Eganstown’s Rose Wellesley has a gift with horses and she used her talents to win the Junior Cattleman’s Cup at Merrijig last weekend.

It was the first time the young cowgirl and her horse Maverick competed in the cup and they won two of the three cup components.

Rose came equal second in the campdraft – which involved cutting a steer out with her horse – first in the trail and first in the 3km cross country race.

The trail was a 10-part obstacle course with elements such as hitting targets with a stock whip, walking a bridge on horseback, straddling a log on horseback, walking the horse backwards, jumping a log bareback and more.

The Daylesford Secondary College student said her next big goal was the Man From Snowy River Stockman’s Challenge junior competition this year, which involved elements such as a bareback obstacle course and a cross country race.

She said although she had quite a few ribbons from pony club events such as dressage and showjumping, she enjoyed the challenge of western style horseriding and events.

She’s training her quarter horse Maverick to do "reigning” – the western equivalent of dressage.

"My goal is to get Mav reigning again, which is doing spins, sliding stops and working them off your leg,” she said.

"Maverick is like my best friend. I’ve had him for six years.”

The teenager has been riding since she was four and trains her horses with her father Darren.

She has also worked with horsebreaker Barry Chambers from Albury.

"I really look up to Barry Chambers,” she said.

She also finds inspiration from American horse trainer Stacy Westfall, who she hopes to meet one day.

She said the most important thing when working with horses or any animal was patience.

In the future, Rose said she hoped to do horse dentistry and work with Kate Elliot, a western horse trainer.