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Welcome to the Gympie Horse and Rodeo Association Inc (GHRA) website.

The GHRA was established to promote the art of riding and the love and understanding of horses as well as to assist, promote and hold games and competitions involving families, horses, social occasions and the sports of rodeo.

Great Location
GHRA grounds are located in the heart of Gympie, approximately one and a half hours drive north of Brisbane. Our modern club house offers competitors and visitors a great menu and licensed bar area overlooking the grounds with plenty of seating arena side to catch all the action. We accommodate competitors with power boxes to hook up goosenecks and trailers and yards for horses for overnight and weekend competitions. Our grounds have an excellent warm up area and our arenas are well set up for all types of competitions including the main arena with rodeo chutes, rodeo timed event box and an adjoining cut-out yard, allowing us to hold camp draft events.

GHRA Offers Our Members
Our club offers riders of all ages and experience a chance to compete in a safe, friendly and family orientated environment. GHRA caters for people interested in:

• Team Penning
• Cutting
• Timed Rodeo Events
• Barrel Racing
• Trail Riding
• Novelty Days
• Horsemanship, Team Penning and Barrel Racing Clinics

Buckle Series
The GHRA Buckle Series is held over 5 different weekends throughout the year with competitors competing in Team Penning and Timed Rodeo Events. Our competitions are run with the focus on a friendly, learning orientated environment, accommodating beginner to open competitors.

Only certain events qualify for the Buckles Series and in these events the end of year winners receive beautifully handcrafted trophy buckles. The events which qualified for last year Buckles Series were Open and Junior Team Penning, Open and Junior Barrel Race, Team Roping (Header and Heeler), Ladies Break Away Roping. (Timed Rodeo Event competitor numbers determine qualification for the Buckles Series.)

Also held annually is the Southeast Queensland Team Penning Championship attracting competitors and spectators from as far as NSW, with cash and prizes up for grabs.

About the Events

Team Penning
Being one of the fastest growing equestrian sports in the world with an estimated 93,000 active riders in North America alone, Team Penning is quickly becoming one of

Australia’s primary sports too. Thought to date back to 1942 with the idea of organizing what were routine cowboy chores into a competitive sport, Team Penning is an exciting, fast paced event where riders can showcase their horsemanship and skills.

Teamwork however is the key to this event, working together to separate three same colour collared cattle from a herd and pen into a yard located at the opposite end of the arena, making sure there are no wrong collared cattle in there. Encouraging a mixture of age groups, abilities and skill levels, Team Penning is a fun and social yet competitive event. The GHRA runs in conjunction with the Australian Team Penning Associations rules and regulations.

Barrel Racing
Traditionally a rodeo event for women, both rider and horse attempt to complete a clover-leaf pattern around preset barrels in the fastest time. It combines the horses athletic ability and the horsemanship skill of a rider in order to safely and successfully manoeuvre a horse around three barrels placed in a triangle in the centre of the arena. Although not much is known about the exact dates and details barrel racing developed, it is believed barrel racing first saw competitive light in the state of Texas in the 1940’s. The GHRA holds not only their own barrel racing events but also runs National Barrel Horse Associations jackpot events.

Rodeo Timed Events
A sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico and later the United State, Canada, South America and Australia; it was based on the skills required of cowboy used on a daily basis. Today it is a sporting event that consists of events that involve horses and other livestock designed to test the skill and speed of the human cowboy and cowgirl athletes who participate. The GHRA timed event rodeos generally consists of the following events: tie-down roping, team roping, breakaway roping, steer wrestling, steer undecorating and barrel racing.

Our website is currently under construction and in the future will be able to offer all members a vast array of services and information, so please keep watching!

If you have any questions about our club, please email us at general@gympiehorseandrodeoassociation.com.au.