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MacDonald Performance Training

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Belgrade, MT
MacDonald Performance Training

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Small family business specializing in the development and training of reined-cow and cutting horses. Contact us at 406-581-8695 or through a private message!

10/26/2026

We wrapped up the end of the Treasure State Cutting Horse Association year with a fun banquet yesterday. We would like to thank everyone involved in organizing and hosting both the banquet and all of the shows. From the Treasure State board members, to the facilities who hosted the shows, to the cattle guys, to the judges, participants, and everyone in-between. This is such a great organization to get both people and horses into the sport of cutting!

We would also like to congratulate each and every one of our people who rode with us or entrusted us with riding and showing one of their horses. The list is long so please bear with us!

First off, thank you and congratulations are in order to Brian Lasswell and his horse, High Rolln, together they brought home the year-end champion buckle in the $4,000 limited rider class, which has to be one of the hardest classes there is! During the year, they also won the Never Sweat Ranch Circuit Champion Buckle in the same class.

Then, we would like to congratulate and thank both Karen Fellerhoff and Laura Orvidas for trusting Tye to train and show their two fantastic mares, Janes Addiktion and Knowingly Smart. The two mares brought home the year end champion buckle and reserve champion award in the $5,000 novice horse class, respectively.

We would also like to congratulate Marcia Cantrell for her third place year end finish in the same class ($5,000 novice horse) and on her third place year end finish in the $5,000 novice horse non-pro class. Marcia has been coming for regular lessons with Tye this year and kicked b** on both her horses and in all four classes she showed in!

Additionally, we would like to thank and congratulate Ashley Evans on her horse's fourth place finish in the cow-horse bridle open class. Tye used this class to school her horse in but it's always fun when you get an award! Ashley and her horse, Sugar High Cat, just missed also getting an award in the $500 limited rider class. Something to look forward to next year!

Then, last but never least, we would like to congratulate Julia Wintersteen and her horse Booming Pop Star, on their reserve champion year-end finish in the $500 limited rider class. For their first year ever cutting, they did amazing!

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone involved. We are looking forward to another great year next year!

10/19/2026

This is Pete, a c**t we started for the Luchterhand family. I can't say enough about what an honor and pleasure it was to work with this whole family!! Pete was bred by Ron Burns out of White Sulphur Springs. I've been around a few of his horses but I think this is the first one I've ridden. I can't imagine a better ranch horse; calm, friendly, built to last, big enough for heavy lifting and pretty enough for a parade. It was an honor to be involved all around. Here he is winning the two year old trail futurity at the NILE with only about 3 months riding!!

We will have more to say about the c**ts we were happy to have at the NILE Gold Buckle futurity this year in a later post but wanted to congratulate and thank all who were involved with Pete!

Ron Burns
Red Luchterhand
Rebekah Luchterhand
Addison Luchterhand
Ella Luchterhand

10/16/2026

So, here's what's on my mind. I've had what I think is a good year and I have some really nice pictures and prizes that I feel pretty good about. Time for shameless marketing!!

That's not what I'm actually thinking about. I have run from show to show for the last couple years, mostly in organizations I don't really know much about. I have also had the honor to be around many people who were trying to learn to show their horses, some were clients, some were not. What is on my mind is how tough that process is.

Last year, I asked a long time friend what I could do to improve my cutting. His response was very helpful. He said, "You just need to go. Most people are afraid to fail". True dat. Good run or bad run, I could not have had any success without the bumps and scrapes on the other side. You cannot succeed without accepting failure. Maybe a better way to put that is; if you don't accept yourself in defeat, competition will be so painful that you will choke, fall apart, quit, etc. So, you WILL fail. If you accept failure as a natural part of the process it won't rattle your cage and you can just learn a little, try a little and eventually succeed.

I also was struck how many people were absolutely necessary for any success. Life is not a solo event. Sometimes just a bit of encouragement, advice or friendship can take a person a LONG way and it only takes a second or two. None of this can happen without the day in day out help of others. I guess to get everyone thanked, I'll have to start now and keep thanking for a few months. For now, I absolutely could not have done anything without Alyson Williams, Brian Lasswell, Marcia Cantrell, Karen Fellerhoff, Nicole Harvey, Laura Orvidas and Barrett Adams, and our barn helpers C**t Seeber and Mikayla Teeter. There are many others and I'll try to get to them all. THANK YOU!!!

