I went with our friend Mckenzie (Dunning) Parkinson on the weekend to my first official cutting. Yes I know this is sad admission considering I have actually competed in AQHA cutting. Of course I have always loved the sport and my minor attempts at it were always entertaining to say the least. Yet my introduction to the cutting world was like being toured around by the equivalent of Drew Berrymore in the acting world. Mckenzie Dunning the daughter of the famous cutting trainer Al Dunning has grown up with the world of cutting she is, in my eyes at least, the sweetheart of the industry. Our walks through the barns were met with many hellos and goofy jokes for Mckenzies daughter Gracie. Mckenzie easily named every person that walked into the show pen and could give me a brief low down on their history, horses, etc. Now I am quite familiar with the sport so although I can sit and watch and understand the fundamentals I know there are many intricacies as in any sport that a mere spectator can’t see. The best part about cutting though is that you don’t have to know all of the intricacies for it to be fun to watch. Here are the basics for a layman’s point of view. You have 2 ½ minutes on the clock in that time you have to cut cows out of a herd and keep control of a cow while keeping it away from the herd behind you. The more fun it looks the higher you score and be sure not to quit working your cow while it's still moving or looking at you. Although that brings it down to the EXTREME basics please do not take my very brief description as an oversimplification of a very difficult sport. But this does prove my point that it is a fun spectator sport for those who do not show in it as well.
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Anyways now that I have given you the low down on my new fave spectator sport I did have another motive for heading to the cutting. I wanted to see what was trending in this world for jeans. As in every segment of the horse world you will find variations on trends. Growing up showing all-round in AQHA and spending the last 10 years showing reining and cowhorse I am quite familiar with what’s going on in those niches. By going to the Cutting I wanted to broaden my horizons to ensure our brand is effectively providing for our customers.
While I was there I observed a number of things. There were a few handsome men found wearing the Watson. Its stand out dark denim looks crisp and classic in the show pen and it was nice to see our horns make an appearance. Other fan favorites for men were as expected, Cinch and Wrangler. For the women I saw a lot more dark washed jeans than I thought I would which was a great surprise. The Betty’s dark wash would play nicely in the cutting world. I also love the old school style that traditional ranch families wear with jeans tucked into high boots. I remember loving this trend 10 years ago before the skinny jean was even prominent in the fashion world and the rest of the world decided that tucking your pants into your boots looked good. I was happy to see a few of these still in play. My favorite look is the betty tucked into high boots. ( I love this look so much that when we shot 100 way to wear your Betty I had to go back and shoot 10 more looks with jeans over boots as I hadn't included any http://www.kimesranch.com/blog-posts/betty100 ) Now you know if I take up my new fave sport I will be one of those rocking my Betty jean tucked into my tall Johnny Ringo boots.
All in all the Cutters are a classy bunch. I enjoyed seeing their unique niche style and learning what we can do to serve them better.
We all know I will be wearing to my next cutting… what about you??
Photo Credit : Charles Brooks
