narrator: Previously on "The Last Cowboy"...
- The Cactus Classic is the first derby of the year.
[whistle trills]
- Come on, Abby!
Whoo!
- Wow, that's a solid run for Abby Lengel.
- This is my first year on my own,
without my mentor, Casey Deary.
- Oh, his horse couldn't handle
that speed change very well.
[crowd groaning]
- It happens.
♪ ♪
- Well, that wasn't very good.
- I don't think it went quite
as well as Matt would've liked.
- I have to find a better horse as soon as I can.
- Craig Schmersal takes the lead with a .
- Whoo!
- The score for Andrea Fappani,
by one point,
goes to first with a .
- To get b*at by one point, it's frustrating.
[dramatic music]
[dramatic country music]
♪ ♪
- ♪ Tell me, Lord, why, oh, why ♪
♪ You got me with a spade by my side ♪
♪ Diggin' my own grave ♪
[snake rattling]
[Nik Ammar's "Diggin' My Own Grave"]
♪ ♪
- It's exciting, getting new sand.
It's like getting a brand-new sandbox when you're a kid.
♪ ♪
We are back home from the Cactus Classic.
I got b*at by Andrea by one point at the end of the deal.
It's aggravating, to say the least.
I'm not a good loser.
I mean, you show me a good loser
and I'll show you a loser.
♪ ♪
I like to try to mimic, at home, the ground
that we're gonna go show on next.
It's probably bucks a load or maybe a little bit more,
but to me, it's a small price to pay.
Every advantage I can give myself,
I'm willing to do it.
- We gotta lick our wounds from the--from the Cactus.
So we're doing everything we can right now
to get ready for the next show.
- I got one more truck coming today for sure.
It's gonna be good.
- It woulda been a plus one turn
if I woulda kept it that way.
And it's something I've been working on.
I'm just getting off of a big win at the Cactus.
All the guys would like to wear that belt buckle
that they just won the last horse show or--
or--or in their office, they got the trophy.
I don't even know where the trophy is.
I think I need to sharpen up that slowdown to the left.
It took, like, four strides to get him to slow down.
To me, it's not the victory,
it's about improving the performance.
♪ ♪
- The Cactus didn't go exactly as planned.
This horse gonna outshine you.
He didn't really pull through for me,
which was a real disappointment.
♪ ♪
- How did everything end up going at Cactus?
- I was super happy with Ace.
It's the first show that I've competed against Casey Deary
since I've gone out on my own.
I tied with him on one of his horses
and, um,
b*at him on the other two.
♪ ♪
- We're just talking about the Cactus Classic.
and ½.
- That's not too good, is it? - Nope.
- And it got me th place and th place.
[laughter]
- Well, if you would've drawn up at the end like Andrea did,
the luckiest guy alive.
- Andrea got to compete after the ground
has just been worked,
after a drag, which is a huge advantage
'cause it's an open canvas.
The horses would slide better.
♪ ♪
- Other than your small disaster
on your lead change, she was really good.
- At the Cactus,
I just had a little bobble on Lacy,
which kept me out of the money,
and I knew that I couldn't have that bobble.
As soon as I had that bobble, I knew I was out.
- Really, a good lead change, you just missed--
- Yeah, we just missed on that one.
- Miscued, that's all. - Yeah.
Well, back to work.
♪ ♪
narrator: Cade wasn't the only McCutcheon struggling.
His father, Tom, missed the Cactus
because of a recent knee surgery
and is gearing up to compete at the next event.
- Whoa. Aww! That hurt a lot of stuff.
♪ ♪
Ah!
Hope that doesn't happen when I show him.
I'm now. I've got metal everywhere.
The airport's a nightmare.
Got both hips replaced,
a knee replaced, a plate in my shoulder,
broke my collarbone and all my ribs.
♪ ♪
For as young as I am,
to have all these artificial parts--
the lifespan of these parts aren't forever,
but I love what I do.
♪ ♪
- I can't wait to send that to his knee doctor.
That's real good.
- Oh, I had my knee replaced.
The hip is what bugged me the most.
narrator: Tom McCutcheon, a veteran of the sport,
has won nearly $ million.
