'A split second counts'

SPICER — Kristi Jo Block said she has always had a love for horses.

“The horse passion started when I was 3 or 4 years old,” Block said. “I can remember my first experience petting and smelling a horse. … I was in love and wanted to be near them as much as I could.”

Today, Block owns three horses, two of which — Rebel and Creed — stay with a trainer in Missouri. Block has competed in the Ozark Circuit of the National Cutting Horse Association for five years.

Cutting is a sport where a rider and their horse work together as partners to separate a single cow from the herd, preventing it from returning. This showcases the horse’s intelligence, agility and “cow sense” by independently anticipating bovine movements. Riders give subtle cues with their legs and keep a calm, centered seat in the saddle, or else it is likely the rider will end up in the dirt, Block said.

“Rebel, loves (cutting); … he’s just all business,” Block said. “When we go into the pen, his ears are up, and he’s like, ‘Where’s the cows?’ He just can’t wait.”

Block refers to Creed as “Mighty Mouse” and said he is also super talented.

When Block is not in the Ozark Mountains region preparing to ride in a cutting competition, she is selling real estate alongside her husband, Chris, and their youngest son, Cole. Together, they run a real estate company in downtown Spicer. Her third horse, Tess, is a trail riding horse that is stabled in Belgrade with Block’s friend.

“Tess rides in the annual parades right out on Lake Avenue (in Spicer) in front of the real estate office,” Block said.

Block bought her first true cutting horse in 2020, when the rest of the world was sheltering in place, and so many events were put on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“That was really the nice thing,” Block said. “We still competed through (the pandemic), and it was like the world did not stop for that. I was very thankful because I could still ride.”

Growing up outside of Milan, a small city in northwest Chippewa County, Block said they had plenty of acreage and a barn, but still her parents would not let her get her own horse. Her parents and siblings did not share her affinity for horses,  which she said was very hard for her to accept.

“All my friends had horses, and I thought that was just ridiculous that I didn’t have one,” Block said. “So, I did everything I could to convince them, including running away and all sorts of things, until they finally caved.”

When she was around 10 years old, Block bought her first horse, a Quarter-Arab cross. from a friend. Most of her adolescence was spent on that horse, she said. Living near the Chippewa River, she and her friends would meet there and spend all day riding through the river and blazing trails to and from one another’s houses.

“Looking back, it was some of the most wonderful memories,” Block said. “I learned a lot, and it probably kept me out of some trouble.”

It was not until she left for college that she found herself without a horse.

Block attended college at Concordia University in Moorhead, graduating with a degree in business administration. Shortly after college, she married Chris and started working for her mother’s company, Quilting for the Heartland. Block spent years traveling to trade shows and procuring sponsors for her mother’s public television show. She was also involved in an investment property company with her three siblings.

After she and her husband bought a ranch outside of Spicer that was large enough to board horses, Block said, she was involved in many different horse-related hobbies and disciplines.

“I was always doing something with horses,” Block said. “After college I had four broodmares and raised foals for 10 years. After that, I showed halter horses.”

When her children, Samantha and Cole, were born in the early 2000s, Block went back to just trail riding. It was 2011 when she was able to get back into showing. She was competing in the sorting and penning discipline with horses that were trained as cutting horses but did not quite make it to the big shows. Block said she attended a couple of clinics for cutters and fell in love with the discipline.

“The cutting horses are just so athletic,” Block said. “They’re so smart and so highly trained.”

Cutting horses are bred to be around 14 hands so that they can dive low and stop quickly versus typical Quarter horses, which are closer to 16 hands. A hand is a unit of measurement equal to 4 inches that is used to measure the height of a horse. Training starts at age 2, and by age 3, it is easy to tell if a horse is better suited for a different discipline.

When Block is competing, the cowboys in the pen tell her which cow she should try to take because they know which ones have already been worked.

“When you walk into that pen, it’s you, your horse, four other cowboys and 40-50 cattle; … it’s a lot going on,” Block said. “Hardly ever does it go perfectly, but when it looks really smooth and controlled, that’s what you want.”

Once in the pen, Block said, 2.5 minutes feels like five seconds. Everything has to line up, and when it does not, she lets herself have that moment to be upset but then lets it go. The sport is so focused and intense, Block said, so the only way to learn and master the discipline is by actually spending time in the pen, or “times to the herd,” as Block calls it.

Block competes in the weekend events. She can show in different divisions based on how much money her horse has earned and how much money she has earned. The horses are only allowed two trips to the herd per day.

“It is a lot on the horses,” Block said. “They try really hard, and they’re tired when they leave there.”

Monthly competitions are her goal, which means taking a couple of days to also practice ahead of the competition. Block said it is not uncommon for her to spend the entire event day, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., at the arena, watching the open class riders and learning what she can do as an amateur class rider to improve her technique.

“When you put your hand down on that horse’s neck, he knows he is in control now,” Block said. “He knows when he’s done a good job, and he also knows when he hasn’t. A split second counts, so once you go in there, you just have to have muscle memory.”

The combination of Block’s passion for horses and competitive spirit makes the sport of cutting a good fit.

“Cowgirl is my brand; … it’s what everyone knows about me,” Block said. “(Cutting) is so incredibly difficult but rewarding. You just don’t get that feeling anywhere else.”