News
Thanks Merv!
27 February 2010 - Today we had the pleasure of interviewing Merv Rowland. He took some time out from making the beautiful saddle pictured here to speak with us - thanks Merv! Merv worked as a horse tailer and ringer when he was a young fella and he shared some great stories of this time with us. It was a real education listening to him and we are pleased that yet another important part of Australian life is recorded and will be shared with thousands of people as Merv will be featured in the upcoming DVD about drovers. If you have a droving tale to tell or would like to know more about this project - contact us soon!
2009 - 2010 - WANTED Drovers of the 1960s & earlier!
What a year 2009 was! We had a whirl wind ride catching up with Pete Comiskey to film his Campdraft for Beginners to Winners DVD and we started our research and interviews for our latest project about the drovers of the pre-roadtrain, helicopter and motorbike mustering days. So far we have met and interviewed some great characters for this DVD, including Ken Hall - whose books are a great read too! |
We will be filming and interviewing for this project up to about April this year so if you know an old drover who has some good tales to tell, get in touch with us.
We are also looking for working cattle properties that are willing to have us film so we can show how mustering etc is done today. To find out more about this just send us an email or call Chris on 0427 510 827.
Thanks to everyone who assisted us in 2009 and who showed interest in our website and products.
Keep visiting this site and see what we get up to in 2010.
'UP ON THE SHOULDER' The Australian Stockman's sport of CAMPDRAFT
Buy it NOW on this website or call us on 0408 963 241. ‘Up on the Shoulder’ takes a look at the unique Australian horse sport of Campdraft. Like the American horse sports of Rodeo, Cutting and Roping, Campdraft came out of the day-to-day work of horsemen, the stockman, our ‘cowboy.’ Campdraft is preserving many of the skills and traditions of the men and women who opened up the vast Australian outback, and forged the beginnings of Australia’s great cattle industry.
The DVD Video will follow competitors as they prepare and compete in a display of horsemanship and cutting - selecting a beast, working it in the yard before competing against the clock to herd the animal around a set clover leaf course on the "camp".
Campdraft competitions attract competitors at all levels, men, women and children and among them are some of the finest horsemen and women in the country. Campdraft is a great leveller where even the best ca
n be beaten on the day by a novice, all in the spirit of good natured competition.
While Campdraft doesn’t attract the big money of Rodeo or Cutting the list of participants is growing year on year. It is as opportunity for people from the country to compete at a sport, which reflects their day-to-day work. Around country and regional Australia each weekend men and women test their horse skills on the Camp as the cry goes up “get up on the shoulder” to turn the beast and beat the clock. So whether you are into Rodeo, Cutting, Roping and just enjoy watching some of the finest horsemen and women compete we think you will enjoy the unique Australian horse sport of Campdraft.
Available NOW on DVD through this website.
2009 Pete Comiskey Campdraft Schools
We had the pleasure of filming and taking snaps at Pete Comiskey's Campdraft schools at Monto and Chinchilla recently. It was great to see so many people keen to improve their horsemanship and learn from a champion campdrafter like Pete. We're working on a new Project with Pete so keep an eye on this space. Thanks to all the participants who were good sports allowing us to film them. Great job by the Monto and Chinchilla Campdraft Commitees hosting these schools!
Put a bit of OZ in U.S.A
Do you have family involved with horses in the U.S.A.? We see so much American horse sport and culture coming here to Australia that we think it's about time we sent a bit more Aussie culture over there. We are interested in speaking with anyone who is based there and is interested in dealing with Australia products. Want to know more? Drop us a line at christine@waggingdog.com.au If you're an Aussie living in the states we'd like to hear your story too.
Australia Day, 26 January
We are kicking off the year by supporting the Australia Day celebrations at the Highfields Pioneer Village. This is a great day out and entry is free to the Village for the day so grab the family and come along. It will be open all day from 9.30am to 4.00pm with the official Australia Day ceremony at 2pm followed by free billy day and damper. We will be there so come and say G'day. Highfields Pioneer Village is 15minutes north of Toowoomba, at Wirraglen Road Highfields, Queensland. Check out their Easter Vintage Festival www.eastervintagefestival.com or if you can't wait until April - buy the souvenir DVD here in Our Store - it's great!
2008
We are excited to be launching our brand new web site. Keep visiting this site as there will be lots of exciting changes on the way. Our thanks to Lee of PX Web Design for making it all so easy!
Ap
ril 2008
ACA National Campdraft Finals at Capella QLD
The 2007 Equine Influenza outbreak has been devastating to many horse related businesses and it severely curtailed the enjoyment and competition of horse sports as diverse as horse racing to the local pony club gymkhana. It also put our Campdraft documentary on hold for over 6 months. Today we are pleased to say we are recently attended the ACA National Campdraft Finals at Capella in Central Queensland. It was a great event and a real celebration of the return to competition. The quality of horses and the skill of the riders was absolutely outstanding. Congratulations to all the winners, and also to the Capella Campdraft Committee and the Australian Campdraft Association for putting on a fantastic event. We would like to thank the organisers for allowing us to film some of the action for our documentary.
Special thanks to 14 time National Champion Pete Comiskey Jnr for his help and encouragement and agreeing to be interviewed for our documentary. At the ACA Award Dinner it was said that Pete is the Don Bradman of Campdraft, having seen him in action we have to agree! The family aspect of the sport was never so evident with father and son, Pete Comiskey Senior and Pete Comiskey Junior achieving equal scores in the National Final Open Campdraft Competition; a tie breaker saw Pete senior taking out the honors.
March 2008
Highfields Pioneer Village Easter Vintage Festival
While the Campdraft documentary was on hold due to the Equine Influenza outbreak we kept busy being involved with the Easter Vintage Festival. As well as helping with the marketing of this event we filmed the entire weekend and will be producing a souvenir DVD for the Highfields Pioneer Village. If you love old machinery, tractors, heavy horses, Australian pioneer history – you will love this DVD. This DVD can now be ordered online from Our Store page.
Short Films and other projects
The EI outbreak also gave Mark the opportunity to work as Location Sound Recordist on several short films including “Head Over Heels,” “The Home Stretch” and “The Grandfather Paradox.” “Head Over Heels” has been accepted into the Sydney and Venice WOW Film Festivals. He has also had the rather arduous task of starting the editing of the many hours of footage we have so far for the Campdraft DVD. Most recently Mark was part of the 48hr film project in Brisbane, where 34 teams had just 48 hours to write shoot and edit a short film as part of this international short film program.
