Horses,  The Bush

Campdrafting – the fence-sitters guide

April 14, 2008 / 19 Comments
This past weekend, horsemen and women from near and far gathered at a paddock almost an hour’s drive from Granite Glen. Dozens and dozens of goosenecks, horse floats, and trucks both old and new, descended on this particular paddock as they do every year on this weekend.
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They brought their best and most competitive horses, these men and women. Many own or work cattle properties. Many don’t. Some are even desk jockeys in their 9-5 careers. Some are young – barely in their teens. Others are in their 70’s. But out here, in this paddock, they are simply campdrafters.
(Note to my non-horsey people – hang in there and enjoy the photos… there’s a couple worth waiting for at the end!)
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Campdrafting is an amazing, fast, skilful, often thrilling, sometimes dangerous sport born in this part of the world. According to the official campdrafting website :
The sport of campdrafting has its origins in the early days of the Australian stockman, and is believed to have begun in rural Queensland in the early part of the twentieth century.
When drovers needed to select individual cattle from a mob to drive them to a separate holding area, the stockman would “cut out” the beast from the mob. This was achieved through the skills of the horse and rider to block the attempts of the beast to follow his natural instincts in returning to the mob. This was usually done when large mobs of cattle were mustered together and held by a team of horsemen on the open plain, while the nominated rider did the “cutting out”. Over time, stockmen developed competitions based around this activity, which have evolved into the uniquely Australian sport as we know it today.
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My own family have competed in this sport for decades. My Dad was a pretty hot competitor until both his knees gave up on him. His mother was Australian champion for three years. My brother continues to compete. I DID try it out when I was in my late teens, and loved it. Although I am not nearly fearless enough a rider to be successful, the thrill of getting a ’round’ was quite a buzz. I’m happy just to sit quietly on an old hack these days. But back to the “real riders”.
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For those not au fait with this sport, I’ll try and explain.
(The fence-sitters version).
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A judge sits astride a horse in the campdraft arena with a whip slung over one shoulder – s/he will score the horse and rider on three things:
Cutout (max 26 points)
Horsework (max 70 points)
Course (max 4 points).
Confused yet? Don’t be.
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THE CUTOUT
A mob of cattle (say eight to ten) are put into a yard called the “camp”. The competitor will enter the camp and select one animal (we call an individual bovine – regardless of gender – a ‘beast’ … luckily they don’t seem to take offence).

The competitor then has to seperate it from the mob cleanly and quickly and take it to the front of the camp. Gates at the front of this area lead out to a large arena, and at the command of the rider, the gates are opened. The judge decides how much skill and precision the horse and rider have shown in this section and award points accordingly.
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You lose points for the beast moving back towards the mob, and if the chosen beast gets back to the mob twice, the judge cracks the whip. This ain’t good. Cracked off in the camp means no score. The rider slinks off and hopes no-one is looking.

When it is done well, the cut-out is like equine-bovine ballet – they face each other and the horse responds almost instantaneously to the beast, mirroring its moves.

The rider here is one of our neighbours. We’ll call him Harv. This is his wife, Elle.

She gets all nervous and wrought up when Harv rides. She’s a great chick and she makes me laugh. Specially when she does stuff like this. These two are also the biggest party animals of all time. But I’ll save that for another post.
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So the rider is ready to leave the camp and calls out “Let’s go” or something to that effect, the gates open, and with any luck, the beast, horse and rider head out those gates and onto the course proper.
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THE COURSE
Consists of four ‘pegs’ making up three challenges – a first peg, a second peg and a gate (two pegs). They need to be negoitated as such:

This is a right-hand course. You can also have a left-hand course, which is usually only for advanced competitions.

First peg is worth two points, the second peg worth one point (total 3) and the gate is worth one point (total 4).
A missed peg can be renegotiated – but miss twice and that dreaded whip cracks. No score.

