NRL 2024: Dragons star Ben Hunt trotting into horse business as he prepares for life after NRL

34-year-old Bent Hunt is preparing for life after the NRL, set to step away from 17 years in the big smoke and return to the bush to try his hand in the horse business.

Ben Hunt will step into the horse business after retirement

Move over Kevin Costner, there’s a new horseman on the ranch.

St George Illawarra and Queensland Origin star Ben Hunt is preparing for life after football, when he will ride off into the sunset and swap the Steeden for a saddle.

Hunt’s deal with the Dragons runs until the end of 2025 and the 34-year-old is looking to go around again after that.

But after his last NRL rodeo, he will step straight into a horse business that is booming thanks to the hit US television series Yellowstone.

Hunt owns BH Performance Horses, a campdrafting and cutting business, based in his hometown of Rockhampton in central Queensland.

It’s where Hunt, who is at the back end of his career, wants to spend his football retirement after 17 years in the big smoke of either Brisbane or Sydney.

Ben Hunt will step into the horse business after retirement. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

“I actually grew up campdrafting as a kid and spent my childhood around horses,” Hunt said.

“It’s something I definitely want to do. Growing up in the bush, and always having horses. I loved riding horses and the opportunity to be around them it’s something I find very rewarding.

“Being in the city for the last 15-odd years, being away from it, it’s something I am excited to get back to.

“So I’m pretty happy, I’ve been able to get a few going and start selling a couple. It’s a side hustle I’ve got going that I can fall into.”

The sport of cutting, a western-style equestrian competition where a rider separates the best steer from a group to demonstrate the horse’s athleticism and ability to handle cattle, is routinely showcased in Yellowstone, a modern western based on the biggest ranch in the US state of Montana.

Brady Hunt, the son of Dragons star Ben Hunt, posing one of the horses his dad owns as part of his campdrafting and cutting business in Rockhampton. Credit: Supplied

One of the horses owned by Dragons star Ben Hunt, who owns BH Performance Horses, a campdrafting and cutting business in Rockhampton. Credit: Supplied

And the industry is flourishing on the back of the show’s success. Even 13,000km away here in Australia.

“It’s a pretty big industry, cutting and campdrafting up there. It has taken off since Yellowstone,” Hunt said.

“It’s a sport that has been around for a long time but, since that show, the market for it has taken off.

One of the horses owned by Dragons star Ben Hunt, who owns BH Performance Horses, a campdrafting and cutting business in Rockhampton. Credit: Supplied

“In America, the response has been the same; it’s gone mad over there. So we’re selling to other competitors that campdraft, or farmers, and even others who want to breed as well.”

Campdrafting is an Australian sport where a rider nominates a steer or heifer from a herd and navigates it through a set course.

Maroons playmaker Hunt recently sold his first campdrafting horse, the best bred of which can fetch up to $35,000 and bring in just as much in training fees.

In the US, cutting horses can set back competitors close to $100,000.

“In the last three or four years I have started breeding a couple and I sold my first one in February and I’m hoping to get a few more going before I finish footy,” Hunt said.

“They are actually up on my grandfather’s farm in central Queensland.

“He’s got a few broodmares up there that I breed with. I’ve got a few young ones coming along that I have bred out of them and getting them broken in. There are a couple I’ll want to keep.”