Time to ride into rodeo

Mid Northern Rodeo president Noel Upton with some of the 44 horses brought in for this weekend's rodeo that will be joined by 200 more by Saturday. Photo / John Stone

Cowboys and cowgirls will need to keep their wits about them as they face the enormous task of riding some of the toughest bulls and broncos in the business.

Competitors are coming from all over the world to compete for top money at the Mid Northern Rodeo in Maungatapere.

Mid Northern Rodeo spokeswoman Dianna Bradshaw said a lot of work has gone into the preparations for the competition.

"The committee only exists to run this one event. The broncs are all kept on a block out at Mangakahia and so they are looked after during the year for this weekend," she said.

"The grounds are used by other community groups but, for the past month, the boys having been re-fencing and making sure they are up to scratch to run the rodeo."

This year's field includes female saddle bronc rider Kaila Mussell from Canada.

Mussell has dispensation from the New Zealand Rodeo Cowboys Association to compete in this event as it is usually men-only.

She has been competing in New Zealand this summer. Bradshaw said the event has a lot to offer for prospective crowd members.

"The bulls and the horses. Man against beast. This year the bulls are coming from Chris McGarry from Umawera and Brahman Hills Farm from Warkworth," she said.

"We have the best cowboys from around the country competing so we have sourced the best bulls in the country for them to try to ride."

"The Mid Northern Club have consistently, for more than 50 years, put up some of the best bucking horses in New Zealand and this year promises to be exciting competition."

The Mid Northern Club, which is based in Whangarei, currently has the best saddle bronc bucking horse in the country.

How Saw was voted the top horse and is magnificent when she gets a cowboy on her back.

Rodeo events including roping, barrel racing, broncs and bucking bulls and have attracted the top cowboys from around the country with more than 200 entered for the two days of competition.

Bradshaw said the event definitely has an element of risk.

"It is exciting as it pits animal against human. It is fast and in this world of PC it is high-risk," she said. "Cowboys and cowgirls dress the part and act the part. A cowboy will call you ma'am, hold the door open and then go out and ride a 800kg bull who wants to hurt him."

The Mid Northern Rodeo is just one event in a circuit of more than 35 in the country.

The cowboys and their families travel competing for points and dollars.