2006 NYCHA Hall of Fame Inductees

Interviewed by Heather Raftery

Evan Wells, 19 Sulphur, Oklahoma Cutting 14 years

Q: How did you get into cutting?
A: I’ve been around it my whole life. My dad, Gaylon Wells, trains cutters and that’s really the only thing I’ve ever known. It’s one of those deals where it almost seems like you had to do it, but it was an enjoyment doing it.

Q: Describe your Youth experience.
A: It was amazing. It’s kind of funny to think that you spend your whole life showing and you know you’ll get to a point where you’re out of the youth and you’ll go on, but it seems like it hits all at once. Just like last night at the hall of fame deal. I kind of felt like a has-been, seeing all those people that I used to show against and now I can’t anymore. It’s a chapter of my life that’s closed, but also another one is beginning.

Q: Who is your greatest influence?
A: My dad. Up until the last couple of years, I spent every minute of my time at home with him and at the barn. He made a lot of sacrifices just to see us do well. I have an older brother and a younger brother who both showed and there’d be times we’d pull in at the show and it felt like we were going to have to show the turnback horse because that’s all we had, and right before we got ready to go he’d have something lined up for us, sometimes even sacrificing his Open horse. He always kept us on a good horse.

Q: What is your most memorable moment?
A: Winning reserve at the Eastern Nationals in the Open in 2003. There have been a lot of really good Youth moments, but just the fact of being able to show with those guys was pretty amazing. It was another one of those deals; my dad had the horse lined up and they needed somebody to show it, so I was just catch-riding for him. I was pretty tickled. But the thing I’ve always remembered as a little kid was traveling up and down the road. The Lord says there’s no guarantees for tomorrow, but in the cutting industry, you feel like if something doesn’t go right, you just say, ‘Well, we’ll get them again tomorrow,’ because there’s always a show somewhere.

Q: What does being inducted mean to you?
A: It was really a surprise to me because I didn’t figure I’d get in. My older brother got in a few years ago and right after he was inducted they really started pushing the leap points. I had done a lot of things to get my points, but I really didn’t keep track of them and I was afraid I was going to be short. I thought, ‘Well, if I get in, good, if not, oh well.’ When (NCHA Youth Coordinator) Danette (McGuire) told me, I was like, ‘Holy smokes!’ I was really excited about it. It really means a lot.

Q: What do you hope you are leaving for future generations of cutters?
A: Footsteps to follow in. I’ve always wanted to be somebody’s hero. When I was a little kid I had heroes too, and I wanted to be just like them. Maybe it’s my little brother or some little kid sitting out there last night thinking, ‘This guy’s pretty cool.’

Q: What advice would you give to current youth?
A: Don’t be scared and never look back. If you have an idea, go with it. That’s the only way you’re going to find out if it’s going to work. Go meet new people, because whether you want to spend the rest of your life training horses or whether you want to sell tires, there’s somebody here that sells tires that you’ll meet and it could be an opportunity for later. Don’t have any regrets about anything you do. That’s one of my big things. I never want to look back and say, ‘Man, I wish I would have done that.’ Just go with what you got. And don’t ever let anyone steal your pleasure, because this industry can do that a lot. You just got to keep your head up and keep rolling.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: I am going to be a sophomore at Redlands Community College in El Reno, Oklahoma, studying equine science. That’s my only interest really. I’d like to continue training horses and hopefully I’d like to get to a point where I can run some mother cows of my own one day too.

Mica Motes, 19 Weatherford, Texas Cutting all her life, showing since age 10

Q: How did you get into cutting?
A: It’s a family business. Winston (Hansma) managed CD Olena and Dual Pep for years, and now we have CD Lights. Mom (Danny Motes) ran a broodmare-care program. I grew up foaling mares. I actually showed in the Aged Events more than I did in the Youth. I’ve always had a lot of success when I was young, a lot more than what you would think, especially that first year. I think a big part of it was being a kid; I just went and showed and everybody else would be all nervous.