And reining runs in the family,
from his wife, $ million non-pro rider
Mandy McCutcheon, to his two children,
-year-old Carlee and -year-old Cade,
this year competing as a professional
for the first time.
- I'm proud of what Cade's accomplished,
but we certainly wanna-- we wanna b*at each other.
- That was better. - Felt good.
The hardest part, recovering from the knee surgery,
was not being able to show at the Cactus.
narrator: Tom may have missed the Cactus,
but the next event is even bigger: the NRBC.
- It came down to the wire here tonight.
narrator: The NRBC is one of the most prestigious events
in the industry.
top riders compete for spots in the finals.
- The money keeps on racking up.
narrator: And a grand prize of $,.
- So I'm walking in here with a little bit of ring-rust.
I gotta go in there and not make any mistakes.
[groaning]
♪ ♪
[groans]
♪ ♪
- What're you doing, buddy?
At the Cactus Classic, I had a problem
with one of my horses being asthmatic.
And with NRBC and the Run for a Million coming up,
I just can't have another setback like this.
I've gotta find a healthier horse.
- Have you heard anything else about what anybody's riding?
Everybody's so secretive about it.
- I mean, it sounds like now people are starting to--
to get their horses figured out for Vegas.
Craig, who knows?
Casey won't say.
It's so hard to pick, and then you're sitting there
going, "Am I overthinking it?"
- God, you better get to calling.
- There's different level of horses,
same like, you know, racecars.
You know, some cars just go faster than others.
If your competitor has a car that's got more horsepower,
it doesn't matter how good a driver you are,
you're not gonna be able to b*at 'em.
- Could try my horse. - Don't tempt me, I'll do it.
- I'm just kidding.
- I feel like I've gotta find a horse soon
because I'm definitely under a time crunch.
[phone line chirping]
- Hello? Shane.
- Hey, Shane, how's it going, Matt Mills.
I know you've heard about the Run for a Million in Vegas?
- Yeah, I'm familiar with it.
- I was curious if we could get that Palomino mare outta yours,
that good one.
- Well, you know what?
Andrea called me about two days ago
and said, you know, that he was making a run at that deal
and I told him that he could ride her.
- I'll be damned.
- Yeah, I wish you'd have called me
a couple days earlier.
- All right, man. Well, have a good day.
- Hi, Matt, how are you mate? What's going on in your world?
- I was just curious--
I know you know about the million-dollar deal.
- Oh, hell, yeah, everybody's chasing that money.
- And that's why I'm calling you.
I was thinking maybe you might consider
letting me try that horse out for that deal.
- To be honest with you,
Andrea's got first dibs on him, you know?
- Hello? - Hey, Max.
I'm gonna get right to it.
What I'm calling about is that black stud you have.
- I think maybe Andrea is gonna ride my horse.
I hope everything work out for you, man.
- All right. Thanks. Kay, bye.
- Bye-bye.
- You know, we're all running around looking at the same
small number of horses.
There's riders, and I'm not sure
that there's horses.
And then you've got some like Andrea that--
he looks like he's not only
trying to find a horse for himself,
but he's trying to make sure you don't find a horse.
Like, uh, okay.
I almost think this competition--
it may be won before the competition even starts.
So I'm gonna take chances that I wouldn't normally take.
♪ ♪
[dramatic country music]
♪ ♪
[country vocal music]
- ♪ Filling my eyes ♪
♪ Thunder rolls and covers my sight ♪
♪ Lightning strikes, I bring it inside ♪
♪ The storm in me ♪
♪ The earth, it shakes, it rattles my mind ♪
♪ The storm in me ♪
♪ ♪
[birds chirping]
♪ ♪
- This is gonna take a little while to dry out, I think.
- Yeah, that's pretty sticky.
- We had a big storm.
We had about inches of rain
in a really short period of time,
and we had some water run in the arena,
and about / of it is flooded.
As I'm getting ready for the NRBC, I need to practice.
I'm just trying to figure out how to get the puddles out
so it can dry out faster.
In order to perform their maneuvers correctly,
horses have to have proper ground, proper footing.
I think the standing puddles aren't good.
Yeah, it is wet.
- I don't think we're gonna be stopping tonight anytime soon.
