Lindy Burch: Cutting's First Lady
by Sally Harrison

In 1980, when Lindy Burch became the first woman to win the NCHA Futurity, the media played gender to the hilt. But Burch's real accomplishment was her score of 225.5 points - an NCHA Futurity record that still stands. It was just her third time to ride in the Futurity and she had won the reserve championship the year before. Only four other riders have earned back-to-back open NCHA Futurity titles: Buster Welch, Shorty Freeman, Leroy Ashcraft and Bill Freeman.

Today, Burch is one of the sport's all-time leading money earners. She splits her time between the famous Oxbow Ranch and her own new 160-acre facility near Weatherford, Texas. But the long road to Texas began on the backstretch of a Thoroughbred track near Los Angeles.

Growing up in Southern California, Burch spent weekends and summers exploring Van Nuys and Sepulveda Dam on horseback. Her father, a machine shop owner, enjoyed trail and endurance competition and from the time she was a toddler Burch often rode with him.

"I grew up on horses like most kids do on bikes," says Burch, who had her own horse, Beaver, when she was five. "I'd leave the house at daylight in the summer and be gone until dark." Burch's mother, who was afraid of horses, insisted that her daughter report home during the day, so Burch devised her own long distance system.

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