There is riding double and then there is doubling up. Doubling up allows a lot of weekend cutters like Jon Strain, 49, and his Colton, 13, to use a seasoned horse to good advantage and collect some earnings along the way.

“He’s an iron horse,” said Jon Strain of 11-year-old My Sporty Lena, a gelded son of Shorty Lena that he purchased two years ago.

Already this week at the NCHA Western National Championships in Ogden, Utah, Jon captured the $3,000 Novice Non-Pro reserve championship and Colton placed fifth in Junior Youth competition riding My Sporty Lena.

Later this week, Jon will ride the gelding in the Non-Pro division and Colton will show him in the $10,000 Amateur.

A general contractor from Black Forest near Colorado Springs, Strain and his siblings, Stacey (Warren), and Randy showed Quarter Horses as youngsters, when their mother Ruth-Ellen took them to shows. Jon won some cutting awards as a youth competitor, but later switched to team roping. He came back to cutting four years ago, after a 25-year hiatus.

“It wasn’t as much fun when my parents weren’t paying the bills,” he said. “Now I’m having a lot more fun. I build homes and the good news is that business is slow now, so I’ve got plenty of time to cut. The bad news is there’s no money to cut, so this (winnings on My Sporty Shorty) will help.” Jon also owns another horse, Cuttin Smart, which has earned him $150,000 in three years of showing.

“We’re real fortunate,” he said. “We’ve had some good horses and a family that likes to go. We all travel together.”

Stacey and Randy, also cut – Stacey was 2008 NCHA $10,000 Amateur world champion. Mom Ruth-Ellen also comes to all the events.  “Every time before I go show, my mother says, ‘Don’t embarrass the horse,'” noted Jon. “Those are good words to live by.” Photo: Jon, Ruth-Ellen and Colton Strain.