The American Performance Horseman Puts Equine Sports in Spotlight

Live music, an amped-up Dickies Arena crowd, and Bella Hadid — there ain't ever been an equine event quite like this.

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During a discussion with a fellow attendee of The American Performance Horseman at Dickies Arena, I admitted to typecasting the sports of cutting and reining — and, to my later regret, left out reined cow horse — as “rodeo events that come with a high net worth and an extended pinky.” They’re more akin to a red-carpet event than the pyrotechnics of Bulls’ Night Out, I thought.

While the fellow attendee didn’t disagree with my assessment, it wasn’t lost on me that, in the middle of my statement, the crowd’s cheers during the stellar cutting run of Austin Shepard and his horse Kittenish were so loud I had to pause before completing my thought. Yeah, Saturday night’s near-capacity crowd at Dickies was as engaged a Fort Worth audience as I have ever seen.

And, yes, you can color me surprised.

It wasn’t long ago that one would have scoffed at the idea of an equestrian event with a high-decibel crowd and Morgan Wallen blaring through the loudspeakers of a 14,000-seat arena. What happened Saturday night was a shining example of Western performance sports’ incredible surge in popularity. Even if the shedding of the sports’ “exclusive” vibe is only recent, I don’t care; The American Performance Horseman was just downright fun.

Rounding up the top eight riders from each sport’s association — National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA), National Reigning Horse Association (NRHA), and National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) — The American Performance Horseman was a proverbial who’s who of equine athletes (horse and rider included). For those who keep up with the sports, you’ll likely recognize many, if not all, of the competitors. And for those whose knowledge of Western performance sports might be, well, surface level, you’ll likely still recognize Fort Worth resident Adan Banuelos, last year’s cutting champ and boyfriend of supermodel Bella Hadid. As the pair live just outside Cowtown, Hadid was also in attendance — enthusiastically cheering on her boyfriend and his horse, Reyzin The Limit, during their third-place run.

The competition awarded $1 million in prize money, with the winner of each discipline netting $100,000. The event also included a team aspect, with one horse and rider from each discipline contributing to an overall score. The team with the most points shared an additional $100,000 prize split between them.

Winning their disciplines was James Payne riding Nice Work Babe in cutting, Casey Deary riding Down Right Amazing in reining, and Boyd Rice riding My Boots Are Royal in reined cow horse. The Purple Team, consisting of Austin Shepard in cutting, Trevor Dare in reining, and Veronica Swales in reined cow horse took home the team prize. Final results below.

It was also a night of broken records. According to Cowgirl Magazine, Down Right Amazing, an 8-year-old sorrel overo stallion, became the first reining horse to surpass $1 million in lifetime earnings.

The one-of-a-kind equine event first kicked off in 2023 when it was part of The American Western Weekend along with marquee event The American Rodeo and took place — along with all other associated events — at Globe Life Field in Arlington. The event, we should note, is the brainchild of Teton Ridge, a company that purchased The American Rodeo in 2021 and have proven to be exceptionally creative and ambitious in the world of Western entertainment.

This year marked the first time The American Performance Horseman became an entirely separate event devoted to the sports of cutting, reining, and reined cow horse. In other words, for two years, The American Performance Horseman was a popular character within The American Western Weekend but played second fiddle to The American Rodeo.

Now, like “Frasier” and “The Jefferson’s” before it, the event achieved enough popularity to earn its own spin-off.

We’re already pumped for Season 2.

Cutting

1. James Payne on Nice Work Babe (229)

2. Austin Shepard on Kittenish (227.5)

3. Adan Banuelos on Reyzin The Limit (221)

4. Michael Cooper on Bella Louella (220.5)

5. Tosten Peterson on Phil N Dangerous (219)

6. Morgan Cromer on Cool Guitar (218)

6. Kenny Platt on LBR Hangem (218)

8. Wes Galyean on Armour (200)

Reining

1. Casey Deary on Down Right Amazing (229)

2. Kaci O’Rourke on Mr Farenheit (223)

3. Trevor Dare on Varsity Blu (222)

4. Manuel Cortesi on July Joe Snap (221.5)

5. Cade McCutcheon on Finals Bound (220.5)

6. Brian Bell on Froze (215)

7. Jason Vanlandingham on Gunnabebigtime (0)

7. Andrea Fappani on Magnums Custom Dream (0)

Cow Horse

1. Boyd Rice on My Boots Are Royal (444 final score)

2. Veronica Swales on Spanish Nights (438 final score)

3. Justin Wright on Scooter Kat (437 final score)

4. Sarah Dawson on You May Be Wright (436.5 final score)

4. Matt Koch on MPH Voodoo Badger (436.5 final score)

6. Chris Dawson on Wanna Be A Pepto (432 final score)

7. Nick Dowers on Smart Shiney Playboy (408.5 final score)

8. Clayton Edsall on Bet He Sparks (408 final score)