Q: Describe your Youth experience.
A: Just fun. You’re always there cheering for everybody and everybody is cheering for you. That’s what I miss. All the kids were there and it didn’t matter if you got run over, you would ride out and cheer for your best friend who was riding in three horses. It’s so different from the other classes and the aged events. You would never take it too seriously; there’d always be another cutting.

Q: Who is your greatest influence?
A: My parents, both for very different reasons, but they both have that work ethic and they both got where they are now by working very hard. Neither one of them had it handed to them and they both started from scratch.

Q: What is your most memorable moment?
A: When I won the 1st and 2nd go-rounds and the finals at the 2003 World show, especially because it was the first year they had the Youth and it was a big deal anyways. I rode Dually Lena. He was kind of my main squeeze for the Youth. I started showing him when I was 12 and he was pretty much the only one I ever showed in the Youth.

Q: What does being inducted mean to you?
A: It kind of sums up what I’ve always done. It means a lot that I’ve actually accomplished that much over that last few years and that it counted for something, and not only to me but to other people too. It’s really a big deal.

Q: What do you hope you are leaving for future generations of cutters?
A: I hope that we set a good example. You know, Ryan and I, we’ve done it a long time. It’s how we’ve grown up. We were both officers and directors for several years. We came up with new ideas and changed a lot of things and I know its very different now even from the first year I went into it. We kind of upped things and pushed it a little further and made it a little better. I just hope they can follow in our footsteps. Hopefully they can see all that we did and keep doing it, just keep improving.

Q: What advice would you give to current Youth?
A: Enjoy it while you can; you grow up too fast. It was always kind of like I couldn’t wait until I was older, and then this year it’s like I’m finally out of the Youth and I would give anything to be able to show in it again. Just enjoy it when you can while you can, because you’ll grow up way too quickly it will all go by way too fast.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: I’m not real sure what they are. I’ve always said I would like to take over the broodmare-care business. That’s what I’ve grown up doing and I know it like the back of my hand. I still love it, I still get excited. Every time we have a baby, I’m still anxious to go see it and thankful when everything goes correct. And it’s so fun to look down the road and be able to look back and say I remember when he was just this big; kind of what you do with a person when they’re young. I definitely will end up staying in the horse business somehow; I’m just not real sure what I’m going to do with it.

Mitch Straub, 20 Waterloo, Nebraska Cutting 12 years

Q: How did you get into cutting?
A: When my parents divorced, my mom remarried a veterinarian that was active in cutting, so we moved from the city to a farm. By the time I was 10 or 11, he had retired and pretty much just raised horses. So when I got off school or out for the summer we’d literally be on a horse for 12 hours a day.

Q: Describe your Youth experience.
A: Really fun. I had so much help, so many people wanted me to succeed and so many people cared about my successes that it made it really easy for me. When I look back at the Youth I don’t really see the awards, I mainly just see the people that were there helping me. Most of my Youth days were spent smiling.

Q: Who is your greatest influence?
A: In terms of motivation, I think it would be my two brothers, Ted and Doug. There was that brotherly rivalry and competition, but they were always very supportive of me too, so that really helped drive me and made me want to get better and better.

Q: What is your most memorable moment?
A: I just remember a lot of time in the round pen with Bill Freeman. He’d sometimes let us ride some of his aged event horses, taking the time to make sure we learned and understood what we were doing. He allowed us to be creative too. He didn’t limit us down to his particular style. I’m a lot taller than most riders so I have more of a long form. He really let me develop and use that.

Q: What does being inducted mean to you?
A: It’s a real culmination of a lot of things and an accomplishment that’s shared with so many people. But it’s really a tribute to the people that helped me and pushed me. I wasn’t a rider that had a lot of talent or a lot of great horses, but I always had good turnback help, good advice, and I was always well-prepared. This award really goes to show how great those people were.

Q: What do you hope you are leaving for future generations of cutters?
A: I just hope that they enjoy it, each and every day. I just hope that they can sit there and smile and just be grateful for the opportunity that they are given. If they can just sit there and appreciate that, that’s what I would like to leave.

