Back on Blue as clip revived (+video)

Sometimes a virus just keeps coming back.

And a Hokianga boy has become an internet sensation with more than 400,000 people watching a video of his antics as he whirls a taiaha and mounts his horse by hanging on to its neck, after the clip has gone viral on the net for a second time.

Snow O'Halloran, who lives at Taheke and goes to school in Kaikohe, was filmed by his father Marty as he learned to climb on to Blue, the family's extraordinarily placid horse.

Just six at the time the video was made, Snow was too small to get on Blue's back by the normal route. Instead the budding cowboy worked out that if he waited for Blue to put its head down to feed, he could wrap himself around the horse's neck and wait to be lifted up in a kind of equine elevator.

The clip also shows the young Snow demonstrating his taiaha skills and prowess at the pukana.

Mr O'Halloran first uploaded the video to YouTube three years ago, when it was viewed around 40,000 times. It also featured on a Maori Television show of home videos.

The clip gained a second life in January when it was posted on Facebook and widely shared. By last month it had achieved viral status and, as of yesterday, the 99-second clip of the "Maori cowboy" had been watched 395,000 times on Facebook and shared more than 7500 times.

Now aged nine, Snow is more interested in playing league than basking in internet stardom. He still rides Blue but can now mount the horse by more conventional means.

Renowned Hokianga horse-riding teacher Rob Pink said he first came across the clip three years ago and made contact with Snow's family, inviting them to the Rawene brumby races.

"He's a little star. He's fearless," Mr Pink said.

The video brought back memories of his own childhood.

"When we were kids, that's how we'd get on a horse. If we couldn't get it over to a drum or a fence we'd wait for it to put its head down and jump on."