Photo recall: Three seconds of danger and excitement

It took four grown-ups to hold the calf still at the Counties Rodeo while Dane Tombleson dropped on to his back and hooked his hand under the strap. Then they opened the gate. Photo / Peter Meecham

Dane Tombleson grew up in the country - a little place called Onewhero, between Port Waikato and Tuakau.

But he wouldn't call himself a farm boy. Mum Andrea worked at the school; dad Chris was a builder and raced stockcars. In fact, at 12 years old, Dane was probably more comfortable in a built-up saloon car with a grunty engine under the bonnet than he was on the back of a farm animal.

A few years earlier at the Counties Rodeo, he'd stayed on the back of a sheep for a glorious 12 seconds - winning himself $12 in cash, a small fortune for a small boy. But a mean-eyed calf? That was another matter.

It was his big brother Ben who dared him to do it. Fourteen years older, Ben had spent a lot of time on sheep and cattle stations. He'd ridden at rodeos in Canada.

Every boy looks up to his older brother. So on January 28, so scared that he hadn't been able to eat or drink all morning, Dane lined up with the bigger kids for his first (and last) calf ride.

The other kids quickly leaped into the pen and chose the smaller calves, Dane remembers, leaving him with the biggest, most vicious of the young cattle beasts. According to Ted Tickle, who used to run the rodeo, Dane's calf had bad blood. His dad had been mean, and he too was mean.

"They made me put a vest on - which the other kids didn't have to do - because my calf was so vicious and already had little horns."

It took four grown-ups to hold him still while Dane dropped on to his back and hooked his hand under the strap. Then they opened the gate.

"It took off so fast, incredibly fast, and I just thought, shit. I was so scared. But it was such a thrill."

He pauses: "It lasted three seconds."

The pictures look bad, but Dane got off pretty lightly - if you can say that of such a heavy fall. Bruises, and a sprained thumb.

Dane is at Waikato University these days, finishing off a degree in business management - but he still has the photos taken by the Herald's Peter Meecham, and occasionally pulls them out to show his friends.

Right now, Dane is applying to all the graduate programmes for the big corporates. But he'd still like to work somewhere like Fonterra that keeps him in touch with agriculture and farming.

"It's the heart of New Zealand - it's what we're all about."