Horses that showed a unique awareness of cattle, a kind of wariness with ears perked and eyes focused on the herd, were the elite members of the remuda.

[1] It was worth the trip to brush country just to sit above Ol' Gotch and feel his shoulders roll, watch his ears work and his head drop low when he looked an old steer in the eye.

Mechanical devices, such as squeeze chutes, eliminated the need for cowboys on cutting horses to separate a single cow from the herd for routine maintenance such as deworming, spraying, and annual vaccinations.

Motorized vehicles, such as ATVs, trucks[4] and in some cases helicopters, replaced horses for overseeing and rounding up cattle.

[7] The 1919 Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show in Fort Worth, Texas marked a milestone as the first recorded cutting horse exhibition.