That's what the sport of Cutting in Austalia is all about folks, getting together a group of people from all sorts of places and walks of life and congregating in the remotest of areas. Everyone willing to help each other out for the good of the sport.

This venue was Burrandowan, a small racetrack about 60 kms North West of Kingaroy in Queensland. This is the third year I have been to this venue and each and every time it has been a sheer joy to attend. The South Queensland Cutting Horse Association usually attracts impressive numbers but for one reason or another the ensuing days before the event saw a large number of entries pull out. So from what was originally expected to be 160 odd diminished to just over 100 entries.

Nonetheless the show had it's usual funfilled atmosphere with the added bonus of having two days for just one hundred runs to go through, it left a lot of time to socialise and even have a

bonus Futurity pre works of just under thirtyhorses on the Saturday afternoon.The opportunity for a sneak peak at some of this years Futurity prospects definitely attracted a lot of interest and was well worth a look.

As for the rest of the show, 73 was the highest score of the show shared with Hamish Lee-Warner riding Playboy Heffner in the $10,000 Non Pro, Sally Ferguson on Dee Bar Diamond Blue in the Open Non Pro and Bill Carey on 49er Lonesome Prince in the Snaffle Bit

Saturday had a wet start which sadly is an unusual occurence in this neck of the woods these days. But by the time the pre works started in the afternoon, everything was fine and warm. It stayed like that for the remainder of the week end.

Saturday evening saw the annual AGM and the end of an era with President Peter Gesler not seeking re election. Before standing down he did manage to instigate a change in the way shows will be run in South Queensland. From now on all venues will have their own seperate sub comitees. This was essential for the success of the club for a number of reasons. The large area of the state that this club covers was a major factor, but also it became neccessary to do this so more people could be encouraged to turn up and chip in. Unfortunately there were too many people just turning up, showing their horses and going home.

The sub comitees will be responsible for organising cattle, timekeepers, announcers, video people, judges and anything else that is required at that particular venue. A core comittee was then elected to oversee the runing of these shows.

Treasurer Caroline Smith, Vice President Lloyd Neilsen, and Entries person Sally Ferguson were re elected, Sally also took on the extra role of show secretary and Pro Trainer Adam Wheeler was elected unopposed as the new president. Adam has recently moved his training facilities from “Bybilla” in Goondiwindi to Boonah and is no stranger to the sport having been training and riding cutting horses since 1999.

The new structure also has the added benefit that if anyone wants to organise a show in their local area they can form their own sub comittee and run the show under the umbrella of The South Queensland Cutting Horse Association overseen by the four main comittee members. This will hopefully eleviate the age old problem of the same people doing all the work and not getting a chance to show their horse on the same level playing field as the rest of the competitors.

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