Arizona Cutting Horse Association By CHERYL LENOX

Tim Smith, member of AZCHA and President of the PCCHA at the awards banquet laughing as he is asked to ìmilk the bullî. He never accomplished the mission

The 2000 show year ended with the awards banquet held at Rustlerís Roost on February 10th. Jim Nace did a great job of getting all the prizes together and every money earner in each class received an award. During the awards presentation a rather large bull with a saddle on it arrived with two fellows who had Scott Raftery riding it and Al Dunning and Tim Smith attempting to milk it until it gave them ìthe lookî. The crowd loved it.

It was fascinating sitting at a table with Tim Smith, Al Dunning and Wes Sutton as they reminisced about the ìgood ole daysî when everyone came to Arizona to cut. They told stories of the open class having eighty entries and cutters cutting all day and all night without a break. They also talked of aged events that were just as memorable here in Arizona. Scott Raftery and the new board are working to create cutting events here in Arizona that will be just as memorable for us someday.

With an emphasis on encouraging new members to come and cut with us the $500 rider class now has a $50 entry fee. The word is obviously out that we are welcoming new cutters because there were nine entries in the class at the March show. The Pinal Feedlot is a unique place to cut. We encourage all new cutters to come join us. We will continue to have activities like the Novice Challenge and clinics for those of you new to cutting. Our association is friendly to all levels of cutters so come cut with us!

It was a little tricky getting our horses shown this winter with all the rain. Driving through two small lakes did not deter those determined to show. Lake Maricopa directly east of the cutting pens and in front of the Office has the largest green floaters in it we may ever see. Pretty soon fish will be jumping out of it! As people milled around the lake they talked of the Uthoffs going for a double header. Lee Uthoff hauled last year to win the World Championship title while Dave tended to things at home. This year Dave is doing the hauling and Lee is taking care of things at home. We are proud to have them representing Arizona is such a fine manner and wish them luck.

Plan on getting your aged event horses ready for the Bill Mowery Futurity/Derby/Classic Challenge on November 16-18.There will also be an Aged Event in February of next year. There is an Arizona owned division at these events. These promise to be some of the memorable events offered by the AZCHA in the future. Memories are special because of the people you share them with. Cutting is special because none of us can do it alone. Come join us for some of our memory making events. Happy cutting.