Paxton Pulford
I’ve grown up being surrounded mainly by thoroughbred horses as my parents work with and trade thoroughbreds. However, I have always had a searing passion for campdraft and cutting horses.
My first introduction to these great sports was through our neighbour’s farm manager, Allan Young who was kind enough to take me to work and cart me to campdrafts as a kid and this was where the fire started. From there I competed heavily in the Australian stockhorse classes throughout my teenage years.
Horses came to a little halt with me as I went through boarding school, though I managed to find my way out to Windsor polo grounds where I found myself riding and preparing polo ponies which I thoroughly enjoyed!
When I finished school, I headed over to Western Australia, where I worked on Liveringa Station in 2016 and then Killarney station in the Northern Territory in 2017. Horses became a greater focus for me at these stations as the horse plant usually consisted of around 200 horses! We broke in many young horses and used them for work day in and day out.
While I was up there, we managed to attend a number of campdrafts and challenges, competing on the station horses. This fuelled the fire a little more and I was eager to get down home and ride as many horses as I could and go to as many drafts as I could.
In the last two years I’ve managed to gain a couple of handy horses from the Landmark Classic Sale that I have taken back and competed and have had some success. I have learnt a great deal through some great mentors such as Ben Tapp, Kylie Barnett, Phil and Gloria McCormack and Narelle Toole who have helped and supported me in many ways.
I absolutely love the campdraft and cutting industry and feel the need to promote the industry and the wonderful people in it! Hence we created the Ninety or Nothing Podcast.
Kylie Barnett
As a child my parents lived near a stock route at Croppa Creek and I’d grab my horse and skip school and help the drovers in the area. This led to spending time droving with the likes of Terry Hall.
My grandfather was heavily involved in the Australian Stock Horse Society and Campdrafting scene. He encouraged me to campdraft as a child and provided me some handy horses.
After finishing boarding school in Tamworth, I spent a few years in the rodeo world, barrel racing and breakaway roping. I won an ABCRA barrel racing Rookie title before heading back to my true passion campdrafting and met my partner Ben Tapp.
In the past few years I have enjoyed the challenge of learning the ropes in the cutting industry. Ben and I have a strong team of campdraft horses that we compete on and breed out of.
Between juggling the kids, we aim to attend mainly the larger events (Warwick, Willinga Park, NCHA Futurity) and prepare our young stock for the likes of Landmark horse sales.
The horse world has given me a great life and I enjoy studying the bloodlines of horses, so when Paxton asked me to come on board with him at the Ninety or Nothing Podcast, I immediately jumped on board.
