Josh Smith and his wife and 3 children live on their family farm in Marmor, Qld. Josh is working as a part time horse trainer at JD Performance Horses and a part-time electrician in the mines of Old. Josh has a background of pony club, showjumping, dressage, cross country as a young kid. At the age of 12 he found the sport of camp drafting with his family. Dave Smith, Josh’s father was his mentor and coach from a young age bringing back knowledge from America which led into their passion for Challenging.
Josh had his first major win at Cloncurry in 2015 on Mr Freckles Chick who now his oldest son is competing at a successful level. Josh had two geldings growing up , one of those being ‘Leos Mr Lena’ who his dad, Dave Smith, won Cloncurry Stockmans Challenge on in 2002. The second being, ‘Playing it Lucky’ winning the Stanbroke Stockman’s Challenge @ Cloncurry in 2002, also the Maiden, and 3rd in the Classic as a 3yo and Josh as a 16yo after drafting for just 4 years. This lead into a passion and career for Josh in the Stockmans Challenge across Australia.
Josh has quite the accolade of wins and places throughout the Stockman’s Challenge events, winning Cloncurry Classic twice and the Open 3 times, Rocky Rush Classic twice and Open 4 times, Horse of the North Classic twice and Open 5 times, Greendale derby once, Monto Silver Buckle Open 3 times, Flinders Classic once and Open once, Toowoomba supreme challenge twice and the Nutrien Classic once on “GI M Hard’.
Josh has also had great success in his short career at campdrafting; finaling at Nutrient Classic and Futurity Campdraft’s based out of Qld. You will see Josh around the Campdrafts more moving forward with some of their home bred progeny. Many may have seen Josh competing on his two young stallions Conduit who features in this video series and GI M Hard.