Q: What advice would you give current Youth?
A: Take the time to thank your help and your parents, and if you have trainers or a support group, let them know that they are really appreciated because there is no way that a Youth rider can excel without them. Let them know that you care and are appreciative of the sacrifices they’ve made.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: I’m a junior at Kansas State University, studying marketing and broadcasting. Right now I’m concentrating on the short-term; getting those diplomas and seeing where football takes me. I’m also involved in a student-athlete advisory committee and one of my great focuses right now is trying to start a mentoring program for juniorhigh and high school students of Manhattan, namely the disabled or the underprivileged. I’m president of that committee, and we just got granted a $25,000 budget by a former NFL receiver that went to K-State. I’m really excited about giving kids an opportunity to have a positive role model.

Tatum Rice
Tatum has been involved with horses for 19 years and has been cutting for 10 years. During his time in the youth, Tatum showed Jazzy Olena and Montana Musical Sox. His greatest cutting accomplishment came in 2002, when he was the Reserve Champion at the Summer Scholarship Cutting aboard Montana Musical Sox. Tatum made the finals of the Summer Scholarship Cutting four times, and was in the Junior Youth Top 10 in 1999. A resident of Burleson, Texas, Tatum has served the NYCHA as an Area Director, and was very involved in Area 11 during his youth career. He is currently working and riding horses, and plans to continue cutting.

Ryan McCarty, 20 Fredericksburg, Texas Cutting 12 years

Q: How did you get into cutting?
A: My dad, Mike McCarty, cut, so I started as soon as he would let me. It’s actually a funny story: the first time I showed, I was about 7 1/2 years old, my friend had dared me to do it and when I told my dad I was going to show and he said ‘What?!’

Q: Describe your Youth experience.
A: It was really good. Sure, there were a lot of ups and downs; of course in showing, it’s never certain. But I met a lot of people and I learned a lot about my self and about being a grown up and what it entailed. It really gave me a lot of responsibility in my adult life.

Q: Who is your greatest influence?
A: Definitely my parents. They taught me all I know and always encouraged me. No matter what was going on in my life, both inside and outside the arena, I could always come to them with it. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything without them. They are my best friends.

Q: What is your most memorable moment?
A: Probably marking my first 225 when I was about 12. It came up as a 224 with a review because there was a questionable quit and when the judges reviewed it they moved it up to a 225. It was really neat, I won a nice saddle, everybody was crying; it was great.

Q: What does being inducted mean to you?
A: It’s really a culmination of everything I worked for throughout all my time in the cutting pen and as a director and officer. Yes, my time in the Youth is over, but people recognized that I was there and that I gave my all, that I was a great influence to so many kids. I just can’t wait until I’m out of school and I can come back and do more.

Q: What do you hope you are leaving for future generations of cutters?
A: I hope that they can see that no matter what your background is, who your parents are, where you’re from, you can still do great things. Just keep a smile on your face and hold your head up high. If you have self-confidence and you believe you can do it, you can. Personally, my dad hasn’t been a futurity champion or done all that, but to me, he’s the greatest, and because I’ve believed in him and myself, I’ve really achieved a lot.

Q: What advice would you give current Youth?
A: When things don’t go the way you want, if you go to a show and you can’t get through a run, don’t give up. Everybody goes through a slump, but if you just keep trying, you’ll land on your feet eventually. That happened to me in Batesville. There was a 7-day show and I showed twice a day and couldn’t get through a single run. But I didn’t give up.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: I’m going to school at Texas State University, studying communications, and I will graduate in either December 2007 or May 2008. Eventually I will get a job in public relations. Right now I’m writing a book about some things that I’ve gone through in my personal life, and that’s what I’d really like to do: become a motivational speaker. I’d like to talk to young men and women and tell them that no matter what, if you’re confident and willing to put yourself out there, you’ll succeed. There are good things out there for everybody; you just have to believe in yourself.