- Back in the day,
this place was, like, the palace.
When it was first built and it was in its prime,
this was the place to be.
And then it just kinda got kinda run down,
but I can't afford anything else.
♪ ♪
I'm getting ready for the NRBC.
It's important that I go there
as well-prepared as I could possibly be.
This is a good chance for a paycheck if--
if my horse is, you know, where I--
where I want him still.
Having my arena flooded is a big setback.
I feel a lot of pressure.
A lot of pressure.
- ♪ Try to sleep, but the world's on fire ♪
♪ The world's on fire ♪
narrator: After finding her ranch flooded
and being unable to practice for the NRBC,
Abby called a fellow reiner for help:
Jason Vanlandingham.
- ♪ You'll be rollin' in your grave ♪
♪ ♪
- Abby, how are you today?
- Hi, Jason. I'm good, how are you?
- Good. - I know you're wet,
but you're still a lot more dry than me.
- [laughs]
I can tell you what,
you should've been here yesterday.
There's a whole lot more to life than what we do
on the back of a horse.
Our two greatest commands is "love God"
and "love your neighbor."
Just helping each other out, that's the--
that's the cowboy way of life.
My name's Jason Vanlandingham,
and I'm from Whitesboro, Texas.
♪ ♪
I grew up on the back of a horse.
It was passed down to me from--from my dad.
♪ ♪
Easy.
How's that speed?
- Very good.
- Our program is very small.
It's basically just me, my family, and one assistant.
It's only / acres. -stall show barn.
♪ ♪
There's a lot of guys with really big operations
that they keep or head-of-horses in training
and have a lot of assistants to help out.
♪ ♪
I like to keep our operation small enough
to where I can do the bulk of the riding myself
and I do all the showing myself.
Easy.
It's just about freedom.
You know, freedom to-- to live a lifestyle
without somebody telling you to make every move that you do.
- That one's cute, Jason. - Yeah.
She's gonna make a nice one, I think.
♪ ♪
- For the NRBC, you know,
I'm just looking forward at it,
and making the open finals would be huge for me.
♪ ♪
- Abby's one that has tremendous amount of ability.
She's stepped on some of Casey's good horses
and went out and b*at us a lot last year.
Everybody in this industry, we're--
we're all trying to b*at each other.
You know, Abby's proven in the past
that she can be competitive.
But at the same time, you know, we're still
human beings and try to,
you know, just be nice to one another.
- How many horses do you have in training?
- Twelve or thirteen outside
and then I've got probably half a dozen of our own.
- Just seems like you have a very manageable--
- Yeah, that's kinda the goal. - Number.
I don't think I ever wanna get really big, like, you know
at what Casey has or Tom and Mandy.
I don't think I'd ever wanna handle all that.
- Right. - Jason Vanlandingham, I--
I see him, and I see a great trainer,
a great showman, and just a great person.
I mean, he's somebody that not only would I send my horse to,
but I would call and ask for advice.
- If you wanna get rich,
you're gonna have to have a lot of horses.
If you're fine just getting by and--
and spending more time with your family,
then you can--you can ride less horses and still survive.
- Well, it's good to know that there's
an option about getting rich.
I didn't know that was even--
- Well... - [laughs]
- Look at the house Casey's building,
and then tell me about it.
- Yeah, I-I don't--
- Just gotta decide what you wanna do,
what you wanna focus on.
If I can build somebody up by encouraging them and--
and treating them the right way
and they in turn do the same thing
for somebody else down the road,
then I feel like
maybe I've been a blessing to that person.
♪ ♪
- I mean, what are we doing next?
- I feel like we gotta step up the game a little bit more.
After the Cactus Classic, nobody was elated
with what was-- what--what had taken place.
- I'm feeling the pressure too.
So, I mean, I-I-I understand the stakes.
I mean, I-I get it.
- We'll give you everything you possibly need,
but I also need you to make sure
that you're doing your job.
I don't--I-I think
we're now behind the -Ball for the Vegas.
- I've been looking everywhere.
Andrea, he fancies himself
as being smarter than all of us,
and so he's got his name down on--
must seems like horses,
where I know he's trying to play
the keep-away game a little bit.
- percent.
- I wanna have the same caliber
horse as my competitors.
