Claire Lindley, winner of the Junior section.
The Gundagai Showgrounds were host to the annual Battle on the Bidgee Stockman’s Challenge on October 10-12, where Australia’s best horsemen and women travel to Gundagai to compete in a Stockman’s Challenge that includes various challenges such as campdrafting, bareback, cross country, whip cracking, bucking bulls and so much more.
Shane Piper from the Battle On The Bidgee said it was a fantastic weekend.
“It was probably the best competition we’ve run in our 14 years. It ran to the timetable, the actual challenge itself was very good, with a lot of compliments from competitors and families, the actual competition was a huge success.”
“It was as strong a field as we’ve seen for quite a few years in all divisions – the Open, Ladies and the Juniors. The Campdraft went very well, and all our Campdraft winners were basically locals, which was nice,” Shane said.
“Glen Coleman, who was also a cattle donor won the Open, and then one Maiden was won by Sam Kerr who is a local lady and works at Bongongo School, and Morgan Webb won the other.”
The overall Battle on the Bidgee winners were, “Emma Webb, she is incredible and has got to be one of the best horsemen bar none in Australia, and she took out the Ladies again,” Shane said.
Emma Webb took out first place for the Ladies section overall with 893.60 total points, Claire Lindley took out first place for the Juniors with 722.5 total points, Thomas Burke came in first place for the Novice section with 516.2 points, Dave Mitchell came in first place for the Open with 746.2 points and Loch Moffatt placed first for the Striplings with 574.7 points.
“Claire Lindley won the Juniors, and she is an exceptional young hand, and she will be in the Winners circle for a long, long time,” said Shane.
Rail Saddle donated by Tumba Saddlery.
“Young Jimmy Lott is a local Pony Club kid who completed his first Striplings this year and was awarded with a brand new saddle donated by Tumba Saddlery and Toprail Equine for the Best Sportsman award – there were tears involved there from mum and dad and Jimmy, so that was great,” Shane said.
“Saturday brought a big crowd this year, the Cross Country was a success as it always is, the sponsors were happy, and it was just a really great event.”
Highlights for the weekend included the bull riding and Friday’s Tiny Tots challenge.
“The crowd on the Friday and Saturday night loved the bull riding, especially the mini bulls we had on Saturday, they’re a bit of a hit and a highlight entertainment wise.”
“The fact that we had a lot of local competitors in the winner’s circle is a real highlight for us. Our local area has got a lot of good horsemen and women and juniors, and that is a highlight,” said Shane. “But personally, for me and probably most of the committee, the highlight is our Tiny Tots challenge on the Friday in the Main Arena. There were about 50 kids under 8 years old in there on their ponies this year, and the roughly 50ish Striplings competitors. So, we’ve got 100 kids under 13 at that event, and that is the future of the sport and that is the highlight for me. I love seeing all those little kids there.”
“I think for a lot of the general public as well for the parents, grandparents and people involved in the sport, that’s a real bonus and they really appreciate what we do there,” said Shane.
The Committee are so thankful to everyone who helped in any way for this year’s event.
“We just want to give a massive thank you to all our competitors, sponsors, judges, cattle donors, volunteers and visitors, we truly couldn’t do it without you and we can’t thank you all enough. There were 80 volunteers on Saturday afternoon just as stewards on our Cross-Country course alone.” “And to the competitors – without the competitors we wouldn’t run the event, and we’ve got really big support from all our competitors Australia-wide which is really nice,” said Shane.
The Battle on the Bidgee will return in 2026 from 9-11 October at Gundagai Showgrounds.
– Emily Flint
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