LONGFORD'S Aiden Nunn could be the next man from Snowy River.
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The 27-year-old horse rider, trainer and polo player will contest the prestigious Corryong bush festival challenge that is named after the Banjo Paterson poem and The Man From Snowy River movie early next month.
He will leave the state with his eight-year-old stallion, Barcoorah Gun Powder, on Sunday and spend a few days training at former challenge winner Geoff Willis's NSW property, before continuing on to Corryong for the four-day festival that starts on April 3.
Mr Nunn is no stranger to stockman competitions after winning the 2011 and 2012 open competitions of the annual Mountain Cattlemen's Association get-together.
He said those results, plus others, had helped him become the only Tasmanian to qualify for The Man from Snowy River Challenge, which will see him compete against 80 others from across the country.
``I'm hopeful that I'll make the top 20,'' Mr Nunn said.
``But if I make the top 10 that would be a big achievement.''
To make it through to the final 10, riders must compete in six competitions: horseshoeing, whip cracking, cross-country riding, cattle handling, the packhorse phase and an obstacle challenge.
The top 10 will then take on two final events - the brumby catch and the stock saddle buckjump.
Mr Nunn said general farm work had been good training but he had also set up an obstacle course at his work at Wickford Pastoral so he could practise.
Mr Nunn has been riding since he was 12.
``My uncle had racehorses and my other uncle had campdrafting horses and hunt horses so I got involved in a bit of polocrosse, then started working at a racetrack and then I got the job out here,'' he said.