'Cause I really feel if I have that,
I think I can outshoot 'em.
You guys have heard of Tamarack Ranch?
- Yep. - It's up in Oregon.
They've got some outstanding prospects.
Like, a ton of nice horses.
He threw some out that were for sale that looked nice.
He's got one stud up there in particular.
I've seen huge, huge things out of this horse.
He hasn't done anything in the show ring yet,
and he's not for sale.
- Nobody knows about him.
- He might be a Run for a Million horse.
It's a fishing hole that hasn't been touched.
- Okay. - So what I'm saying is,
if we're gonna do it-- - We need to go quick.
- I think we need to jump on it right away.
We just slip in there, you know, do our thing,
look at some prospects and then just kinda,
you know, see if we can't just ease our way into
looking at-- at that horse.
Oregon's a spot there at Tamarack that no--
nobody's gone there to look this year,
and so telling Tim that,
I think it got him reenergized.
- Well, if we're gonna do it, let's get on it
so we don't miss the boat on this one.
You know, I wouldn't go if we weren't
attempting to win the damn thing, so--
or at least buy the horse for it.
- I know that horse wasn't for sale,
but, you know, I've seen--
seen lots of horses sell that weren't for sale.
Horse comes out of nowhere and kicks everybody's ass.
I like the sound of that. - Yeah.
- Yeah. - Oh, absolutely.
All right. We'll get a jet.
♪ ♪
- Cheers. - Cheers!
♪ ♪
- Well, I'm not off to a great start.
I think I've won about , this year.
That's sad.
- Yeah, but there's money coming.
narrator: In Weatherford, Texas,
Casey Deary is counting
on an experienced reining coach
to get his season back on track
after his disastrous performance
at the Cactus Classic.
[cheering]
- Oh, his horse couldn't handle
that speed change there very well.
[crowd groans]
♪ ♪
narrator: And with this reining season building up
to the Run for a Million in Las Vegas,
he can't afford to take any chances.
♪ ♪
- Mike McIntyre has been a mentor for me for years.
To have somebody that is a coach,
is not worried about hurting my feelings,
that's what Mike is for me,
and I think every great athlete has a coach.
And obviously,
from the looks of me, you can tell
I'm an incredible athlete.
♪ ♪
- His right rollback's better than his left one.
In reining at Casey's level,
some of those little things
just make such a big difference.
Yeah, it looks better.
It can mean a couple of points in a score
and literally thousands of dollars in earnings
at the end of the day.
Now, get that smoothed out
and that'll-- that'll score more.
- Okay.
The NRBC is our premier derby event,
and you can leave out of there with quite a bit of money.
So the pressure is on now.
- Last year, at the NRBC, we got last place.
- Our Casey Deary runs it down to get to the finish line
there with She's Out of Your League.
- .
- And financially, we needed the win.
So this year, we want to win.
We really, really wanna win.
- The NRBC pays really well, so it--
it accounts for a large part of our annual salary.
So we're going there to win.
- Perfect.
- That's all I gotta do, is just do it perfect.
♪ ♪
narrator: The McCutcheons are taking a break
from NRBC practice...
- Ready, big boy? - I guess.
narrator: For a quick game of one-on-one.
- In my head, I'm still . Retiring?
I don't--I really don't ever think about that.
Reining is our identity. And it's what we do.
And when that's done, I don't know.
I don't know what that looks like,
and I don't wanna find out what that looks like yet.
Between the legs, watch this. Steph Curry right here.
- [chuckles]
- But I am determined to compete.
♪ ♪
Whoo! -.
- One more point, Cade-o, come on.
- Okay, ready? - Yeah.
- You sure? You look tired. - [laughs]
♪ ♪
- Thank you. - You b*at me by one point.
At this point, let me get back in shape, big boy.
- How's your knee feeling after you play?
- Knee feels great, everything feels great,
except we got a little cramp right here.
- Tom is probably one of the toughest guys
that I've ever met, maybe after his dad.
His--Tom's dad was the toughest person
I've ever met in my life.
I mean, to his very last day,
he never complained about one thing,
and cancer finally got him, and...
[sniffles]
We never heard one word about it from him,
the whole time.
