Sort Pink!  Ridin' For The Cause!

Brought to you by Tough Enough to Wear Pink of Montana   

Our heartfelt thanks to all that competed, sponsored, donated and volunteered for the 2010 Sort Pink event.  Because of you, Sort Pink was able to contribute $20,000 to Tough Enough to Wear Pink of Montana, which will directly help our Montana neighbors dealing with breast cancer.  Thank you.

There are many ways you can help.  Contact us HERE  if you would like information on how you can help support this worthy cause.

Sort Pink is on You Tube!

Go to www.youtube.com and search "Sort Pink Team Sorting" to find 3 videos filled with the great images taken by Andrew Kemmis Photography during both days of the 2010 event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFexcs4bDgg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxZ0XK7sfzA

April 24 & 25, 2010   Special Events 

Vendors Longhorn Trading Co, Performance Tack and Feed 

Full Concessions by Up N Smokin

Steak Dinner Saturday, starting at 4:30. $10 to contestants and $15 to others. What a deal!

Silent Auction of many fine items (see a partial list on the Sponsors Page) begins closing at 5pm on Saturday. 

DON'T MISS the Calcutta of the Celebrity Teams at 1pm on Saturday, followed by the Celebrity Sorting. One lucky bidder will win 1/2 of the pot and the other 1/2 goes to Tough Enough to Wear Pink of MT! 

Professional Photographer Andrew Kemmis will be photographing all the action for us this year and 25% of the proceeds of purchased photos will be donated back to Tough Enough to Wear Pink of MT!

 1st Annual 2009 Sort Pink Celebrity Sorting - SMASHING SUCCESS!  Click HERE for the details! 

While the 2009 Sort Pink event was a great success for Tough Enough to Wear Pink of Montana, we believe that we can improve the event for 2010 to the benefit of all of the wonderful contestants who participated.  We recognize that without your support, the event could not generate the benefits to Tough Enough to Wear Pink of Montana.

We have several ideas on how to improve the event that will be incorporated into our planning, and we encourage those who participated in the event to share your ideas about making the 2010 event even more successful, and enjoyable for the competitiors.

Please also check back to this web site throughout the year inasmuch as we will be announcing some material changes to the event format, rules, venue and schedule for our 2010 Sort Pink Celebrity Sorting.

Read on to learn more about the Tough Enough to Wear Pink of Montana - 2010 Sort Pink Celebrity Team Sorting. 

You don't need to be the first to register your team for this celebrity team sorting event, but you sure don't want to be the last because entries will be limited for the day!

Whether you have never used your horse in a competitive cattle sorting event, or you are a professional team sorting champion, you are invited to join us and support a great cause! We will have classes specifically designed for the absolute beginner at the sport all the way up to a Pro-Open, unlimited rating class!

No matter which classes you choose to participate in, there will be a jackpot for you to win and even a trophy buckle that you might just take home! No matter win, lose or draw, you will be supporting a wonderful charity organization that helps Montana women deal with their battle against breast cancer!

This year's event set the stage for the 2010 Sort Pink event in support of the Tough Enough to Wear Pink of Montana organization. In addition to the peer-to-peer level jackpot classes, we will have a Celebrity Sorting with local, regional and state celebrities (some of whom have never even been on a horse before!) in a head-to-head Ranch Sorting competition. Come watch these celebrities show that they too are Tough Enough to Sort Pink! Buy your favorite celebrity team in the Pink Calcutta and get the chance to win big if your team tops the sorting competition!

If you would like more information, you can visit the other pages of our web site, or send us an e-mail and we will be happy to answer any questions you might have. We do ask that you pre-register your teams so that we can plan the day's operation to be a smooth, successful event for you, and for the Women of Montana suffering with breast cancer.

Never heard of Ranch Sorting before?

Ranch sorting (aka Team Sorting or Cattle Sorting) is a sport that was born in the ranches and feed lots of the Great Northwest. Just like the cowboys on the ranch have to pick out, separate and move cattle from a herd into smaller groups, the sport of Ranch Sorting involves Cowboys, Cowgirls and Cowkids with their horses.

While the concept is the same, the spirit of the event differs from traditional ranch or feed-lot sorting. The real cowboys might use their skill and their horse to split a cow-calf pair for weaning, or cull out a sick heifer for doctoring. The competitors at a Ranch Sorting employ the same skills and horsemanship to split out cattle from a small herd of 11 cattle, based on the number plate visible on the back of the animal, and move them from one holding pen into another. The big difference is that the real cowboys don't have a stop-watch running in the background to measure their speed and efficiency!

The sport of Ranch Sorting consists of two adjoining 60 foot diameter pens that share a common "gate". The "gate" is really nothing more than a 12-16 foot opening between the two pens. At the beginning of the competition for each team (typically 2 mounted riders), the herd (usually 11 cattle) is resting quietly at the back-end of one pen, while the competitors stage themselves in the other pen. Each of the cattle bears a number plate which is highly visible on the animals back. Each cow having a different number from 0 to 9. In a herd of 11, that accounts for 10 cows. The 11th cow bears no number plate (or tag) and is commonly referred to as "the dirty".

When the event judge is ready for the team to begin their run, a flag is raised and the announcer will declare "the flag is up", which is the competitors queue that they can approach the cattle and start their sorting job. Once a competitor moves from their original pen into the cattle pen, the judge drops their flag, starts a timer and the announcer calls out a random number from 0 to 9. The game is on! The team's objective is to start with the cow bearing the number that the announcer provided and work sequentially through the remaining 9 numbers while skipping the "dirty". Each cow is to be sorted out of the herd and moved into the adjacent pen, in order. Simple as pie!

Where the fun really starts to roll and everyone in the arena (especially the competitors) start to get the adrenalin running is when the cows have a different idea about the job than the competitors do! The rules are pretty simple. It is a timed event and there is a time limit for each team. The more cows you successfully sort, the better your chances of winning some money or even taking home the Buckle. At the end of the competition, the team with the most cows in the least amount of time wins.

It is truly a sport for the entire family! It is particularly fun for anyone who enjoys their horse and being around a bunch of fun-loving friendly folks. Skill and experience are NOT REQUIRED! Heck, everyone had to do it for the first time some time! In fact, at the Sort Pink Celebrity Ranch Sorting, we have design tiered classes to keep the level of competition on as level a playing field as possible. Every team in a class will be as evenly matched with the other teams in the class as we can make them. Plus, there will be classes for ALL levels of skill from the absolute beginner, to the small handful of competitors who view the sport as a means of income.

If you can fog up a mirror, and have a horse that's been standing around all winter without a job, this is THE perfect opportunity for you to get him/her out of the pasture and reacquaint yourselves.

Please come join us for a day of fun with friends, horses and celebrities as we raise money for the Tough Enough to Wear Pink of Montana organization.