North Ridge Ranch Cutting Program

Tracy Barton is a member of the National Cutting Horse Association’s (NCHA)Rider’s Hall of Frame and has been a professionial cutting horse trainer for over twenty-five years. He has consistenty ranked among the top cutting horses trainers and exhibitors in the United States.

Tracy’s cutting program concentrates on training and exhibiting young horses. Horses are generally started in training in December or January just as they enter their two year old year. After about twenty months of training, these horses are ready to begin exhibiting at limited age events (LAE) that are held around the country and sponsored by the National Cutting Horse Association and its Affiliates.

Horses are trained to show in Open (usually professional trainers), Non-Professional and/or Amateur divisions that are separated into classes for three year-old horses (Futurity), four year-olds (Derby) and five/six year-olds (Classic). The show season is most active from August through the end of the year and we regularly attend all major regional LAE shows in CO, IA, MN, MO, MT, NE, SD, WY and Utah as well as national shows.

Twenty-five or so horses are in training at any given time and owners usually represent from seven to ten states. North Ridge Ranch will typically own and actively exhibit five to seven show horses.

Altough Tracy does not offer training lessons on a day-to-day basis, North Ridge does host training clinics from time-to-time, often in cooperation with other professional trainers. Specialized shows such as the SDHSRA regional cuttings and Youth Scholarship shows are held at the ranch from time to time. Tracy will be glad to discuss your cutting interests and suggest an appropriate program to meet your objectives.