Oberon resident Leigh Cragg from Burilda Park is a participant in the 2022 Australian Brumby Challenge.
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The event is conducted every two years by the Victorian Brumby Association.
The Victorian Brumby Association was formed to save as many of the animals as possible, and works to rescue, care for and rehome brumbies. The three aims of the association are:
- To rescue and home brumbies caught from the wild on public lands
- To lobby and work with the government agencies who are tasked with managing brumbies in their home ranges.
- To educate the public about the sometimes dire situation that brumbies in the wild face and the threats they are up against (mostly human) and also about what wonderful horses they make when domesticated with kindness
For the Brumby Challenge, trainers - including Leigh - are selected by ballot and allocated a brumby to train.
The brumbies are held for about twelve months before going to the trainers to get them used to being in a fenced paddock.
Stallions are all gelded and mares are allowed to foal down and all animals are microchipped, vaccinated and treated for any illness or parasites.
Leigh's brumby, unofficially named VBA Summer, was delivered to Burilda Park in July and Leigh has 135 days to train her before the finals at Glenlogie in Victoria in November.
"This is my first time participating in the challenge. I'm looking forward to seeing how I go," Leigh said.
The finals classes are all based around the relationship between brumby and trainer and include handling and conditioning, where they are judged on catching, float loading and general handling as well as the brumby's physical condition.
There will also be judging on handling obstacles, which the trainer can enter either ridden or lead and freestyle which is a non-ridden event.
Trainers get to keep the brumbies at the end of the competition with the purchase price being part of the entry fee so there is an added incentive to turn out a well-trained horse.
Monthly progress reports have to be submitted to VBA and the Oberon Review will be following the process with regular updates.
