About Scott Amos

Scott was raised in Colorado and always possessed a passion for the outdoors. As a kid, Scott competed in numerous equine disciplines and earned the All-Around Cowboy title in Junior Rodeo at age 15. He also received national recognition for his role in the community as well as his academic accomplishments while in high school. Upon graduating, Scott pursued his love of training horses and turned his focus on the cutting pen. He competed in several apprenticeships with numerous renowned horsemen before embarking on his own professional career in the early 90’s.

Scott is an NCHA Hall of Fame rider and a leading trainer in the cutting horse industry. Some of his accomplishments include 4-time Western Nationals Open Champion, numerous Wyoming Open Futurity Championships, and NCHA Triple Crown events, finalist. Recent wins include the Open Championships at the Idaho Futurity in both the 3-year-old and 5 to 6-year-old competitions as well.

Getting to know Scott

How I got started: Our family raised horses on our ranch at Newcastle Co. Dad did cowhorse training, and I went rodeoing and then hung around cutting and got involved. Tim Denton and Winston Hansma helped me a lot.

Biggest mistake I’ve made in cutting: Something I’ve always struggled with is being too picky, too precise. I’ve probably wasted a lot of time trying to make a horse something he is not.

Biggest myth about cutting: That it’s easy! There are so many components that have to come together to have a good run, from your horse being prepared, the rider being mentally focused and of course cutting good cows.

Favorite quote: “No pain, no gain!” I believe there is no greater reward than that which comes from hard work. From my father.

Most memorable moment in cutting: Winning Las Vegas 2002 Futurity on Pobres Cat because my whole family was there.

Training philosophy: I don’t know that I have a “philosophy” per say because I’m always evolving and learning. But I place a lot of emphasis on the horse’s foundation before I ask them to cut. We use our 2-year-olds a lot out here on the ranch so they get exposed to a lot of things and learn to think for themselves. Therefore I like to train a horse to be versatile in everything.

No Such Thing as Limitations

The word “limitations” has never been in the vocabulary of Scott Amos. Even after losing the lower portion of his left leg in a tractor accident. Scott Amos has gone on to fulfill his dreams of becoming an accomplished horseman.

From playing football and baseball to roping and riding saddle broncs, Scott has always had a competitive streak.

At 15, Scott won the All Around Cowboy title in Junior Rodeo and was later nationally recognized for superior academics and community involvement.

Following several apprenticeships with many renowned horse trainers, Scott began his own training operation in the early 90’s. That program has now blossomed into not only a successful program for Scott and his horses, but also for numerous youth, amateur and non-pro riders. Scott was recently featured on RFD-TV’s “The Ride with Cord McCoy”, and makes regular appearances in many of the performance horse industry’s leading publications, such as the Quarter Horse News and The Cutting Horse Chatter.