♪ ♪
So I think that it's definitely bred in him,
to be strong and not let your family know
if anything's bothering you.
The knee doesn't bother you at all when you're playing?
- No. - How about your hips?
Do they bother you? - Not once I get warmed up, no.
I mean, they're not--they're not as fast as they used to be.
I don't wanna just fade off into, you know, into nothing.
And that's my biggest fear.
I'm done. - Don't hurt yourselves.
- No, no, I'm done, I can't do anymore.
- After the NRBC? - Yeah.
- You're gonna take it to 'em?
- Taking it to 'em after the NRBC.
- Okay.
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
- Hey, buddy. How you doing?
- How's it going? - Good, how're you?
- Real good. Real good to see you.
- Good. Good to see you. - Yeah, you too.
I had to do something.
And I couldn't just go fish the same ponds
that we always go to.
With this trip to Oregon,
we're not gonna have to deal with looking over
our shoulder at somebody snatching a horse
out from underneath us.
Let's go find us some horses.
♪ ♪
I don't know, this windy road, though,
I'm gonna get sick back here.
- Let's not.
♪ ♪
- Oregon's a spot there at Tamarack
that--great horses, and I know
nobody's gone there to look this year,
so I'm super excited to have this opportunity
to go try to find one that can actually win this thing.
Whoo!
That's one hell of a road, now.
- How'd you like that drive, buddy?
- I didn't like it at all. [laughs]
- You're not the first one didn't like that trip.
- Wow.
- How are you, man? - Thanks for having us up.
- Welcome. Thanks for coming. - Let's check this place out.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
♪ ♪
- I'm gonna jump on and see how they feel.
- Don't be afraid to do whatever you need to do.
- All right.
I'm looking for a horse for myself to compete on,
I'm looking for attitude, number one.
And I wanna see if the horse is built
to be athletic, built to do the job--
the same quaint qualities you'd look in a person:
somebody that wants to work hard,
is open to trying new things, and, you know,
and can handle pressure.
That's what we're looking for.
- Try this one. He--he's got a good feel.
I think he'll surprise you.
♪ ♪
- All the horses that I'm gonna sit on,
I'm not even trying them out unless I know they can spin,
they can slide,
they can do it at a high level.
Whoa.
But now is it, "Can I do it with them?"
Got another one coming.
- I don't think I like that one.
- Got a swing and a miss.
These are definitely solid horses.
There's a little connection in this one, steering-wise,
but I came here for one horse,
and specific, that I'd like to ride.
- The last one, buddy.
- This is the horse we came here for.
- She's not really up for selling, the four-year-old,
but I'ma let him try that horse while he's here.
- Okay. Thank you.
- And if something changes next week,
then you rode him, and-- - Okay.
- We can go from there, okay?
- Excellent. Thank you.
- With the opportunity to come and buy a big-time horse
for the Run for a Million comes a ton of responsibility
and a ton of weight on this decision.
♪ ♪
In Vegas, if it doesn't work
and I've gotta have that conversation with Tim,
well, that's gonna be a problem.
[dramatic country music]
♪ ♪
[chuckles] This is worth the wait.
- Yep. - I like this one.
- There's always gotta be one
that's the best out of the group.
- Whoa.
Course it figures that it's the one
that's not supposed to be for sale.
- I know, yes.
- I don't want to get ahead of myself,
but I think he's the one
for the million-dollar run in Vegas.
I think he's that strong.
narrator: Matt's hunch about the horse was right.
And he thinks he's found the one that could
win the Run for a Million.
Now he'll have to convince
the horse's owners that they should sell.
- You know, he let us ride him, which, that's--
- Right. - That's a good sign.
Maybe if we are-- if we get aggressive,
we need to talk to Tim.
Riders aren't the only ones competitive.
You know, the owners are also.
- Well, that would be really exciting.
Have you on one of our horses.
- Yeah. - [chuckles]
- If you buy one for a lot of money,
you got your neck stuck out there,
and if it doesn't work,
all roads come right back to me.
♪ ♪
- The NRBC is a show like no other for us.
I think we try quite a bit harder for this horse show.
I'm spending ,
, hours in the arena all day.
That last week here, the Cactus,
everything was a little loose, so we saw some higher scores.
