Hollie Kucera, 17, placed second at the National High School Rodeo Finals in the “cutting” event, in which the rider uses her horse to separate a cow from the herd. Her score was 649.5, only four points short of the top place.
Hollie, a resident of Atherton, qualified for the National Finals, held in Farmington, New Mexico, when she won the all-around competition at the California High School Rodeo Finals in Bishop, California.
Hollie qualified to compete in the Nation Finals in cutting and barrel racing, two of the sixth events in the female rodeo competition. She came in 58th for barrel racing with a time of 36.109 seconds.
This was Hollie’s second year competing in the National Finals in cutting, after she tied for 11th in 2006.
In the cutting competition, the rider uses the horse to keep a cow separated from the herd, but cannot use the reins to position the horse, relying on feet and leg cues only.
The rider is judged on a point scale, and gains points for the degree of difficulty and minimal use of the reigns, but loses points for frightening the cow herd and not emulating the direction and movement of the cow with the horse.
In barrel racing, a speed event, rider races a horse around three barrels in a cloverleaf pattern.
