones, who manages the West Texas Futurity. “The Mercuria finals will be on Saturday, Aug. 20.”

Last year marked the debut of The Mane Event shows, which replaced the South Point Futurity limited-age event. The new format was well received by cutters, who supported the weekend format and the multiple opportunities to earn paychecks. Rocking K Productions is working diligently to assure the show returns in 2017.

“We are negotiating now for next year in the hopes of contracting cattle for the four cutting shows at the South Point for 2017 at a price the cutters and the cattle men can both live with,” stated the Rocking K website.