So I'm pretty realistic, I need--
I need to step up my circles if I wanna be competitive.
What I wanna work on today: speed control,
sharpen those up; I wanna make sure
that I got him locked in into the circle's main tow.
♪ ♪
- I always think that when you're on the top,
the hardest thing is to stay there.
That is a lot of pressure.
Think he thrives on that.
- Every time that you live close to a horse show,
you have a little bit of advantage.
So the guys in Texas have advantage for the NRBC.
♪ ♪
[upbeat country music]
♪ ♪
narrator: With the NRBC just a week away,
the McCutcheons are busy training,
except for their daughter Carlee,
who's at a horse-jumping show with her grandma.
The whole McCutcheon clan will be competing,
with Tom and Cade in the pro-division
and Mandy and Carlee in the non-pro category.
[cell phone rings]
- Hello?
Hey baby, what's happening?
What?
♪ ♪
Where at? Where are you?
Let me talk to Grammy for a second, okay?
So her collarbone is broken? Carlee broke her collarbone.
- Well, [bleep]. - Said the horse tripped.
- Did they say there was a piece
just broke off the top or it's broke through?
- No, she's not in the hospital.
We go to the vet first. We don't go to the hospital.
Horse people tend to go to the vet first.
- I got the picture.
It looks a lot like Tom's.
♪ ♪
- Horses trip and fall,
and you're gonna have some wrecks along the way.
And that stuff scares me to death.
I pray every day that it's not serious
and that it's, you know--
that it never happens, obviously,
but it's just part of it.
♪ ♪
- Carlee? - Yeah?
- I think that you and Grammy
should get a flight home tonight
and we should go to Dr. Baker's, okay?
- No, he's gonna make it feel better.
That's why I wanna get you here.
- Send me the picture.
- I know, honey. Did you take some pain meds?
- Oh, yeah.
- That needs to be fixed. - Okay.
I'll call John and I'll call you back, okay?
Bye.
♪ ♪
- Hopefully, Carlee's not following in my footsteps.
- I'll go get the flight, then I'll call you back, okay?
- She's seen me go through a lot of stuff,
and I've seen my dad go through a lot of stuff.
My dad broke I don't know how many bones.
bones, bones.
I've seen my dad go through all that,
and it's never been-- our family's never been about
feeling sorry for yourself.
Hey, baby. - Do you hear Dad?
- Welcome to the broken collarbone club.
I did mine, Grandpa did his, now it's your turn, I guess.
- It hurts, though, huh?
You just gotta tough it out, though, baby.
It's part of doing what we do.
It's gonna happen, okay?
Crying don't fix anything, okay?
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
narrator: After successfully
draining the water from her arena,
Abby is eager to get back to training for the NRBC.
- All right.
♪ ♪
Now I'm prepared for the NRBC.
It's a much bigger show, a lot more payout.
♪ ♪
The NRBC, there's a qualifying round
just to get to the finals.
I have not made the finals at the NRBC before.
That would be huge.
- There we go. Yeah.
- That was better, huh? - That was much better.
- I'm a little nervous because, for the first time,
Sandy and I are both gonna show Ace,
and that's--that's a lot of stress on a horse,
on any horse.
- Oh, yeah.
That way's getting so much better.
At these NRHA shows, there's separate categories.
Those for the professional riders,
the ones who are making their living training horses,
and those for the non- professionals, such as myself.
- Circles great to the left too.
- Those two days of trail-riding,
I got him all dialed in for you.
- I'd say you did.
There are very few trainers
that will share a horse
with a non-pro at an event.
And there are a lot of reasons for that.
- Hang on, Abs.
- It's very hard to go back and forth
between two different riders
and have that horse be that tuned.
- That was good.
- But she wants to show him as well.
If I was an established trainer,
I wouldn't have to share my derby horse with a non-pro,
but that's my one horse, and if I wanna show,
this is what I gotta do,
and I gotta make the best of it.
But nobody ever wants to share a great horse.
- There you go.
- It's gonna be a challenge.
♪ ♪
all: ♪ The wondrous love of Jesus ♪
♪ Sing His mercy and His grace ♪
- Our faith is the top priority in our life.