Getting all four points (and through the final gate) is a Full Course. This is my cousin’s hubby Jay – he got a full course and had to donate $2 to the St John Ambulance for losing his hat! We don’t let anyone get away with anything – keeps us grounded!

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HORSEWORK

Depending on the kind of cattle being used for the campdraft, the course is usually negotiated pretty fast.

No trotting or Saturday afternoon hacking around here my friends.

Galloping and flying changes are required in the arena.
The skill is in guiding the beast around this pegs as tightly as possibly – the faster the time, the higher the horsework score.
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If (unlike me) you can add up you’ll see that the ultimate score is 100. I have never seen this achieved. A 90 is a pretty amazing score. I think there was one all weekend (about 200 runs).
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The really great thing about this sport is that it brings together such hardworking people whose skills are usually hidden away on properties. They are passionate about their sport and their horses, and spectators like me get to soak in the spectacle and smell of horse sweat and saddles. Mmmmmm … and they get to fall in love with glorious steeds like this one:

SSB was getting concerned that I worked on this photo for so long… but he needn’t get jealous. The owner rider here is Ken May, a famous Aussie horse handler. Sorry Ken, you rode great and all, but I can’t stop looking at your stallion!

Isn’t he divine?

Eye-candy for horse lovers!
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So there you go – The fence-sitters’ guide to campdrafting.

BB

PS I wish I could say this was me, fence-sitting. But my butt fills out (and overflows) my Levis a little more thoroughly than this! So we’ll sign off with my friend W’s butt and spurs instead. She not only looks great on a fence, she’s a great horsewoman as well. Lucky I’m not the envious type. Not really.

Happy horsemanship (or fencemanship)!

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19 Comments

  • jeanie
    April 14, 2008 at 11:05 am Reply

    Oh to have a half decent camera! Great shots and really wonderful explanation.

    You didn’t mention that if there were no such thing as campdrafting, there would be no such thing as us – we owe our very existence to it in a way.

    Good luck on getting comments though – I have mentioned campdrafting twice in my blogging career, and it equates to nary a comment – sort of the Bermuda triangle effect.

  • Bush Babe (of Granite Glen)
    April 14, 2008 at 11:26 am Reply

    Jeanie… well I have two now!! Gotta be happy with that! C’mon people… comment just to show me your love (even if you are as confused as hey about campdrafting!)

  • Alison
    April 14, 2008 at 12:44 pm Reply

    Great explanation and gorgeous pics!
    I think it’s hard to comment on campdrafting unless you’ve experienced it. We really need to invent scratch and sniff computer screens – there is nothing like a good leather/stallion sweat scent.

  • debby
    April 15, 2008 at 2:23 am Reply

    Sounds like fun, but fence sitting with spurs…guaranteed that I’d hurt myself, being all ungraceful and stuff.

    Feeling loved?

  • Raising Country Kids
    April 15, 2008 at 5:06 am Reply

    Wow. I am in awe of your photography (once again). If only you lived on the same continent so that you could give me lessons on how to capture such clear pics in such a challenging environment.

    I found the campdrafting talk rather interesting. I suppose that’s because we have similar horsey events in these parts.

  • Bush Babe (of Granite Glen)
    April 15, 2008 at 7:43 am Reply

    Jeanie – see? People ARE interested… you just gotta get some horsey readers to your joint!

    Alison – hmmmm, scratch and sniff screens would be great for campdrafts. Maybe not for branding and feedlot stories so much. That might be stretching a few friendships!

    Deb – I don’t wear spurs. Those spurs belonged to a couple who REALLY know how to use ’em. They are lithe and agile (unlike me). And thanks for the love. I feel so needy…

    RCK – I think anyone who loves horses would enjoy campdrafting… but I am biased! It’s better than cutting etc because so much is required of horse and rider… as for photos… position, position, position. And take a HEAP. Here endeth the lesson!

