The Man from Snowy River Challenge

The Man from Snowy River Challenge is the showcase event of the Festival.
Originally taking place at Narial, our first ever MFSR Challenge was in October of 1995. This event was the first of it’s kind. Developed and ran by a small band of Upper Murray horse men and women, it was itended to be a showcase in celebration of the 100 year publication of the iconic poem. Today, our renowned event which is uniquely Australian, is run in locations across the Country.
The Man From Snowy River Bush Festival once again presents entertaining, high calibre horsemanship, showcasing some of the most skilled Australian horses and their riders.

Open, Ladies and Junior challenge riders compete in all the preliminary events from Thursday to Saturday in the allocated colour groups. The finalist in each section will compete in the MFSR Challenge Finals on the Sunday of the event. All finalists are announced at the MFSR Rodeo on Saturday night which in 2023 was our first ever Xtreme Broncs event. The top 5 Juniors are to work a beast for their final event and the top 5 Ladies will battle it out in the wild horse catch for the title of the MFSR Ladies Challenge Champion.
The top 10 finalists in the Open category will go head to head in the Wild Horse Catch and a Stock Saddle Buck Jump to be crowned the winner of The Man From Snowy River Challenge.

MFSR Challenge Preliminary Events

1. Anvil Enterprise & Milong Angus Pack Horse

This even is based on an Australian tradition of packing through the mountains; competitors are to pack their horses and navigate an obstacle course resembling the challenging terrain of the Snowy Mountains. Open competitors are required to Shoe and Pack their horse before navigating an obstacle course, while maintaining their pack is tight and secure on the return to then be unpacked.

2. Southern Mountain Helicopters Bareback

Riding bareback, all competitors are to complete a course within a set time, demonstrating maximum skill, control, and manouvability of their horse. Riders will then showcase a 60 second freestyle.

3. JC Milton Jimmy Scammell Horseshoeing

Competitors are required to prepare and shoe one foot of their nominated. This section is to demonstrate the competitor’s ability to maintain the welfare of their horse if they were to lose a shoe when travelling across the bush terrain and to ensure their steed can complete the journey sure footed.

4. Cydectin Platinum Stockhandling

This event is showcasing one of Australia’s true horse disciplines, born on the plains of Queensland, Northern Territory and New South Wales over 100 years ago. A rider on horseback must ‘cut out’ one beast from the herd of cattle in the yard, AKA the ‘camp’, and block and turn the beast at least two or three times to demonstrate to the judge that they have the beast under control while on horseback. They then have to exit the yard and put the beast through a course of pegs involving right and left hand turns in a figure of eight style, before putting the beast through the ‘gate’.

5. 4CYTE Cattlemen’s Crack

This is a combination event of two of our classic events being the whip crack and the cross country. Our competitors will navigate a bush style obstacle course that will have whip crack targets placed throughout the course, plus jumps. The competitor will have a set time to complete this course and show their horsemanship to the highest of standards to the judge.

6. S & K Whiteheads Earthmoving Stockmen’s Cutout

Based on the working cow horse event, riders will have a cow released into the arena, they will then proceed to work the cow in a series of sections. They will complete a boxing section (cutting the cow), until they think the cow is ready to proceed to the next segment, down the fence. Once this section is complete, they are then required to manouver the beast into a figure of 8 pattern to complete their run.