Over the last quarter of a century, Tom Holt's velvet voice and love of people and horses have led him to become one of the most recognizable and loved announcers in the cutting horse industry. Holt will drive his RV 22,000 miles to 20-plus National Cutting Horse Association events across the country this year. It started with the Abilene Spectacular in January. He'll be home in Weatherford with Colleen, his wife of 31 years, for only 40 nights.
Holt is an ordained minister and officiates at the weddings and sometimes funerals of people in the cutting horse industry. He also is a talented singer and offers the opening prayer and sings the national anthem before the cutting shows.
Friend and cutting horse competitor Stacie McDavid describes Holt as the nucleus of cutting, a person with many layers: "A lot of people in cutting have one dimension because that's all they do all day long. Tom likes to wear a lot of different hats. He's very spiritual but not preachy. He's fair and treats everybody the same, and I really admire that about him."
Holt says that even with all the strong personalities in the cutting world, he can't think of one cutting person he doesn't like. "What we all have in common is that horse," he says. "If you see these people on the street, the first question they ask is, "How's your horse?""
Holt started learning about horses by cleaning stalls in Yuba City, Calif. His first Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association Futurity as an announcer was in 1987. The following year, he announced the Tropicana Spectacular in Las Vegas. It was there that he met Modine Smith, a knowledgeable source in the cutting horse industry. He watched his first NCHA Futurity in Fort Worth in 1988 in Smith's box seat.
Later, NCHA Director of Shows Bruce McCarty (now at the Fort Worth Stock Show) asked him to work the stall office. Eventually, Holt became McCarty's relief man at the microphone. He made many contacts in the industry. And the rest, as they say, is history.
"The first time I heard him announce, I was so impressed that I had to make my way through the crowd to tell him," says longtime friend, radio legend and cutting horse competitor Bob Kingsley. "Tom Holt was born to do what he's doing; I don't care where it is; if Tom is announcing, you feel like you're at home. When it comes to this particular sport, you have to have an empathy that's natural; you can't force it."
Holt has fun at all the shows but gets sweaty hands the last couple of days at the NCHA World Championship Futurity in Fort Worth, he says. "I don't ever want to make any mistakes and get called out."
Jimmy Bankston, friend and a director of the NCHA, says it's unlikely that Holt will make a mistake.
"Tom's ability to accurately predict what it will take to advance after just a few sets is amazing," Bankston says. "He's rarely wrong and even then by no more than half a point. You know that your name and your horses" names will be pronounced correctly . . . doesn't seem like a big deal till you go through a show with a name butcher."
In 2004, Holt attended a "Week With the Stars" camp at the Dead Horse Ranch that completely turned his life around. "[Cutting horse] trainers Bruce Morine and Bill Riddle asked me to go," he says. "I really just went to help serve in the kitchen and help with the horses and stalls, but on the first night, I knew that God wanted my heart. Since then, the good Lord has been a very big part of my life."
A few years ago, Holt made another life change. He signed up for a healthy aging program and lost 150 pounds in one year.
While Tom is on the road, Colleen keeps busy running a mare care operation. They have a son, Brian, who is in the restaurant business.
Holt says he feels blessed to have a job and a healthy life that he loves. "What makes the shows fun for me is all the good people and good horses I get to see all the time. There's just nothing like it."