    BB

  • I'm Mikey
    April 15, 2008 at 3:18 pm Reply

    That rocks big time!!! Love it! Thought it would be like our version of team sorting, except it’s solo. And there’s a course.
    I’m getting all kinds of ideas here.. hmm, thanks 🙂
    Been to your blog before, must bookmark. LOVE your pics and commentary. A nice peek into Australia!

  • jeanie
    April 15, 2008 at 8:26 pm Reply

    Bushbabe – the problem with my joint and horsy people is I so rarely have action shots of equines available.

    Galloping sunflowers – can do… Long rambling words about bellybutton fluff – I am your girl… Occasional ideas for future counselling sessions for various members of my family – my speciality!

    Speaking of which – Debby – there are lots of things that involve “if only” in our family lore that led to the blessing of our presence, but campdrafting is a special one.

  • debby
    April 16, 2008 at 8:35 pm Reply

    Jeanie: that is only the first sentence of a story.

    *waits patiently*

    BB: Thanks for goading PW about the long horn. This has been niggling at me since I saw the picture. I REEEEAAALY want to know about the half ton of beef magically appearing.

  • Bush Babe (of Granite Glen)
    April 16, 2008 at 10:25 pm Reply

    OK Jeanie you have really started somethin’ here… this is not a two-par explanation Deb. We shall have to confer behind our books for a few minutes/days and come up with a good post on this teaser from my baby sis.

    Hang tight Mother Goose!!! (And I mean that in the nicest possible way… anyone ever seen Kenny Everett??)

    BB

  • baby~amore'
    April 16, 2008 at 10:51 pm Reply

    wow – I bet everyone is on the edge of their seat when it is all a ‘happening’
    Great pictures and diagrams.

    I agree with Alison on the scratch and sniff LOL – sans poop smells.

  • debby
    April 17, 2008 at 7:29 am Reply

    I’m a patient goose, although, I’ve not seen Kenny Everett.
    I just need to hear the story from Jeanie’s very first sentence to your ‘happily ever after’.

    *still waits patiently*

  • Trailboss
    November 19, 2008 at 11:11 pm Reply

    Came over here from ponygirl. Love the eye candy for horse lovers. What a beautiful stallion. I too couldn’t stop looking at him. He almost looks blue doesn’t he? I will be back on your blog A LOT!

  • Adventures Of A Horse Crazed Mind
    November 20, 2008 at 5:02 am Reply

    Hi there! I am so excited to have found your blog and lucked out in getting to see this post!! I came over from ponygirl. I have been dreaming of visiting Australia since I started watching Mcleods Daughters back in 2002. I swear that I am the only person in Canada who watches that show! I fell in love with the Australian Stock Horse and actually looked into importing one back in 2004. Some lady in Calgary, Alberta (canada) beat me to it and offically had the first imported ASH. I still dream of owning one some day and would love to spend a few months in Australa watching the campdrafting and visting all the big stud farms.

    I planned on doing a post on the ASH soon so might have to do that tonight or tomorrow now. Stop by if you get a minute and dont be shy to correct anything!

    Chelsi
    British Columbia, Canada

  • Anonymous
    December 11, 2008 at 2:44 am Reply

    Oh wow!!! It looks like your famous rider is using a CA saddle. I’ve got two and love them, but not quite as much as my Aussie.

    Remudamom

  • Anonymous
    January 20, 2009 at 11:23 am Reply

    Hi Bushbabe!

    I must be one of the few- I actually did a search on “campdrafting” and “blog” and found you!

    Beautiful images, and a great explanation of the mechanics of campdrafting…bravo

    Although I have not competed in a campdraft, I have practiced on an old campdraft mare- oh my, it was so long ago- half my life ago, but I can still feel the exhilaration, smell the leather and sweat, and feel the horse moving under me, whirling around on her hind legs, truly watching the beast she picked out (not me, I was just along for the ride!)

    Ahh.. memories. Maybe one day I’ll have a horse again… dreamin…!

    Your new friend!

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