Remote location for Tony Ernst Cutting Development Clinic

By: Jody Murray - featured in the Winter 2014 Edition of the Horse Downunder Magazine

You can nearly hold a cutting event anywhere. And anywhere is where it was. A Tony Ernst Cutting Development Clinic was held at the semi remote cattle station of Uanda, 450km west of Townsville in North Queensland. Tony Ernst a cutting horse trainer and coach from Tamworth came all the way to Uanda to teach keen new and not so new to the sport cutters the basic fundamentals of cutting and herd control.

Riders came from as far away as Townsville and Charters Towers to the east and from Hughenden in the West and locally to Uanda. They varied in ability from not very confident kids to those that have spent many years following the cutting. And all came away with a greater understanding of cattle control in the cutting pen, horsemanship and new friends.

Tony Ernst has spent a lifetime working with horses from a young boy living in Cairns in Far North Queensland hooning the streets on his horse with his mates, working on stations to the west and then over in the United States where he worked for legends like Bill Freeman and rode horses like Smart Little Lena. He now enjoys teaching and developing skills in riders who are new to the sport of cutting and looking for a way into the sport and mentoring great cutters like Tony Piggot and Terry Clifford who both are now where they are because of the great belief Tony had in their abilities.

Fifteen riders in total converged in the cattle yards at the homestead of Uanda where fresh sand had been put in the cooler yard to create an awesome surface to ride horses and cut cows. The first morning started out with some basics to get everyone’s horses ready and to gauge where everyone was at. This was followed by everyone having a go on the mechanical cow to help develop stopping, drawing, tipping the nose and turning with the bag. The day was excessively hot and riders pulled up hoping that the afternoon would be cool enough to be more enjoyable for horse, rider and learning.

It was during the extended lunch break that Scott Murray the owner of Uanda asked Tony if he would like some lights over at the arena. Not sure what Scott had in mind Tony and crew headed back to start again and here was Scott and his staff standing light poles and lights with a bit of creative bush ingenuity. So training was put off till very late afternoon when it was nearly guaranteed to be cooler for everyone.

The evening session stepped up from the mechanical cow session by working a single cow. The cattle worked nice and slow and riders developed confidence in themselves and their horses and developed a better feel of what Tony was talking about earlier in the day.

Sunday morning saw everyone back over at the yards bright and early to make the most of the cool while Tony demonstrated how he uses the round pen to help him with the training of his horses so that they are more responsive when out working a cow or to help get the “fresh” of them so that their mind is more focused when it comes to training.

Every session of the clinic built on from the session before so everyone was really keen when they got to work cattle out of the herd and learnt how to make a cut and bring the beast out of the mob and practice cutting a cow and getting stops straight and parallel with the cow, drawing back, tipping the nose of the horse, asking for the turn from the horse and allowing it to move with the cow in a way that was not chasing but working together so that the horse was wanting to work the beast and the beast was wanting to play with the horse.

The last session of the day was learning about the different bits and equipment that cutters use and what there purposes are. And then a run down on some of the rules and how to read the score sheet and understand what it means so that the rider can improve their cutting skills with each competition they go to. Or if they are at a competition just as a spectator they can understand how the judge has marked and placed the competitors.

For everyone who attended the Tony Ernst Cutting Development Clinic it was a fantastic weekend as confidence and understanding grew. Those that had no cutting experience developed a feel for what was needed from a cutting horse and rider while those that had more experience in showing cutting horses were able to improve their skills and fine tune their horses even more. It was a privilege to have been able to learn so much from a great coach and teacher in Tony and be able to have the use of a lovely soft herd of cattle and learn with a wonderful group of like minded people.

Thank you to our friends at Downunder Magazine for kindly sharing this story with Horsezone - Downunder Magazine is Australia’s leading horse, cattle and country lifestyle publication - check it out for more great articles!

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