The Team Penning Australia Inc. state titles were held at Bunnan in the Hunter Valley during the Anzac Day long weekend on April 23, 24 and 25.

Brendan and Maree, along with their teammate Nick Howard, came third overall in the open Team Sorting section with a time of one minute and 15 seconds.

Team Sorting involves teams of three riders who attempt to sort 10 head of cattle in numerical order from the mob through a gate to the other end of arena.

The cattle are numbered 0-9 and the judges call out a number and teams have to sort the cattle in sequence from that number.

To get to the finals, Brendan, Maree and Nick had to make it through the qualifying rounds against 238 other teams from all over the state.

They also placed sixth overall in the Team Penning with a time of 36 seconds.

The winners of the state championships recorded a time of 25 seconds according to Brendan place-getter times are generally somewhere in the 30s.

The Doyles recorded 28 seconds at a competition last weekend and have a personal best of 26 seconds.

Team Penning involves 30 head of cattle with groups of three wearing different coloured collars.

As the team of three riders go over the line, the judge will call a colour and they must sort the three cattle with that colour, taking them to the other end of the arena and penning them.

The Doyles have been involved in Team Penning for a number of years and travel twice a month for competitions.

“It’s a very fast growing sport, it’s good for the whole family,” Mr Doyle said.

“It’s one of the fastest growing equine sports in Australia.

“We used to have to travel all over for it but now within an hour and a half [of Forbes] we can do most of our team penning.”

As foster carers, the Doyles find the sport has many benefits for their foster children, who have a range of intellectual disabilities.

“It does so much for the kids,” Mr Doyle said.

“The important thing for us is doing it for the foster children to give them a chance at life  - and a good life where people don’t know them yet treat them so well.”

Mr Doyle said the social side of Team Penning is one of the best parts and the main reason they keep going back with their children.

“It’s like meeting old family members again,” he said.

“That’s one of the biggest parts, the social side - it’s so welcoming and so family-orientated.

“It fulfills what we do.”

The Doyles are hoping to get Team Penning going at Sahara Park Riding School to complement their Riding for the Disabled program.

They also have an arena set up on their property at Garema and want to help other foster children by bringing them out to their farm to have a go at the sport once or twice a week.

“Horses will help them so much,” Mr Doyle said.

“We find horses the greatest therapy, for ourselves also.”

Brendan and Maree currently have eight horses which they breed themselves, as well as break in and train.

“We do all our own horse work,” Mrs Doyle said.

“It takes a lot to get them to perform but they know their job after a while.”

They will now go on to compete in the national titles at Glen Innes in September.