I was a very, very arrogant kid.
There was no humility in me at all.
I didn't put other people first.
After Alexis was born, that was it for me.
And I thought,
"I can't do this on my own. I've got to"--
Sorry.
♪ ♪
I need God in my life to be able to--
to teach this child how to-- how to be a good person.
I don't always know what God's got in store for us,
but as long as we've got food to eat
and shelter over our head,
we're just gonna kinda keep playing it that way
and see where life takes us.
Good evening.
- Good evening. - Good evening.
- If you're here tonight and you don't have
a relationship with Christ, this is where it begins.
Lord, it's time for me to turn over the reins.
The things that are important to us is--
is putting God first in our lives, and family,
you know, right there behind it,
and then everything else comes after that.
- ♪ It's been so long ♪
♪ Long, hard days ♪
♪ They don't say ♪
♪ God's changed my ways ♪
♪ Change my ways ♪
- Well, the NRBC this year, it's gonna be tough.
It's always the toughest horse show of the year.
You cannot make a mistake.
If you make a mistake, you're not gonna win.
- ♪ But I can't hide ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
- Nobody's gonna put more pressure on me than me.
♪ ♪
- ♪ My evil ways ♪
[horse chuffs]
[upbeat country music]
♪ ♪
narrator: Nicole Deary is on the way
to check in on the custom trailer
she's designed for the Run for a Million in Vegas.
- How are you? - Good.
- Good to see you. - Good to see you.
Looks amazing.
- It's getting there.
- The more horses you haul down the road,
the more opportunities you have at an event,
and there's more income.
Is this triple-axle or is this...
- Oh, no, this is-- this is a tandem axle.
- I designed this with Kyle,
and we wanted the most horse-friendly product
that we could create.
- Nobody's seen a -horse look like that
going down the road and everything.
You're not gonna pull a million-dollar horse
in a -cent trailer.
- Costs a lot, but it's important.
It's worth every penny, and it's one of those things
you don't go cheap on.
The trailer looked good.
We went over the plan, he showed me the details,
where the horses come on and off,
and it's very impressive.
- Obviously, the most important thing to us
is that the horses travel as comfortably as possible.
They're no different than any other athlete,
and we do our very, very best to take care of them /.
- Super, super cool trailer.
- You know, I was pretty excited
when we were able to pay the ranch off last year.
And I was sure looking forward to having
a few months there to take a deep breath,
but the thing's, like, a very, very nice trailer.
Cost me quite a bit.
Maintaining reining horses is really expensive,
and it is what it is.
- Yes, it cost more than our first home,
but I'll just leave it at that.
- Perfect. - Yes.
- Okay, awesome.
♪ ♪
- ♪ Oh, my Lord, take this soul ♪
♪ Lay me at the bottom of the river ♪
narrator: Matt is convinced he may have found
a perfect horse for the Run for a Million.
- Pedigree-wise, it's hard to b*at.
narrator: The horse is not for sale,
so they must begin the complicated process
of negotiating a deal with its owners.
- What do you think he's worth? - Depends on who's riding him.
I mean, he feels--
- Feels like enough horse? - Definitely.
- I know he's not for sale today,
but that needs pushing.
'Cause that's what we came up here for.
- We better get to it then.
♪ ♪
- What do we got? - What about the four-year-old?
- Let's go in the office real quick.
- All right. Yeah. - See what we got.
narrator: The horse's owners wish to keep
the negotiations private and behind closed doors.
- When he told me that this might be a good sh*t for Vegas,
I-I trusted him enough to fly up
and look at this thing.
Well, we're excited about this horse,
but, you know, this horse comes at a price.
This is a big price.
It's almost like "I don't wanna sell it to you" prices.
- You get horses that people don't wanna sell,
they're like, "Well, I'll throw a crazy number out there."
You know, it's not always about the dollar.
You know, a lot of it's about the ego too.
We don't have our-- our answer yet.
- Okay. - So, he said,
"Maybe by the end of the day, but tomorrow for sure."
- It's getting closer and closer to the wire.
We're running out of time. Our options are running out.
- He's gonna let us know.
You know, if we don't get this horse,
Tim's gonna be irritated that we didn't find a horse yet.
