Horse sports boom in the country with increasing value and demand for performance horses
Horse sports are booming in the country. Those in the industry say post-COVID, sports like campdrafting and cutting are attracting big money. But it isn't just those in the bush taking part, city-based competitors and owners are also saddling up.
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00:00Go across, go across, look where your cow's head is.
00:04Bryce Chapman might live in Sydney, but he's addicted to camp drafting.
00:10This is only his second go.
00:12I've been wanting to do camp drafting for a long time.
00:15At 58 I thought I'd better start doing it now, otherwise I'll never do it.
00:21It's all about horse and rider manoeuvring a beast around the course and through the
00:26final gate.
00:27Bryce is already showing promise.
00:30The nerves were up, the heart was beating fairly fiercely, but once I was out you kind
00:35of forget all that.
00:37This is an opportunity where they can come to us with a horse, fine-tune their skills
00:43and their knowledge of the sport, understand the safety risks.
00:47The US contest of cutting is also growing in popularity in Australia.
00:52The post-COVID trend has seen the value of horses climb immensely.
00:56Two years ago in Tamworth, the nation's biggest performance horse sale broke records, grossing
01:01more than $17 million across five days.
01:05Years ago if we said 20,000, 25,000 people were like, I'd never pay that for a horse
01:09in my life.
01:10Now that's probably only half a horse.
01:12Many in the performance horse industry say that the value has been vastly underestimated
01:18until now.
01:19And for trainers like Matt Oakley, that means they can have full-time careers that support
01:24their families and to their dreams.
01:27To know that this business is heading the right way and the industry is on track for
01:33a long time and a big future, it's pretty exciting.
01:35Good boy, keep going.
01:37Stop.
01:38A future where little riders are getting ready to fill some big boots.