Every year hundreds of horses and riders from across Tasmania assemble at the Harveydale Rodeo Grounds in the state's north for an event with roots going back more than 130 years.
This year competitor numbers at the Cattlemen's Challenge were down to less than 50.
The grounds, usually overflowing with up to 2,000 spectators, were stripped back to family members and a few key supporters.
One of the riders competing in the open division was Rodney Spillane.
"I competed for the first time two years ago and just loved it," Mr Spillane said.
"With the time and effort that we put into these horses, it's great to be able to get together with a lot of like-minded people and showcase what you can do and what your horse can do."
Organisers like announcer Brian Fish worry about the impact of this year's shrunken event.
"A lot of things I've been going to have been put off by COVID. I think we blame COVID for a lot of things ... and in some cases, it's easier just to say, 'we'll wait another year till COVID is sorted out'," Mr Fish said.
"That puts a lot of these smaller events at risk of fading away … and that's very sad.
"The thing that worries us is that if we don't keep a grip on this, we're going to lose this high country, it's going to get locked up."
More than just a show
The origins of the Cattleman's Challenge stretch back to a time when the first graziers took animals up into the alpine regions to take advantage of seasonally available feed.
More recently, the event itself came into being with the birth of the Tasmanian Mountain Cattleman's Association in 1986.
Foundation members and owner of Lee's Paddocks, one of the original highland grazing runs in the Mersey Valley, Judy Kilby said the event and association were needed to protect the high country.
"We were formed in the wake of the decision to submit Lee's Paddocks alongside Lemonthyme and the Southern Forests for world heritage listing," Ms Kilby said.
"We modelled ourselves on the Victorian Mountain Cattleman's Association who had quite a bit of their high country grazing under threat."
Ms Kilby believes without the event, the association would lose sway, and everything they have fought for would be lost.
"It's a way of keeping the association alive and keeping young people involved, they come and compete, and they start to ask what all this is about?
"We used to have things like tidying up the high country, where we'd take our horses up and clean up around the great lakes, and I hope to see that continue.
"To protect our high country, we need to keep this association up and running."
Attracting the next generation
The association may not have the younger members on the committee yet but it hopes some more will join.
Competitors like junior rider Lucy Johnston, 13, is keen to join in a few years.
"It takes a lot to run an event like this, and it's amazing of all the people that have put it together … it'd be very sad to see an event like this just disappear," Lucy said.
"I want to help, help the committee and maybe sit on one of them when I'm a bit older."
She wants to get friends who compete in other equestrian events involved, but not the cattleman's challenge.
"My horse is so good because she can do everything, but some horses aren't able to do that, like if they're scared of the whip or something," she said.
"But even if people have a horse that is only an eventer, more people should come to this sort of stuff."
