Sep 29, 2026 · 46 min · 13 segments
At 95 years of age, John Stanton has a lifetime of stories to tell. Born into a family of horsemen, John’s connection to horses, campdrafting, rodeo and the Australian bush stretches back almost a…
Jake WhittakerHostThe original first, uh, rule was written that there'd be 23 cattle go in the yard, and the competitor, one till 20, had, uh, the first fellow had the pick of 23 cattle.
Number 20 competitor, he had the pick of four cattle, and then they, uh, changed the 23 out and got a- another 23.
But they didn't have-- need many cattle, 'cause them times there was not the number of campdrafters about.
But now getting back to the rules, the absolute first change in the rule was, um, the paint.
The campdrafter would start, the competitor would ride to the judge, and he'd indicate to the judge which beast he'd like to go in and demonstrate, uh, in his effort to win the campdraft, of course.
And when he pointed that beast out to the judge, a man with a paint stick would ride in and paint that steer.
Then the judge would say, "Go," and that competitor would be judged how he approached the cattle, how his horse worked, uh, what the judge thought of his horsemanship, and took everything into consideration, and that was the start of campdrafting But the first change of that rule was the blue paint would get on their trousers, and their wives would complain about the blue paint.
And the absolute first change in campdrafting rules was paint the bullock after the run and not before.
So he is then chasing the bullock with no paint on him to avoid getting it on his trousers.
That head I've, I'm really looking forward to today, the fact that there's, there's more knowledge in that head of yours than I could even-
There was other rule changes, but we're talking about the camp and how that changed, and that is so important.
But that was the downhill run in the quality of campdraft horsemanship and stockmanship, and it happened like this.
They started to get a few numbers about, and we had a, an announcer that was very talented, Hilly Hourigan.
And we were at Dorrigo when it first started, and they asked Hilly, because it was getting late, to speed them up and hurry them up a little bit.
The original first, uh, rule was written that there'd be 23 cattle go in the yard, and the competitor, one till 20, had, uh, the first fellow had the pick of 23 cattle.
Number 20 competitor, he had the pick of four cattle, and then they, uh, changed the 23 out and got a- another 23.
But they didn't have-- need many cattle, 'cause them times there was not the number of campdrafters about.
But now getting back to the rules, the absolute first change in the rule was, um, the paint.
The campdrafter would start, the competitor would ride to the judge, and he'd indicate to the judge which beast he'd like to go in and demonstrate, uh, in his effort to win the campdraft, of course.
And when he pointed that beast out to the judge, a man with a paint stick would ride in and paint that steer.
Then the judge would say, "Go," and that competitor would be judged how he approached the cattle, how his horse worked, uh, what the judge thought of his horsemanship, and took everything into consideration, and that was the start of campdrafting But the first change of that rule was the blue paint would get on their trousers, and their wives would complain about the blue paint.
And the absolute first change in campdrafting rules was paint the bullock after the run and not before.
So he is then chasing the bullock with no paint on him to avoid getting it on his trousers.
That head I've, I'm really looking forward to today, the fact that there's, there's more knowledge in that head of yours than I could even-
There was other rule changes, but we're talking about the camp and how that changed, and that is so important.
But that was the downhill run in the quality of campdraft horsemanship and stockmanship, and it happened like this.
They started to get a few numbers about, and we had a, an announcer that was very talented, Hilly Hourigan.
And we were at Dorrigo when it first started, and they asked Hilly, because it was getting late, to speed them up and hurry them up a little bit.
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