WELCOME

TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S NEWEST CALENDAR OF EVENTS purely dedicated to the WESTERN events!

More events and information will be added all the time, keep checking back! or if you have information to add, please email all details to dash4cashbarrelracing@gmail.com 

Scroll down below calendar for other club/association information such as membership links and other miscellaneous information.

MT PLEASANT JACKPOTS: Run under the affiliation of the Australasian Team Roping Association (ATRA) Membership runs from 1st July through to the 30th June each year. Current Senior Membership is $176 per year and Junior Membership is $88 per year. Day membership is available at these events.

SA BARREL HORSE ASSOCIATION & DASH 4 CASH INCORPORATED: Run under the affiliation of the Australian Barrel Horse Association (ABHA). Membership runs from 1st January through to the 31st December each year. Senior membership is $77 and Junior Membership is $44. Day membership is available at these events.

RANCH SORTING SA: is run under the affiliation of Ranch Sorting National Championships Australia (RSNCA). Membership runs 1st July through to 30th June each year. Family, senior and junior memberships available.

EVENT DESCRIPTIONS

BRONCO BRANDING
Bronco Branding is Australia’s traditional method of branding cattle in the outback. This unique method of branding cattle has been practised on most of the cattle stations throughout Australia. It involves the stockmen mustering the mob and holding them, whilst the catcher, usually the head stockman or experienced ringer, ropes an unbranded beast (clean skin) from his horse. The catch is pulled to the bronco panel or a tree, leg ropes are applied and used to secure the beast to the ground. This method is still used on large remote cattle stations today, but holding yards have been built to confine the mob. Using this method, cattle can be mustered and branded in one day without drafting. It eliminates the cost of building large drafting yards or driving cattle long distances. READ MORE HERE

TEAM PENNING
Team penning is a western equestrian sport that evolved from the common ranch work of separating cattle into pens for branding, doctoring, or transport.

Today it is a fast-paced event that gives a team of three riders on horseback from 60 to 90 seconds (depending on the class or the sanctioning of the event) to separate three specifically identified cattle from a herd of 30, and put them into a 16′ x 24′ pen through a 10′ opening, at the opposite end of the arena.

The sport features 30 head of cattle, typically yearling beef cattle (mature cows or bulls are not allowed), with numbers affixed to their back, three each wearing a number from 0 through 9 or with colored collars attached. Timing starts once the line judge has dropped his flag as the lead rider’s horse crosses the foul line. At that time, the announcer identifies the cattle to be separated by calling out a randomly drawn number or collar color. The riders must cut out the three head that have been nominated, take them to the opposite end of the arena, pen them and call for time. READ MORE HERE

BREAKAWY ROPING

Breakaway roping is a variation of calf roping where a calf is roped, but not thrown and tied. It is a rodeo event that features a calf and one mounted rider. The calves are moved one at a time through narrow runs leading to a chute with spring-loaded doors. The horse and rider wait in a box next to the chute that has a spring-loaded rope, known as the barrier, stretched in front. A light rope is fastened from the chute to the calf’s neck, releasing once the calf is well away from the chute and releasing the barrier, which is used to ensure that the calf gets a head start. Once the barrier has released, the horse runs out of the box while the roper attempts to throw a lasso around the neck of the calf.

Breakaway roping is usually seen in junior, high school, college, semi-professional, and professional rodeos. At the collegiate, semi-professional, and professional level, it is exclusively a women’s event, but at lower levels competitors can be both male and female. Some amateur rodeos also have breakaway roping as part of their event line-up. It is also used as a substitute for calf roping in some parts of Europe, where traditional calf roping, also called tie-down roping, is banned. READ MORE ABOUT BREAKAWAY ROPING HERE

 TEAM ROPING

Cowboys originally developed this technique on working ranches when it was necessary to capture and restrain a full-grown animal that was too large to handle by a single man. Over the years, as the sport has grown, a numbering system was added to rate each ropers individual talent level. The numbers go from one to ten (1-10) for headers and one to ten (1-10) for heelers. Using these numbers, a handicap system (the subtraction of time) has been developed to even the competition. Today there are tens of thousands of amateur ropers who compete for millions of dollars in prize money.

