Horse sports boom in the country with increasing value and demand for performance horses

ABC NEWS (Australia)

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.

Transcript

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.

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