LEWISBURG — In the Old West, cowboys rode their best horses to separate, or “cut,” individual cows from the herd. What was work for those cowboys is now a popular equine sport, with thousands of cutters competing for millions of dollars in prizes under the auspices of the National Cutting Horse Association.

NCHA Weekend is this Saturday and Sunday, and competitions will be staged in each of 25 regions around the world. Locally, cutting horse contests will be held at the Shawnee Farms Arena just west of town, 2 miles off U.S. 60 on Houfnagle Road.

“Cutting is a ballet between rider, horse and calf,” said Jim Johnson, owner of Shawnee Farms with his wife, Julie. “It’s a sport that every horse is doing the same thing, but some just do it better.”

Some riders do it better, too, as Johnson well knows. Both of his daughters, Rachel, a recent graduate of Clemson University, and Jennie, a vocational agriculture teacher at Greenbrier West High School, are past national champions in the sport and members of the NCHA Youth Hall of Fame.

“When we started competing over 20 years ago, there were five cutters in the state of West Virginia, and three of us lived in the same house,” Johnson laughed.

One of the other pioneers of the sport in the Mountain State was Joe Dakan, an Elkins native who served as Greenbrier County’s first extension agent during the World War II era, according to Johnson. At 88 years of age, Dakan is still active in the sport and plans to participate in this weekend’s competition at Shawnee Farms.

“He’ll be here. Trust me,” Johnson said.

His family’s involvement in the sport began “by accident,” Johnson noted. “I bought a cutting horse in Virginia from Mrs. Helen Groves, and that was the start of it.”

He now owns six cutting horses, some of which are retired, and built the arena to host regional competitions twice a year.

“We had 86 entries that first year. This year, I expect over 150 each day,” Johnson said.

Competitors will come from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio and Tennessee, as well as West Virginia.

Contests will start at 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. There is no admission charge for spectators. A local Boy Scout troop is in charge of all concessions.

“This is a big fundraiser for them,” Johnson said of the scouts. “They keep whatever they make.”

The area’s tourism-related businesses should also benefit from the estimated 250 people who will travel here for the competition. Many of the horse owners will stay at local lodging establishments and eat at local restaurants, not to mention fill their vehicles’ tanks at area service stations.

“In a way, it’s a community effort,” Johnson pointed out, mentioning in particular his “excellent crew,” which includes Dylan McCoy, Josh Haynes, John Albert and Gail White, Richard Coffman and Stephanie Bowyer.

“It wouldn’t happen without their support.”

— E-mail:

talvey@register-herald.com