How did the Campdraft get its name?

[Akubra Man]

Does anybody know the origin of the name for the Campdraft. From Open Road to Campdraft seems a very big jump and I have been wondering where the moniker came from

 

[Corky]

"Camp Draft" is an Australian equestrian sport similar to a Texas "Rodeo"...

"Camp Draft" is an Australian equestrian sport similar to a Texas "Rodeo", but one that also involves the cutting and guiding skills found in Sheep Dog trials.

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 herd (or to use the Aussie term, 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 this unique Australian sport.

The sport is conducted in a set of yards attached to an arena and requires the competitor to "cut out" a beast from the yard or "camp", follow it out through the open gate into the arena where he must guide the beast around a course of a right and left hand turns before guiding it through a gate, all in a few short minutes.
Points are scored by horse and rider for cut out, horse work and course completion, from a possible total of 100 points. A good campdrafter is not just a fine horseman, but has the skill to select a suitable beast from the mob that will run well.

The prestige associated with a win in a campdraft of several hundred competitors is invaluable to the owner of the horse, as the winning horse is ranked among the finest stock horses in the country.

 

[gtdean48]

Seems a lot like Reined Cow Horse here in the states without the dry work, reining pattern.

 

[Akubra Man]

Thanks

Thanks for the explanation ... I was not expecting that at all but it does make sense given Akubras pattern of naming hats after things Australian.

 

[suitedcboy]

Off topic but...

AkubraMan, do Manitobans often play "keep-away" with polar bears in the winter as shown in your avatar?
I love that photo!

 

[Chuck Bobuck]

"Camp Draft" is an Australian equestrian sport similar to a Texas "Rodeo", but one that also involves the cutting and guiding skills found in Sheep Dog trials.

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 herd (or to use the Aussie term, 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 this unique Australian sport.

The sport is conducted in a set of yards attached to an arena and requires the competitor to "cut out" a beast from the yard or "camp", follow it out through the open gate into the arena where he must guide the beast around a course of a right and left hand turns before guiding it through a gate, all in a few short minutes.
Points are scored by horse and rider for cut out, horse work and course completion, from a possible total of 100 points. A good campdrafter is not just a fine horseman, but has the skill to select a suitable beast from the mob that will run well.

The prestige associated with a win in a campdraft of several hundred competitors is invaluable to the owner of the horse, as the winning horse is ranked among the finest stock horses in the country.

There goes my sitting around the fire at a drafty campsite theory.

 

[Akubra Man]

Off topic but...

AkubraMan, do Manitobans often play "keep-away" with polar bears in the winter as shown in your avatar?
I love that photo!

This photo is of an encounter between a land surveyor and a polar bear in Barrow, Alaska. While, Barrow is the northernmost town of the United States, 340 miles north of the Arctic Circle. This kind of photo could easily have been taken at home in my province in a town on the shore of Hudson bay.

Here is the link to the story and more photos of the action.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1102347/Chilling-game-hide-seek-hungry-polar-bear.html


I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba which is 45 Minutes from the US border at North Dakota. The photo is from a town about 650 miles north of Winnipeg on Hudson Bay called Churchill. Churchill is the Polar Bear capitol of the world. Every fall these amazing animals gather near Churchill waiting for the Bay ice to freeze over so they can venture out to hunt seal. A whole industry has grown up around the bears offering tours to view them in giant tundra buggy's.

For those who prefer a more intimate encounter the local dump offers an eye to eye viewing fest.

We have excellent black bear encounters to the east of Winnipeg some 100 miles in the Whiteshell provincial park and in Kenora, Ontario. In Kenora people and black bears have been known to share the parking lot behind a few different hotels as the bears dine in the garbage and people hustle from car to hotel some 50 feet from the bears. The same experience can be had to the west in Riding Mountain National Park which is located approximately 220 miles from Winnipeg. We have plenty of garbage bears.

I have had the opportunity to meet the bears at all three locations and the Kenora hotel parking lot experience was the most unnerving. No guide no Tundra buggy to keep you safe just me and the bears. A couple the size of big dogs and three real big ones rooting for leftovers. Occasionally they looked up but mostly kept on the task of eating garbage.

Grizzly have been spotted in Northern Manitoba last year and that is very exciting. Hopefully, they can rebuild their population here.

Manitoba is an outdoor lovers paradise...we have hundreds of thousands of square miles of forest land and a hundred thousand lakes. Fishing, hunting, camping is all here within an hour drive from my home.

Here are a couple of links to Church hill bear tours:

http://www.tundrabuggy.com/

http://www.churchillpolarbears.com/

Edit: Back in 2001 a driver hit and killed a world record size black bear. It weighed in at 886 pounds... that is grizzly bear size ... and his car was destroyed. This took place approximately 60 miles from Winnipeg to the north near grand Beach provincial park.