Australia’s Gabbie Horton has claimed the champion female title in the World Young Shepherds Competition, held in France.
The 25-year-old, who works on a sheep property near Yass, was up against competitors from 19 countries and came second overall.
The Ovinpiades Mondiales, is considered the Olympic Games of shepherding, where competitors take part in a series of challenges including shearing, foot trimming, ewe health assessment and electric fence building.
Gabbie and 21-year-old Jack Grundy from Naracoorte, South Australia represented Australia in the competition in late May, with Jack placing fourth overall.
The pair was selected by WoolProducers Australia from applications by graduates from the Peter Westblade Scholarship and Hay Inc training programs.
Gabbie said the experience highlighted how operations could vary between countries.
"It was an incredible week of competing but also touring rural farms," she said. "It was interesting for the Australians because we work with the largest numbers of sheep on a very commercial scale. All the other English-speaking teams were working in small operations and they've had subsidies over the years, which made for some very interesting conversations."
"We studied really hard for the sheep health assessment challenge because we tend to (in Australia) look at overall mob health more so than individual animals."
Gabbie has been working in the Merino industry since she was 16 but said she had never applied her experience to a competition setting before.
"It's amazing to be recognised for something that you do on a daily basis, and to go overseas and be recognised for it was pretty incredible experience.”
For Gabbie, the trip was the culmination of her 2023 Peter Westblade Scholarship which involved a five-week tour around New Zealand visiting stud and commercial Merino properties, laboratories and wool companies.
What's next for Gabbie? She is looking forward to working on different sheep farms across NSW and furthering her experience in different environments while championing Australia's sheep and wool products.
"The biggest change I'd like to see in the industry in my lifetime is to show the world more of what we do and really champion our industry, our product and the young people of our industry."
Below: Jack Grundy, Peter Westblade Scholarship Chairman Joe Walden and Gabbie Horton in France. (Photo: Peter Westblade Scholarship)
