A Way of Life

Competitor, trainer, breeder, judge, manager, teacher -- these are some of the roles played by various people in the world of cutting horses.

In the case of Gary and Mary Walker, all those job descriptions fit.

The Tehuacana couple have made cutting horses their world for the past 25 years. The level of their success can be measured by the trophies and medals they've won and the postings on cutting horse association Web sites of their standings. That success also can be measured by the number of people who have come to them year after year for guidance and help in getting involved in cutting horse competitions.

Operating under the name Gary Walker Cutting Horses, their business offers breeding, training, lessons and evaluations. Visitors to their operation in Tehuacana will see a sign proclaiming one of their horses, Mr. Sandman, as the 1994 World Champion. Their successes stretch back to 1989 and go forward into the current century.

In 1991 the Walkers had the reserve champion at the National Cutting Horse Association Summer Spectacular. Their son, Tennessee, rode Mr. Sandman to another world championship in 1997 as a nonprofessional rider. Tennessee also won a junior and a senior national championship aboard Mr. Sandman.

With other horses, Gary won the San Antonio Stock Show in 2000 and had the reserve champion in the Houston Fat Stock Show in 2001. Gary has been ranked in the top 10 in the world by the NCHA and American Cutting Horse Association for several years.

Gary is an accomplished cutter with arena earnings of more than $200,000. His abilities in the arena set him up to be honored in 2005 with his induction in to the American Cutting Horse Riders Hall of Fame. His earnings have helped him to qualify as a Class 3A judge in both cutting horse associations. He is working on a string of judging 50 shows in a row without having a protest filed on him. Once he completes that, he will move up a notch and become a 4A judge. Last year, he was a judge at the prestigious Western Futurity.

Going to the Futurity is typical of a travel schedule which puts the Walkers on the road up to 35 weekends a year.

When Tennessee was at home, the three were often on the road attending shows. Now, he is 25 and working for the law firm Harris, Finley and Bogle in Fort Worth. So, in a way, the Walkers feel like they have pulled back on their travel schedule from those days. Their first show this year is March 27 at Alvarado. They will do the Oil Belt tour and the Futurity again. In September they plan on spending seven days in Belton at the American Championships Show. It's still a lot of travel, but it's in their blood.

Watching Gary and Mary work in the arena is to see true artists at work. As they practice to go on the road, Mary fills in as the turn-back manager, forcing a cow Gary is keeping cut from the herd back to the center of the arena where Gary and his horse can do their magic.

Gary knows a lot of the tricks of the trade such as keeping up with which cows out of a small herd of 50 to 60 head have already been cut by competitors before him. That allows him to have a fresh cow to work with that will respect his horse and not try to run over it out of frustration.

As he put it, "Cows can be real stupid when they want."

When they are at competitions, Gary has four helpers who make it easier for him to do his best cutting. They are two herd holders and two turnback managers. What depicts the brotherhood of the cutting horse world is the fact that the foursome are competitors who want to beat him when it's their turn, but they help him to do his best during his turn.

It's that spirit of helpfulness which characterizes a lot about people in the cutting horse business, especially the Walkers. While they are in the business to make money, they offer so much of themselves to help people become more effective in dealing with horses or to prosper in the breeding and investment side of the cutting horse business. Mary gives novice riders lessons in the basics of riding. Gary is enough of a horse trader and knows what works in the business that he can help an absentee owner of a fine cutting horse get the best returns possible on his animal.

Their stud service at a $1.000 a pop could help a purchaser some day end up with a horse as high a quality as Mr. Sandman or their current choice, Flips Wilson, a 1997 double registered sorrel stallion out of Doc Wilson and Patty Congers Flip, a sire and a dam with a history of good earnings on both sides.

There's an old saying in the meat packing business that you try to use everything including the squeal as you process a pig. In their own way, the Walkers, who cover every conceivable aspect of the cutting horse business in their operation have captured the squeal.