Steers used for roping are moved from a holding corral through a series of narrow alleyways that lead to the roping arena. The alleyways allow the steers to be lined up in single file. Then, one at a time, a steer is moved into a chute with spring-loaded doors in front and a solid gate behind, so that only one animal is released at a time. On each side of the chute is an area called the box that is big enough to hold a horse and rider. The header is on one side (usually the left, for a right-handed header) whose job is to rope the steer around the horns, then turn the steer so its hind legs can be roped by the “heeler”, who starts from the box on the other side of the chute.

A taut rope, called the barrier, runs in front of the header’s box and is fastened to an easily released rope on the neck of the steer of a designated length, used to ensure that the steer gets a head start. An electronic barrier, consisting of an electric eye connected to a timing device, is sometimes used in place of the barrier rope.

When the header is ready, he or she calls for the steer and an assistant pulls a lever, opening the chute doors. The freed steer breaks out running. When the steer reaches the end of the rope, the barrier releases. The header must rope the steer with one of three legal catches: a clean horn catch around both horns, a neck catch around the neck or a half-head catch around the neck and one horn. The header then takes a dally, a couple of wraps of the rope around the horn of the saddle. Some ropers have lost fingers in this event. Once the header has made the dally, the rider turns the horse, usually to the left, and the steer will follow, still running.

The heeler waits until the header has turned the steer. When he or she has a clear throw, the heeler throws a loop of rope under the running steer’s hind legs and catches them. As soon as the heeler also dallies tight, the header turns his or her horse to directly face the steer and heeler. Both horses back up slightly to stretch out the steer’s hind legs, immobilizing the animal. As soon as the steer is stretched out, an official waves a flag and the time is taken. The steer is released and trots off. There is a 5-second penalty for roping only one hind leg and a 10-second penalty for breaking the barrier if both occur on the same run then the penalties are added together for a total of 15 seconds added.

A successful professional-level team takes between 4 and 8 seconds to stretch the steer, depending on the length of the arena. At lower levels, a team may take longer, particularly if the heeler misses the first throw and has to try again. At higher levels, the header and the heeler are allowed only one throw each, if either misses, the team gets no score.

In some round-robin format competitions the header and heeler are awarded points for each catch instead of timing the run. This puts emphasis on consistency rather than speed. These types of competitions are often more attractive to newer ropers where they can focus on catching rather than having a fast run. READ MORE ABOUT TEAM ROPING HERE

CAMPDRAFTING

Campdrafting is a unique Australian sport involving a horse and rider working cattle. The riding style is Australian stock, somewhat akin to American Western riding and the event is similar to the American stock horse events such as cutting, working cow horse, team penning, and ranch sorting.

In a campdrafting competition, a rider on horseback must “cut out” one beast from the mob of cattle in the yard or the “camp” and block and turn the beast at least two or three times to prove to the judge that they have the beast under control; then take it out of the yard and through a course around pegs involving right and left hand turns in a figure eight, before guiding it through two pegs known as “the gate”. The outside course must be completed in less than 40 seconds. Events for juniors 8 years and under 13 years have one sound beast in the camp or yard at all times. In other events it is recommended that there shall be a minimum of six head of sound stock in the camp at any time.

Up to a total of 100 points are scored by horse and rider: “Cut out” is worth a total of 26 points; horse work up to a further 70 points; and 4 points for the course. Most disqualifications (signalled by a crack of the judge’s stockwhip) occur when a competitor loses his beast more than twice on the camp; losing control of the beast in the arena or running a beast onto the arena fence. A “tail turn” executed by a horse in the opposite direction of the beast’s line of travel also incurs disqualification at any stage of the draft.

The sport requires consummate skill and horsemanship, and the skill in selecting a beast from the mob that will run well, but is not too fast for that particular horse. Great prestige is bestowed on the winning horse and rider of the competition. READ MORE ABOUT CAMPDRAFTING HERE