Campdrafting rises up the rankings as one of the nation’s richest horse sports

Campdrafting may not be able to fill the stands of Sydney's Olympic Stadium, but it can fill hundreds of acres of outback paddocks with well-kept horses and trucks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Nominations have been on the rise for the past 10 years and according to new research from the National Campdraft Council of Australia it is also becoming one of the richest horse sports in the country.

"Everyone knows that there's a lot of money generated from the racehorse industry. Campdrafting would nearly have to be second with what's involved now," the council's vice president Ron Berkley said.

"Some people spend a few thousand dollars a year and others spend $100,000 a year."

Horse breeder and campdrafter Huon Smith pats his horse before striding out in the Cloncurry Stockman's Challenge arena.

ABC Rural: Eric Barker

Campdrafting is a test of the competitor's ability to work cattle on horseback, as they cut one beast from a pack and work it in a specific pattern around an arena.

Events can take weeks, and keeping the horses trained is a daily activity.

But Mr Berkley said he was in it for the lifestyle.

"If you're in campdrafting you have a nice truck and a van and that's how you spend your annual holidays," he said.

"It's not like golf where you can park your clubs in the cupboard and pick them up and go for a round of nine holes every few weeks.

"If you're involved in it, you're involved full on."

Campdrafting to sell horses

Like most sports, campdrafting is primarily performed for competitive fun, but there is a diverse array of businesses making profit from the sport.

Huon Smith travels to campdrafts competing in the hope to sell his horses.

ABC Rural: Eric Barker

Huon and Colleen Smith are horse breeders based in south-east Queensland who have geared their business towards the campdraft industry.

Every year they travel to north Queensland, competing in campdrafts and hoping to make a sale.

"We sell horse out of here just because someone's seen our horses and like the way they go," Mr Smith said.

"This a very competitive industry these days and people are getting better and better and they really want to make sure that they've got the best article possible."

With the addition of some prestigious campdraft horse sales across the country, Mr Smith said some competitors were paying in excess of $100,000 for a horse.

"Campdraft horses have become quite and expensive product," he said.

"But there's also the other end of the scale where a good campdraft horse is available privately for $10,000-15,000."

Campdrafters lined up for their runs at one of the sport's most prestigious events, the Cloncurry Stockman's Challenge.

ABC Rural: Eric Barker

Cowboy hats for $600

Along with the standard of horses demanded by many campdrafters, fashion is also becoming more important at the events.

Based on the Darling Downs, Clayton Lavendar takes his clothes shop and cowboy hat tailoring business on the campdraft circuit for most of the year.

"People are getting really particular about their hats, it's a bit of a fashion statement," Mr Lavendar said.

Clayton Lavendar shapes a hat on the campdraft circuit, he sells some hats for $600.

ABC Rural: Eric Barker

He travels with an array of different coloured hats, a rack full of ribbons to decorate the brim, and a steam machine he uses to fold the hats into perfect shape.

"If they've got an image in their head we try and make it for them," he said.

"The hats are made in America so we spend a fair bit of time overseas, coming up with the colour schemes and patterns and all that sort of stuff."

Mr Lavendar said paying $600 for a cowboy hat was becoming more common in the sport.

"Not everyone, but a lot of people do want that bit of better quality," he said.

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