A deeper look into the booming interest in performance horses

Performance horse sports like camp-drafting and cutting are growing in popularity and is now attracting big money for horses, trainers and winners.

Transcript

00:00Campdrafting is regarded as a truly Australian sport.

00:06Born in the bush in the late 1800s when stockmen in cattle camps tested their skills in competitions for fun.

00:14The event has grown into organised and lucrative contests of bush horse skills in the country

00:20and is now capturing the attention of city based lawyers, doctors and business executives.

00:27At a camp draft clinic in Skow, NSW, people from all backgrounds have saddled up to learn the ins and outs of the sport.

00:35Go across, go across, look where your cow's head is.

00:38Bryce Chapman is from North Narrabeen in Sydney. This is only his second time having a crack at drafting.

00:46I've been wanting to do camp drafting for a long time. At 58 I thought I'd better start doing it now, otherwise I'll never do it.

00:53Set, set, set.

00:55The nerves were up, the heart was beating fairly fiercely, but once I was out you kind of forget all that,

01:00you just focus on the job at hand, the cow running ahead of you and you have a lot of trust in the horse.

01:06And the horse, you know, Chip, he looks after me very well, so it was good, I loved it.

01:11The post-COVID trend has seen the value of horses and breeding climb immensely.

01:17There are a number of disciplines that fall under the performance horse umbrella.

01:23The US contest of cutting is similar to camp draft, where a rider has just a few minutes

01:29to separate two or three cattle from the herd without the obstacle course.

01:34Another sign of the growing popularity was a special guest appearance at this year's

01:39National Cutting Futurity event in Temworth by Texan Courtney DeHoff.

01:44She's a popular Western horse sport television and social media presenter

01:49who has been watching the Aussie interest in cutting.

01:52Oh, you're sweet. How old did you say you were?

01:55Four.

01:56Oh, you're a big girl.

01:58There are Australians who have won the American Futurity, so you know,

02:01some of the best trainers in the world are coming from down under.

02:05On her own home soil, Courtney DeHoff says the sport continues to boom.

02:10You're seeing for the first time in the performance horse industry,

02:13they're really competing for hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars even,

02:16depending on the opportunity.

02:17And, you know, 10, 15 years ago, it wasn't, you know, it just wasn't a thing.

02:22And it's been really cool because with these opportunities,

02:25the horses are getting better, you know.

02:27Everything sort of is leveling up.