- "I'll let you know."
"I'll have your people call my people."
- If we get this horse for that much money
and he doesn't do well, Tim's gonna be very irritated.
- All right, well, we better head to the airport.
- Okay, perfect. - All right.
- You gonna hit the road?
- At least I know that I did everything in my power
to try to pick the right horse.
And hopefully, this is my unicorn horse.
- ♪ Day shall come ♪
♪ ♪
- ♪ Ain't no way to the desert ♪
♪ Ain't got no love for the bones ♪
♪ Ain't no way to the temple ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Ain't no way to the desert ♪
narrator: Back at the McCutcheon ranch,
Carlee is home from the doctor's
and ready to give Tom a progress report
on her injury.
- Hey. There she is.
Well, how you feeling, baby?
- Good. The doctor said
I don't have to get surgery.
- They don't have to cut your arm off?
- Nope. - Nothing like that?
- Not this time. [chuckles]
When I broke my collarbone,
the first thing that went through my head was,
"Is my horse okay?"
I mean, if I'm broken, that's fine.
But I'd rather--
I really would like the horse to be okay.
And it was relieving to see her get up
and walk out of the arena.
- Four to six weeks, though, before she should ride again.
- That's not good, 'cause we only have one.
- Yeah, I told 'em that, but doctors
don't really understand horse people, I don't think.
Carlee is the same as her dad.
She's one of the toughest little kids I've seen,
that's for sure.
Her reaction wasn't, "Poor me," 'cause of the pain,
her reaction was frustrated because she needs to ride.
- What are you thinking? You gonna be able to show?
- Yeah.
- You gonna give it a whirl anyway?
narrator: Carlee plans to compete at the NRBC
as a non-pro, just like her mom.
- The NRBC will be tough, and my shoulder
is hurting a lot more than I would like it to.
But I think I'll be able to tough it out.
I mean, it's part of it. It's part of the deal.
How we're wired.
- She's just making sure she does everything
younger than Cade did.
You just wanna b*at his records at everything.
- Yeah.
- I don't have a record-breaking, mom.
- No, not yet. - Can't b*at my record.
- You just watch, I'm gonna win.
narrator: With the NRBC right around the corner,
the pressure is on.
It's one of the highest
paying horse shows of the year,
with a $, grand prize.
And it's the last chance for the riders
to test their horses before the Run for a Million.
- This is one of those horse shows where,
if you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it here.
[upbeat rock music]
♪ ♪
- The NRBC is the show like no others for us.
Whoa.
I have to win here.
I need to bring it up to another level.
- How many more saddles can we fit in?
- Okay.
My key goals for the NRBC
is to win as much money as I possibly can
and to b*at every rider at this horse show.
That's like getting a new car.
- Cowboy jewelry. - Yeah.
♪ ♪
- Way better.
I've learned a ton from Mike McIntyre.
I've done everything I can possibly do for the NRBC.
♪ ♪
- We're gonna go pick up hay for the NRBC.
I'm very nervous.
It would be huge for me
to build my confidence with Ace
and with us as a team moving forward.
♪ ♪
I'm surprised how much stuff
you have to bring to a horse show.
- It looks like you guys got this under control, though.
Just make sure you get everything, okay?
The Ruckmans, they like wins, so a big one like that would--
would just cool things down a little bit.
♪ ♪
- [groans]
See, that's where it hurts. When I run in, it gets weird.
This is a young man's game, but at this point in time,
I still feel like I can kick the young man's butt.
- This is one of the derby guys here.
One of the horses going to the NRBC.
This is actually the horse that won the PR,
so get some work done.
Coming into the NRBC,
it's gonna be a pressure cooker, and--
and we'll see who steps out and who doesn't.
♪ ♪
- The NRBC is the toughest horse show of the year.
- Oh, oh, oh! - He wasn't ready.
You knew that going in, though.
- I shouldn't have gone in.
- When you're a showman, you take a sh*t.
- Everybody knows who's in charge, right?
- This is bull[bleep]. - I'll handle it.
- Yeah, I can tell how you're handling it.
You guys just do whatever you want.
- Don't--don't talk to him.
He's clearly pretty frustrated.
- That probably cost us grand.