Matthew Blewitt

As the 2005 Todd Drummond Award winner, Matthew Blewitt has won his share of cuttings and received some nice awards through the National Youth Cutting Horse Association's awards programs. The 17-year-old cutter says his biggest honor, though, was being asked to offer the prayer at the NYCHA Convention.

"I had about three minutes warning," Blewitt said. "After that, I went up and received a couple of awards— one for LEAP and one for making the Eastern Nationals finals. But out of all of the honors I had at the Derby, for Joe Howard Williamson to come up and ask me to say the prayer was probably the biggest honor."

The son of cutting horse trainer Michael and Jeanette Blewitt, Matthew Blewitt's faith shines through in everything he does. Unlike many trainer's kids, Blewitt didn't grow up showing cutting horses. He didn't step into the competitive arena until 2001, when he borrowed Humble Hickory, a 14-year-old gelding owned by Charlie Petrizzo.

"The first year was kind of rough," said Blewitt. "The first six or seven times I showed I think I scored 60s. I think I got a total of three points out of the 25 times I showed."

Before the 2002 season rolled around, the Blewitt family moved, a common occurrence that Matthew Blewitt has been through at least 10 times in his lifetime. They settled in Wingate, North Carolina, and Blewitt soon lined up another cutting mount.

"We met some friends where we were living and they had an even older gelding—he was 17 or 18. And they offered to let me show him. He had been in the top 10 of the world years ago," Blewitt said of Fancy Doc Star. "He was just an old gelding. He wasn't very pretty, and he was a cribber. That year I did real good. I got 18 points on him, and I scored seven 73s that year, a 74 and a 76 on him."

Since then, Blewitt has amassed more than $6,000 in scholarship monies, which he plans to use to attend college and become a chiropractor. He has won the Area 18 Scholarship Cutting twice with two different horses, and qualified for the Eastern National Championships in Jackson, Mississippi.

It was at the Eastern National Championships that Blewitt presented a proposal to the NYCHA. Blewitt, who is serving his first year as an NYCHA Area Director, noticed that many NYCHA Directors failed to fulfill their duties as Directors. Wanting to change that fact, Blewitt developed the Outstanding Area Director (OAD) program, which will go into effect in January, 2006.

"It's actually kind of funny, because my mom sells Mary Kay, and that's the way that they get their makeup consultants to sell their stuff, is they reward them for doing it. So I actually designed (the OAD program) after Mary Kay," Blewitt said with a smile. "It will be a program that rewards Area Directors for fulfilling their duties and getting stallion donations."

NYCHA Area Directors who fulfill their duties will be eligible to receive one of two scholarships and 15 vests, while the top two Area Directors will receive $400 Gist bits. Blewitt will be working out the final details when he travels to Fort Worth this December to pick up his Todd Drummond Award.

"I'd really like to thank everyone who has helped me along the way. Everyone's always been real nice to me, they've always been real supportive of our youth out here," said Blewitt, who has two more years to compete as a youth. "It's really an honor to receive this award."

After picking up his award, you can bet Blewitt won't be resting for long. He plans to return to Augusta, this time with Sixes CD, a horse he showed this year, marking 76 points on NCHA Day. He will also be continuing the area fundraisers he and fellow NYCHA Director Priscilla Crawley started this year, raising money to help local families in need.

"One family we raised money for, they weren't supposed to find out where the money came from," recalled Blewitt. "But the secretary of the affiliate told them, and they sent a great thank you card that said, ‘you only ever hear about the bad things that young people do, but your kindness and generosity have showed us that our world is in good hands.' As an Area Director and as a youth, that's kind of my goal, is to show everyone else that they can trust us." Thanks to Blewitt's dedication, commitment and enthusiasm, it's a goal he keeps accomplishing, day after day.

Todd Drummond Award Winner of 2005