The Colonel and Justin Marcello

In the past year, the accomplishments of Justin Marcello, a high school senior from Lithia, Florida, have been numerous and impressive. His resume documents the activities of a super achiever – member of Student Government, the National Honor Society, the track team and more. He volunteers countless hours a year for the Red Cross and Interact Club. He serves at a Food Bank, mentors kids in several subjects and is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

In this past year, Justin also found time to haul his prized cutting horse, Colonel Leana, over 40,000 miles across five states to compete in 50 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) tournaments. As a result of this effort and competitive success, Justin and the 19-year-old Quarter Horse (two years older than Justin himself!) earned the NCHA Reserve World Championship in Senior Youth.

Then to top the year off, Justin was awarded the NCHA's coveted Todd Drumond Award, which recognizes one outstanding youth annually for overall scholastic and extracuricular achievement, as well as contribution to the sport of cutting. Besides Justin's impressive credits in competition, he's served on the Boards of the regional and national cutting associations for years, and is currently the Secratary/Treasurer of the NYCHA.

"I've never known a life without cutting horses," says Justin, who grew up in a cutting family on C.J. Marcello, Jr. Quarter Horse farm in Central Florida. He started showing at seven on his first horse, a 22-year-old bomb-proof gelding who took him along slowly and taught him the basics of balance and sychronicity.

When Justin was 12, his parents, C.J. and Tracy Marcelo, found Colonel Leana, an instinctive cutter, trouper and true champion. Showing no signs of slowing down, the Colonel has been Justin's main mount ever since. Justin also competes with Smart Lil Jewel and High Brow Twist.

True cutting horses possess a certain talent or sense that would be difficult to train in - it needs to be part of their psychic make-up. Tom Drummond III, one of the first presidents of the NCHA, describes it best when reminiscing about a cutter from his youth in one of the earliest issues of the Cutting Horse Chatter:*

"Nobody trained him or groomed him, nor did he ever know what the inside of a stall looked like. He was truly a natural and so particular about his ability to do it his own way, if you tried to cue or handle him too much, he'd unload you."

"He sensed his responsibility and showed it upon entering a herd by quickening his cat-like steps, just as though he were walking on eggs. Staying far enough back to counter every move an animal made, he could shuffle, weave and bob, duck, dodge, drop low with forelegs well apart, gather up and step sideways, head and turn back with the lightning quickness of a jackrabbit. If you didn't want to drag the toe of your boot when he came back through himself, you'd better raise it high and grab a piece of that elm."

This writer's first up-close experience with cutters in action was at a Florida Cutting Horse Association schooling show in Central Florida, where close to a hundred entrants competed over one Fall weekend. The comarderie among the close knit crowd of competitors and supporters made for a festive atmosphere, as dozens of horses and riders warmed up in the exercise area, loping and jogging in smooth traffic circles. In the pen, a herd of young cows shuffled in unison, milling around and snorting as they waited for the game to begin. The cutters have 2 1/2 minutes to separate, hold and release at least two cows from the herd. Starting with a baseline of 70 points, horse and rider can earn extra points for style and degree of difficulty or get points subtracted for faults like "hot quitting" or picking up the reins too soon. For a complete Spectators Guide, click here.

According to the NCHA, cutting competition is one of the fastest growing equine sports. Association membership tops 22,000 nationwide and over $39 million in prize money was earned by cutters at NCHA-sanctioned events this year. Although cutting competitions (and wagering, no doubt) have been around since there were cowboys, the NCHA wasn't formed until 1946, when a group of Texas ranchers met to standardize the formats, divisions and scoring system. Click here for an excellent history of cutting horses and competition at the NCHA website.

So, what's in store for Justin after this whirlwind year? He's been accepted at several colleges already and says he's leaning toward University of Florida, maybe Pre-med, who knows.

"I've got plenty of time to figure that out." He says he won't be showing as much next year as new priorities take over. But since he's already earned over $16,000 in prize money in the sport, it's probably a fair bet we'll see Justin and the Colonel around the circuit next year.

*Thanks to the National Cutting Horse Association's excellent website for the research for this article. The Todd Drummond quote was excerpted from The Spectator's Guide by Sally Harrison.

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