Giddy Up! PCCHA Derby Classic-Challenge Returns to Paso Robles

Last Sunday kicked off the annual Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association's (PCCHA) annual Derby Classic-Challenge at the Paso Robles Event Center.  This event has returned to Paso Robles for the fourth year in a row, bringing with it hundreds of finely trained cutting horses; their owners, trainers, and riders; as well as over $400,000 in prize money.

Like many people in this town, I am absolutely horse-crazy, so I was delighted when I found out that Paso Robles plays host to this fantastic event, and that it's entirely FREE and open to the public.  In spite of my horse-craziness, I've never actually attended a cutting horse event before, so I had to undergo a little bit of training myself.  Fortunately, there were plenty of friendly people around to explain to me the way this 30-year-old sport works (including Phil Benadum, Executive Director of the PCCHA -- check out my interview with him above!).

The object is fairly simple - a horse and rider team attempt to isolate a single cow from the herd clustered near the back of the arena, and then prevent it from returning.  What's impressive about this sport is that once the single cow has been herded out to the center of the ring, the responsibility of not letting that cow return to its comrades falls almost entirely on the horse, and its instinctive ability to anticipate where the cow is going to run.  The rider sits atop their horse, hands gripping the saddle horn (they're not allowed to guide the horse with the reins at this point), while the horse jumps, dives, and pivots on the spot, mirroring the actions of the cow; blocking its attempts to escape.

To witness animals face each other down in this manner, not to mention the immense level of trust these riders put into their horses, is truly thrilling.  This is a judged event, and each horse and rider team receives a score from a panel of five impartial judges that determines whether or not they will continue through the competition and participate in the finals held on Saturday, March 13.

Competition takes place every day this week at the Paso Robles Event Center (at the Fairgrounds) from 8AM - 5PM.  If the mere thrill of being around beautiful horses all day isn't enough to tempt you out to this event (did I mention it's free?), every day a different Paso Robles winery will be pouring their wines.  Also, at the snack bar, Bonnie's Kitchen is providing some truly delicious grub (I recommend the sweet potato fries - for $3.00, you get a generous portion cooked right there on the spot).

As for me, I'm proud to consider myself one of the PCCHA's newest converts. I'm looking forward to attending the finals on Saturday to cheer on the horses and riders with a glass of Paso Robles wine in one hand, and an order of sweet potato fries in the other.

P.S. Check out my photo gallery from the event! I'll be adding more pictures throughout the week!