The sport of steer cutting has been invaded by white-collar executives looking for the kind of thrill that doesn't come from riding a golf cart, according to the Wall Street Journal. WSJ reporter Kevin Helliker recently visited Kansas City to watch rich businessmen on horseback competing with gritty cowboys to match their skills in "cutting," separating a single steer from a herd of cattle and maneuvering to keep it apart from its brethren.
Besides the seasoned, rural cutters, Helliker met "a house builder, a shopping-mall magnate, a heavy construction tycoon, several lawyers and small-business owners -- virtually all of them late-life cowboys." Most avid observers of the sport admire the newcomers' talent. But Helliker met some haters, too.
You have to imagine Curly delivering this quote:
"The average cowboy can't afford to play no more, horse prices rising soThe money's good for the winners of these Old West-style competitions, but as with other sports hijacked by the nauseatingly wealthy, it takes money to get money. The WSJ points to the example of Jon Winkelried, a former Goldman Sachs co-president who traded a $53 million salary for a cowboy hat and recently purchased a $460,000 stallion named Sho Spensive.high," says Pat Jacobs, a 73-year-old Texas rancher and legend of the
sport. "Pedigree, I wonder if it hasn't taken the cowboy almost out of
it."
