Tyrone Neho representing the local faction at the Oruru Valley Rodeo in Peria on Tuesday.
All the usual spills and thrills were on display at the Far North and Peria rodeos which kicked the new year off in the Far North in typical action-packed style on Monday and Tuesday this week.
However, the biggest novelty factor for many spectators was seeing the only woman on the national circuit competing in the gruelling open saddlebronc division.
Showing she could more than hold her own in an otherwise male-dominated grade, Canadian pocket rocket Kaila Mussell went on to win at Peria on Tuesday afternoon.
Afterwards, a cool, calm and composed Kaila, who hails from British Columbia, admitted she was chasing the national saddlebronc title and was planning to stay here and compete at all the remaining events on the 2016/17 calendar including the national finals in Wairoa in March.
She has certainly got her campaign off to a good start after arriving in New Zealand on December 23 in time for the Christmas circuit (comprising seven legs from the 2016/17 NZRCA series which traditionally take place over the two-week festive season break).
As well as winning at Peria, she took out the Warkworth Rodeo on New Year's Day and finished second equal at the Opotiki Rodeo on December 28, but got bucked off in Kaitaia on Monday.
She is also the only woman competing on the professional PRCA rodeo series, although she noted that by choosing to compete in New Zealand this summer she has seriously compromised her chances of claiming the saddlebronc title in the North American-based series, regarded as the highest-paying rodeo circuit on the planet (with sanctioned rodeos in 37 US states and three Canadian provinces).
Having ridden competitively in the class for 15 years, Kaila noted she was probably the first woman to ride saddlebronc since her pioneering ancestors back in the early 1900s, albeit under far different criteria and circumstances to her forbears.
She didn't particularly believe her part-time but relatively high-profile modelling work - which has led to her becoming something of a poster girl for the PRCA - would pave the way for a lot more ladies to sign up for the saddlebronc in the near future.
"I just like the rough stock events," she said.
"A lot of power. It takes a certain type of person, but you have to know what you are doing, learn the basics. It's a mental sport [as much as a physical one]. You've got to prove yourself, that you have got the goods to be here as a woman."
She also spoke about the experience of riding saddlebronc, the need to be the calm within the storm, and spending a whole day at a rodeo solely for a total of eight seconds in the arena; provided, of course, one could stay on that long without getting bucked off.
"[It goes] Too fast to actually think, you have to react, use your subconscious. If you think, you are going to be too slow. Try to be in tune with the horse, your feet are mimicking their front feet, to feel how the horse bucks."
Meanwhile, Kaila was determined to make the most of her first visit to New Zealand.
"It's beautiful - I love it here."
"Kiwis have been awesome to me, feels like I fit right in."
Elsewhere, the district's top cowboys were again to the fore in the two Far North legs of the annual NZRCA series, the Far North Rodeo in Kaitaia on Monday, January 2, and the Oruru Valley Rodeo at the Peria Saleyards on Tuesday, January 3.
Mangamuka brothers Klay and Bradley Lanigan picked up top placings and prizemoney in various open events including bull ride, steer wrestling, team roping and the rope and tie, while the Neho brothers, Ramoan and Tyrone, both stood out in the open saddlebronc class.
Local competitors involved in women's barrel racing were Kary Robertson in open, and Tegan O'Callaghan and Sam Parker in the second division.
There was relatively little drama to report, and no notable protest action from the anti-rodeo brigade at either of the Far North legs, which enjoyed strong turnouts.
Two relatively serious injuries occurred at Monday's Far North rodeo in Kaitaia.
One came when a horse bucked in the stall and left a rider with damage to two vertebrae, and a bull fell and landed on another competitor causing serious damage to his hip.