Mallory Carter, 17-year old of Lake View, S.C., and Matthew placed fifth in the National High School Championship Rodeo held in Gillette, Wyoming July 16-22 in the “cutting cattle” event. There were over 300 who participated in the event. Those participating were from the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries.
Miss Carter is the daughter of Keith and Becky Carter and resides on Hwy. 41 in Lake View.
Mallory will be a senior at Pee Dee Academy when school starts again.
Miss Carter has been learning “cutting cattle” for he past five years. However, this is the first time she has participated in the national championship.
Cutting is a western-style equestrian competition in which a horse and rider work as a team before a judge or panel of judges to demonstrate the horse’s athleticism and ability to handle cattle during a 2 1/2 minute performance, called a “run.” Each contestant is assisted by four helpers: two are designated as turn-back help to keep cattle from running off to the back of the arena, and the other two are designated as herd holders to keep the cattle bunched together and prevent potential strays from escaping into the work area.
Cutting cattle are typically young steers and heifers that customarily range in size from 400 to 650 lb (180 to 290 kg). They are of Angus or Hereford lineage or possibly a mix of crossbred beef cattle with Charolais or Brahman lineage.
A contestant is required to make at least two cuts from the herd, one of which must be a cut from deep inside the herd while the other(s) can be peeled from the edges. Once the selected cow has been driven clear of the herd, the contestant commits the horse by dropping the rein hand to feed slack and give the horse its head.
At that point, it is almost entirely up to the horse except for allowable leg cues from the rider to prevent the cow from returning to the herd; a job the best horses do with relish, savvy, and style.
Judges score a run on a scale from 60 to 80, with 70 being an average score
Mallory expressed her appreciation to the Johnsons and her Family for the wonderful support in this endeavor, and thanked Curt Causey for giving her the opportunity to ride a horse like Matthew.