There are many things that make the Upper Horton New Years Campdraft and Rodeo unique.
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For one it sees the population of the village nestled in the Horton River Valley swell from around 150 (138 at the 2021 census) to a few thousand and the local sports ground transformed into a sea of horse floats and flurry of activity.
On Thursday morning another unique aspect took place.
Ahead of the start of the campdrafting competition on Friday, some of the local children drove in the cattle that will be used.
Something they introduced last year, committee president David Kelly said it is great day out for the kids.
"A guy who lends a lot of cattle, Ben Thompson, just wanted to walk his cattle in. He's got young kids and then it just eventuated that the committee all our kids are about the same age and they all ride," Kelly said of how it came about.
"I think it was just a novelty thing to keep the kids amused during the holidays."
Speaking to The Leader on Wednesday, he was expecting about 20 kids to saddle up for the ride.
"There's two properties that they're walking in 600 each and one lot of kids will go one way and one lot of kids will go the other way," he said.
"They'll leave about 6.30 in the morning and it's a great novelty and something I hope will go on."
"They all take their horses and have a bit of a packed smoko on the way.
"It's only a six or seven km ride but it's a lot of fun."
For many rodeo and campdraft enthusiasts a New Years tradition, this year's installment attracted record entries.
"It's phenomenal the response we've had from everyone," Kelly said.
"We had 2300 people enter the draft, but we had to cut it back to 1400 to get them through in three days."
The "first proper full hit out" for about six years, there will action aplenty with three full days of campdrafting, an Extreme Broncs rodeo on New Years Eve and junior rodeo on New Years Day.
Kelly said there are about 40 entered in that "which is unbelievable".
The feature New Years Eve rodeo or "Big Valley Blowout" will boast a line-up of the best bronc riders in the country.
"We take the top 33 guys in Australia, so we've got guys from South Australia, Queensland, Victoria and NSW. It's phenomenal," Kelly said.
"Plus we take a wildcard of ex-champions that haven't been rodeoing as much."
"It's made up for a hell of a card of bronc riding."
All the money raised goes back into the community and the community get right behind it.
"We're really lucky," Kelly said of the support.
"With our cattle donors we've got 2000 head of cattle out of four people lending cattle."
The campdrafting gets underway at 6.30am on Friday with the Lindsay Mitchell Novice Campdraft.
