Toprail Equine sponsored rider Emma Webb and her Australian Quarter Horse Association stallion ‘Western Acres’ taking first place in the Ladies division.
Photo Red Zephyr Photography – Shelley Henry
Emma took out first place for the Ladies section in 2025 with an overall 893.60 total points.
The annual Battle on the Bidgee event is back from 9 to 11 October at the Gundagai Showgrounds, and everyone is invited.
The three-day event covers everything from stock handling, packhorse, whip crack, dry work pattern, bareback obstacle and cross country to wild horse catch, time trial and steer catch.
Showcasing some of the nation’s best women and men in a stockman’s challenge for the ages, President Shane Piper says it goes back to what stockmen and women have done for generations in day-to-day life duties.
“There are seven preliminary events, same horse, same saddle for every event,” he says.
“There’s a horse shoeing section, a pack saddle section, bareback section, obstacle section, whip crack section, cattle handling, cross country jumping and a dry working pattern which just shows horsemanship and manoeuvrability of your horse and rider.
“Then we take our finalists from the men’s, women’s, juniors and striplings (8 to 13-year-olds) to the finals on Sunday.”
The stripling competitors will do a time trial final, which features an obstacle course. Juniors will do a second section of their events, featuring a working cow event to showcase the versatility of the horse.
“Our ladies finalists do a working cow section and then a wild horse catch section,” says Shane.
“They do their cow work and then they do their wild horse catch.
“Our opens and ladies both do the wild horse catch. They have got three minutes to halter catch a wild horse in the arena and show the judges what they can do with it.
“Our open men also get on a poley buck jump horse in the same stock saddle that they have done everything in all weekend.”
Currently, there are four major Stockmen’s challenges across Australia. The Battle on the Bidgee is the biggest competitor-based challenge within Australia.
Shane says this year’s numbers have blown them away.
“We will run with 160 challenge competitors over the three days,” he says.
“We get competitors from South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and everywhere in between.”
For anyone wishing for a bit of a shopping spree during the events, Shane says they will have more trade stalls and food vendors than last year as they mark their biggest event to date.
But the action doesn’t stop there.
“The last few years, we’ve run a campdraft in conjunction with our challenge over the weekend, which is a separate event,” he says.
“We will have over 600 campdraft runs this year, so we will be camp drafting for the three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday this year.”
Kids are expected to be entertained to the nth degree, with free activities available, including jumping castles and face painting.
“There will be live entertainment with a band on Saturday night,” says Shane.
“There will also be our rough stock events on Friday and Saturday night.
“We have a ladies invitational barrel race, invitational open bull ride and invitational junior bull ride, along with our poddy calf ride and steer rides.”
Recently, Shane says they were approached by the Ladies Ranch Rider Association of Australia, an organisation that is new to Australia, but large and well-loved in America.
The ladies ride buckjumpers, and Shane says they expect to see ladies travelling from across Australia to compete on Saturday night.
“That is something different that we haven’t seen and not too many people have ever seen it, so that will be something new,” he says.
“It’s shaping up to be a very, very big year.
“There will be a lot to see and do. There will be action from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. There will be no breaks in it this year, [and] there will be something for everyone to come and have a look at.”
The committee behind this mammoth event is small but mighty, and Shane says they consider themselves lucky to call the local Gundagai, Tumut and surrounding areas their home.
“The amount of people that it takes to put this show on over the weekend, and they are all volunteers [is immense],” he says.
“It is the local area that makes this event happen. The amount of support we get is incredible and we couldn’t do it without them. It is a big, big job.
“I thank the locals who come and support us and help us out every year, and also our sponsors.”
Children under 12 are allowed free entry.
For more information, or to purchase a ticket, visit https://www.battleonthebidgee.net/
Elizabeth Kovacs
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