Cliff and Marieka Wallace, Poowong, prepare for the NCHA Futurity

Cliff and Marieka Wallace have spent the past 30 years following the National Cutting Horse Association shows at Tamworth and breeding their successful line of mares to compete.

Mr and Mrs Wallace are travelling to Tamworth tomorrow for this year's NCHA Futurity events to see six of their horses compete.

More than 500 competitors flock to take part and about 15,000 spectators watch across a two-week program.

In a cutting contest, a trained horse and its rider have two-and-a-half minutes to separate 2-3 cattle from a herd and maintain control.

Mr Wallace said he believed temperament was an important trait in cutting horses.

"A good cutting horse is like a good working dog," he said.

"The instinct to work cattle is bred in them, you can't train a Labrador to herd cows and you can't train an [Arabian horse] to herd cattle.

"They're quiet but they've got a bit of feel about them."

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In 1993, Mr and Mrs Wallace first purchased six-month-old horse Petas Oak, which was shown in Rockhampton and in 1997, she was shown at Koo Wee Rup.

Her daughter, Peta Royelle, placed third in the NCHA Futurity, and placed in all four Futurity competitions across Australia.

She placed fifth in the NCHA Derby and several other competitions around Australia before she retired and eventually had her daughter, Royelles Dual Rae in 2009.

Mr Wallace said experienced horse trainer Aaron Wheatley started working with Royelles Dual Rae as a mare and described her as an "exceptional horse".

Royelles Dual Rae eventually made finals at the NCHA Cutting Futurity, before Mr Wheatley's wife Lindsey started competing with her.

"From then on, Lindsey and her just clicked, and she won the classic in Tamworth before winning the Victoria the same year, then went to Tamworth and won the national finals in one of the novices," Mr Wallace said.

In her fifth and sixth years, Royelles Dual Rae had won the NCHA Classic Challenge and Victoria Futurity and the National Finals Novice.

"It's come through in all her progeny," Mr Wallace said.

"We've got a lot of friends that say when I stop riding her and have to ride another horse, it's like stepping from a Rolls Royce to a Mini Minor."

Royelles Dual Rae went on to have Petas Sugar Rae, who was a finalist in the NCHA Futurity and Victoria Classic Challenge in 2022, and the NCHA Scone Derby Champion in 2021.

Mr Wallace said his grandfather was a horse breeder and trader, before his father owned horses and Mr Wallace started riding horses when he was a child.

He said he started competing in cutting about 12 years ago.

Mrs Wallace said the sport had a great community and they looked forward to travelling to Tamworth each year to take part.

"It's amazing the different walks of life that get involved [in the sport]," she said.

"There's farmers, doctors, teachers, pilots, people from every background."

Mr and Mrs Wallace also celebrated the arrival of twin foals recently, but hoped to downsize in the coming years.

They are expecting four foals this year.