NCHA News

In 1968 at a cutting in Glendive, Montana, 25 cutters anxiously awaited their turn to ride into the herd. Then, the designated cutting pen was an outdoor racetrack, and the cutters gathered in the snowstorm happening all around them, examining the cattle, ready for their name to be called. 

The cattle were wild and surly, which riders, and even the horses they were mounted on, took due note of. The ice-water in the ground sloshed beneath the feet of the cattle and horses. The riders made their runs, until it was time for the next-to-last rider to compete. Showtime, the rider, aboard a 15.2 hand chestnut gelding, made their way into the herd and time started counting down. 

Those two-and-a-half minutes ended up shaping a great deal of Dorvan Solberg’s next 50 years, where he has now gone to a plethora of cuttings. Solberg has had his fair share of experiences outside the cutting pen as well.  Solberg also spent his life being a State Legislator for 10 years, serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Mountrail/Williams Electric for 20 years, and as a husband and father. He has spent his weekends on both sides of the herd, two-and-a-half minutes at a time.



“I was about 34 years old when I first got in to cutting,” Solberg, 84, of Ray, North Dakota, said. “I had gone to see a friend of mine, Leo Taylor, to buy a horse, while I was there he happened to have some cattle in a pen and asked me if I wanted to ride his horse a little bit on a cow. After about 30 seconds I was hooked, that’s when I knew I had become addicted to cutting.”

Shortly after his first ride on a cutting horse, Solberg would find himself the new owner of a chestnut gelding named Triangle Dell, or T-dell, as he’s known around the Solberg household.

“I had gone up to Glendive, Montana, to see my buddy, Eugene Peterson,” Solberg said. “He told me to take this horse home, and that he had already started him on cattle.”

Solberg started his cutting career on T-dell, and together they competed in a series of cuttings until he was faced with an incredible offer to sell the gelding. In the market for a new ride, Solberg sought guidance from a long-time friend and role model, Don Taylor.

“Don and I were like brothers,” Solberg reminisced of his friend. “I learned so much from him, traded horses with him, and rode with him. He was one of my biggest influencers, and I know there’s a number of these leading trainers today that started at Don Taylor’s place.”

Taylor kept Solberg in the cutting pen by letting him ride and show horses from his barn, where Solberg kept finding success and winning at top cuttings. 

“That’s just the kind of guy Don was,” Solberg said. “He was one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, and I couldn’t be happier that he finally got his rightful place in the Hall of Fame this year.”

New to the cutting world, Solberg and Taylor attended the NCHA Futurity in the early 1970’s as spectators. It was there, Solberg had a dream to one day have a horse shown in the Futurity. A dream which seemed far-fetched at the time.

“Since Don and I went to the Futurity together, I’ve been blessed to have two horses shown in it,” Solberg said. “Jade Keller showed one of the horses, Mettalican Blue, and Cody Lamont showed the horse I show now, It Matters.”

Taking Solberg’s dream one step further, Metallican Blue will be shown by Solberg’s grandson, Zach Bahm, in this year’s Mercuria World Series of Cutting in Las Vegas. Bahm has followed his grandfather’s footsteps and has been competing in the NCHA since 2016.

Continuing the show career for It Matters following the 2017 Futurity, Solberg and Lamont traveled to Scottsdale, Arizona, for the Scottsdale Showdown. 

“The Scottsdale Showdown was a great show!” Solberg said excitedly. “We showed five of the nine days down there and made some pretty good runs.”

Solberg also enjoys participating in the Senior World Tour Weekend shows, which is a class any member 60 years of age or older can compete in any approved weekend show. Competitors can compete for end of the year points. The Top 15 riders will be recognized at theWorld Champions Award Banquet at the Futurity. 

“For us old farts, it’s nice to have an opportunity to be recognized by the NCHA,” Solberg said. “It continues to be a great deal because of the sponsor, Horizon Yachts, and Jo Ellard, who promotes it. Those guys don’t get enough thanks for all they do, because the Senior World Tour is a great deal, and they’re the ones who make it all possible for folks like me.”

Along with shows like the Scottsdale Showdown and the Senior World Tour, Solberg also helps put on weekend cuttings in North Dakota, where there will be six total cuttings this year. Solberg says these cuttings are perfect for getting started in cutting, as the entries are usually around 60 to 75 total.

Cutting isn’t the only important aspect of Solberg’s full life. Standing next to Solberg for 62 years is his biggest cheerleader in the stands, his wife Eileen. Together, they have built a family with children and grandchildren, who are making waves in the cutting world, as well. 

“My wife is my favorite woman,” Solberg said. “She has put up with my cutting horse addiction and encouraged me to continue with my addiction since day one.” 

Fifty years and hundreds of two-and-a-half minute moments are etched in Solberg’s mind, and even though he might need some extra assistance from a step stool getting into the saddle these days, he is still described by his peers as “poetry in motion” as soon as he enters the herd. Poetry that was born in 1968 on a cold day in Glendive, Montana.

The buzzer rang throughout the cold air at the arena. The two-and-a-half minutes were up for Solberg and his gelding, as they strolled out of the arena. 

“Ol’ T-dell had watched those cattle and made sure none of them got so far as 10 feet past him,” Solberg reflected. “The judge announced ‘74?’ like it was a question after we left the pen, and I said that sounded good to me.”

Solberg drove home with his wife, with T-dell in the trailer. In the back seat, was a championship trophy and a buckle, which would be the first of many. Solberg gifted his wife the buckle, which she still wears proudly today. 

“It’s been a great 50 years, I’m very proud of it and ready for all the years I still have ahead of me,” Solberg said. “A lot of people ask me, especially my doctors, when I’ll hang up my spurs, and I just say I’ll hang up my spurs when they put them on my casket.”