10/08/2026

The next bit of exciting news we would like to share is that Tye and High Rolln, ie Royce, brought home the NCHA Big Sky Circuit Reserve Champion Year End Buckle in the $5,000 Novice Horse Class.

We would like to congratulate owner Brian Lasswell on this success! Thank you for the opportunity to show Royce this past year. We wish them the best as they step into the next part of their journey.

10/05/2026

We wrapped up the last two TSCHA shows of the year last weekend with success all around for the team!

- Tye and Royce had a couple 3rd place finishes in the Open against a lot of competitive horses and riders.

- Tye and Sister also had a couple 2nd place finishes and Tye and Mia had a 2nd and 3rd place finish in the $5,000 Novice Horse class. Tye and Sister secured their 1st place finish for year end in the class and Tye and Mia secured their 2nd place finish for year end!

- Brian and Royce were 1st in the $4,000 Limited Rider class in August and held steady with a 2nd place finish in September. Also securing their 1st place year end!

- Marcia and her horse Wednesday, who come and ride with us, finished strong with a 2nd place finish in the $5,000 Novice Horse Non-pro class and a 3rd in the $5,000 Novice Horse Open. They will also be bringing home the 3rd place year end award in the $5,000 Novice Horse Open class! Talk about a way to sweep the top three places for year end awards.

- Cate and Ashley finished their year off strong with a 71 score, which is their personal PR and improvement throughout their riding and working.

- Same goes for Julia and Boo! They saw leaps and bounds in improvement throughout the year as they learned the sport of cutting and how to work together.

We are very grateful to our clients who choose to ride and show with us! We wouldn't be here without you all. We also appreciate the Treasure State Cutting Horse Association for putting on shows where people and horses alike can come to learn the sport of cutting and grow. We are already turning our eyes to next year and all we can improve upon from what we learned this year.

09/09/2026

Another catch up post from this summer comes from the CMRCHA show in Dillon where Tye and Sniper had the highest fence score and got second overall in the Open Derby.

This eye catching horse will be available soon so keep your eyes open for his sale video in the next month or so.

Also at the Dillon show, Tye and High Rolln took first in the open jackpot herd work and Brian Lasswell took first on High Rolln in the NP jackpot herd work.

We are always grateful to our clients who let us train and show their horses!

08/27/2026

The next client appreciation/success post we'd like to make is for Brian Lasswell.

Brian and his horse Royce had a very successful cutting at the Never Sweat Ranch in Hamilton at the beginning of the month. Brian and Royce won both days in the $4,000 limited rider class and the overall weekend buckle. They are set up to take home the year-end award for the $4,000 limited rider class as well. It sure has been fun seeing the improvement this team has made together over the past year!

Thank you for all you do for us, Brian, and for continuing to show with us and let us show Royce!

08/18/2026

We would like to congratulate Nicole Harvey on her success showing her derby horse, Sniper, on their first time showing down the fence and out of the herd! Nicole and Sniper placed 3rd in the herd work and had the highest score going down the fence at the CMRCHA Yellowstone Summer Classic.

While Tye has been training and showing Sniper, a show conflict made it where we could not be two places at once. Nicole has been working hard and putting in the hours, with the plan to show Sniper herself next year. But when the conflict arose, she stepped up and showed Sniper herself, having a very successful first showing!

07/28/2026

Still playing catch up but our May Treasure State showing was just as strong as the April showing!

Tye and Mia won the cowhorse bridle class with a 73 and got second in the $5,000 open with a 72. Tye also tied for 4th on Royce in a very competitive open class both days of the show.

Brian held a steady 2nd in the $4,000 limited rider on Royce both days and continue to improve as a team each showing. Ashley and Cate got 3rd in the ranch horse class both days and Julia and Boo got a 2nd in the ranch horse and a 2nd in the $500 limited rider class (their second show!).

As always, we are proud of our team and always enjoy seeing improvements in both horses and riders!

07/02/2026

The next bit of news we are behind on sharing is that Nicole Harvey finally found the perfect new home for her horse Remy! Remy has transitioned out of cow horse and into being a little girl’s English/dressage pony. This horse is an absolute unicorn and we are so pleased she will continue to be treated as one. 💖

Thank you to the new owner’s permission for allowing us to share the news!

Address

3334 Spain Bridge Road
Belgrade, MT
59714

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm
Friday	8am - 4pm
Saturday	8am - 12pm

Telephone

(406) 581-8695

Website

http://www.macdonaldperformancetraining.com/

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