Cornbread Thinks: Learning What You Don’t Know

Buttermilk and I have been going to some “weekend” shows. It has been like high school homecoming – a comfortable thing, seeing old friends and making new ones. There are two and one-half minutes in the herd, but 24 hours in a day. It is all about the two and a half, but it would be not near as much fun without all the rest – loading before daylight, watching the sun come up, Allsup’s coffee, saddling, hanging chaps, bridles and war bag on your horse. Once your feet are on show dirt, all is right with the world.

Frankly Speaking: Give Them A Break

Last month I addressed the sales model of the show/performance industry and how lowering the standard commission would help producers and encourage growth. That’s one step. But there are many more steps we need to take along the way, as we continue along a road where we are constantly sideswiped by the marketplace’s shrinking base.

Economically and demographically, we’re not where we were 10 years ago. And yet our business model is still chugging ahead as though it’s a decade back. 

Cornbread Thinks: Who Started That Horse?

We are approaching the halfway mark on this year’s National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity. If you have been here, you have seen a lot of horses work – outstanding ones, good ones and some embarrassingly bad. What everyone is looking for is the future, which is kind of why we call it the “Futurity.” Last month, I mentioned the 600 or so days a trainer has to get a horse ready for the Futurity. Not a minute is wasted or rushed. Everything is done just right, in order and in time. 

Cornbread Thinks: Taking Chances

This month, the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity starts in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one more very big deal, the pivot point of our world. It is the first time these 3-, coming 4-year-old horses have a hand dropped in real competition, in front of real judges.

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Craig’s Spin: Hauling Checklist

leftsideSimplify your pre-show preparation with a comprehensive hauling checklist.Since the Oct. 15 issue of Quarter Horse News is the Truck & Trailer edition, I thought it would be beneficial to provide you with my checklist of what I do before we leave for a horse show. This list was developed after countless times we forgot to take things to the shows or experienced hauling issues from not checking the simple things before we left. I wish I had this list when we first started going down the road, so I hope it helps you, too!

Cornbread Thinks: Judging in the Bigs

There is a manure load of money to be realized in the Bigs, events with $100,000 minimum. Prize money is actually the little money in cutting. Big money is a mare having 20 babies selling for $50,000 apiece. Or a stallion breeding a full book of mares for a couple of decades at $10,000. Each.

Somebody has to decide which pony got the job done best. All cutters are experts. We should be able to decide who was best amongst ourselves. Right? Honey Baked Hams will be franchising in the Middle East before that works.

Until then, we will stick with the five judge/monitor/video review system. The one we have been using for 25 years. It is complicated. It is expensive. It has more moving pieces than a Swiss watch. It is as fair as humans can make it, eliminating anything that could even possibly have the appearance of unfairness.

Frankly Speaking: The Time Has Come

Over the past couple of years, you’ve heard me speak about the urgent issues of building and encouraging youth horsemen, along with the problems the horse industry faces because of ever-decreasing numbers in membership. Even though these are two separate issues, they really go together as one impacts the other. I have asked you to become aware of this dual-edged dilemma because it really could be the most important factor in determining how the equine landscape looks in the future.

Cornbread Thinks: John Carter & Paint

The NCHA Summer Spectacular is now in the books and was as good as any. The 10 days of rain and coolness was a real mood fixer. But there was also heartache. John Carter passed during the show and the services were in the coliseum one evening. It brought us all together with a reminder of what a family we really are, along with many memories of good times.

Jimmy Bankston

Cornbread Thinks: Them, They and Us

Jimmy BankstonWell, Cornbread and Buttermilk went to the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Convention. The overall tone was excellent and upbeat with plenty of signs of growth. The best convention I ever attended. It was a chore, even living 10 minutes away, ’til I walked in and was at peace. Family – it’s a very good thing.  

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Learning Your Lessons

bankston jimmyIn cutting – really everywhere, but cutting is all that matters – we tend to have a higher estimation of ourselves than is correct. We think we are fine, everybody else thinks we are rough. Buy us for what we are worth, sell us for what we think we are worth, and you’d have a nice profit. This makes for a poor student. If you have to learn all your lessons the hard way, you will be bruised and battered, like a chicken fried steak.