In the 1980s Mr Pagden belonged to one of three groups licensed by the Victorian National Parks to chase and remove brumbies as part of a control program. In 2002 he got in touch with an old friend from the group and the two have relived the experience every year since.

Mr Pagden has recently returned from his latest weeklong ride during the October school holidays.

“We enjoy the mateship and the ride, chasing brumbies just adds a purpose to the trip,” Mr Pagden said. “I’m not a great horsemen it’s just something I grew up doing and enjoy doing.”

Mr Pagden said the romanticised idea of mustering mobs of brumbies was far from the truth. He said to catch a brumby you had to single one out, separate it from the mob lasso it and tie it to a tree. He said it was near impossible to catch a stallion and they usually focused on catching yearlings (last year’s foals) to take home and break in.

“It’s pretty hair-raising stuff, a lot of racing through rugged bushland, its in the extreme sport category,” he said.

Mr Pagden said each year friends and family members join them on the trip to see the country and experience what they do. Each day they leave camp at 7:30am and get back at 5pm, taking 10 minute breaks here and there.

“Some people who come with us wonder why we go to bed at 8pm, the next day they realise why,” he said.

But while Mr Pagden said they were not that serious about catching brumbies they were serious about the health of their horses. Twelve riders went on the last trip taking 20 horses. He said the horses spent ten weeks leading up to the trip riding for two hours, three times a week. He said when they are down there the horses had to be able to climb hills for four to five hours then gallop across the flats.

He said they generally covered 30 to 40km a day and could see half a dozen different mobs in that time.

“In my experience brumbies are very mobile far more mobile than people imagine,” he said.