HEIDI Gillett, South Grafton, has a good feeling about 2017 after a recent win at the Landmark Supreme campdraft at Toowoomba.
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Riding Fergalicious, by Oakes Playboy from a Darwin Doc mare, and bred by Felicity and Karl Burton, Diamond K, Jondaryan, Queensland, Mrs Gillett – who bought the bay mare at a previous sale for $10,000 – returned with the four-year-old to contest the incentive supreme under five years campdraft, run over two rounds in late April.
Mrs Gillett’s sister, Lou Lou Merritt, worked as her strapper.
“It was a gamble,” said the only lady rider in the competition.
“We had put in a lot of hard work on basic training but we smashed it, winning $3000. The event was a different level that’s for sure.”
The 28-year-old looks for structural type when selecting horses. She praised the natural ability of her young mare to track and chase cattle.
“I look for agility, and a kind eye. They need to chase and cut. I love competition.
“I started with show riding before moving on to barrel racing and now I am on a steep learning curve with campdrafting. I love the fast pace and the adrenaline. They say it takes three to four years to learn a new discipline.”
Mrs Gillett’s rise to success has come quickly and this year she may yet come within striking distance of a trophy.
So far this calendar year she has claimed second in the open draft at the Australian ABCRA Championships at Upper Horton, followed with first in the novice at the Macleay Challenge, riding her six-year-old gelding Will I Am, by Acres Destiny. At Warialda Campdraft in early April she won the ladies campdraft riding the Gillett-bred Malua Excon, by Hazelwood Conman from Glitter.
Mrs Gillett, a full-time teachers’ aid at Grafton High School and her husband David, a cattle buyer, regularly travel away each weekend with a team of eight horses attending campdraft events.
This weekend is the Big River Campdraft, of which Mr Gillett is president, and with 1000 nominations there should be keen competition. Most finals will be held Sunday afternoon. While the grounds are across the road from their house, the couple will set up camp to be closer to the action.
“I’ve been riding since I was two years old,” said Mrs Gillet who grew up in a horse-loving family at Dubbo, with special support from her grandparents Doug and Robyn who “carted her all over the place”.
Mr Gillett, a previous Warwick Gold cup winner, has also grown up around horses, with his father Geoff a renowned breeder.
