Rodeo originated out west in the United States, essentially as another sport enhancing or proving the skills of people in the workplace, in this case cowboys' skills in herding cattle.
The sport has been in New Zealand for many years — the 63rd annual Waimate Rodeo in South Canterbury is being held this weekend.
The first national championships were held in 1973, the most recent in Wairoa last year, and there are currently 35 affiliated rodeos in New Zealand.
The events have undoubted spectator appeal, spectators usually packed around the arena, sometimes indoors as was the case when "Xtreme" bullriding was held in the Pettigrew Green Arena in Taradale in 2006.
The major events are bareback, where riders try to stay on a bucking bronco using only a cinch rope hand-hold, the rope and tie, where a rider lassos a calf from their horse, dismounts and pins the calf to the ground, the saddle bronc, in which Hawke's Bay has a current national champion in Graeme Gannon, of Tutira, and in which riders try to stay mounted on a bucking horse using a saddle and a rope, team roping, which involves the lassoing and grounding of a steer, the all-female event of barrel racing, steer wrestling in which riders leap from their horses to wrestle steers to the ground, and bull riding – the attempt to stay aboard till the clock runs out at 8 seconds.
