The Taroom Rodeo 2023 is back, bigger and better than ever! For a region that prizes its horses for work and recreation, rodeos are just normal part of country life.

The Australian Professional Rodeo Association (APRA) stages more that 100 competitions across the nation, looking for the grittiest and best. Taroom Rodeo is part of the action and each year the best bronco riders come to town, keen to win their way to the top.

Hold onto your horses! Around more than 150 years, the origins of the rodeo date back to the drover’s runs – on stations where wild horses are cattle would be found in the scrub or on the trail, as the teams moved herds over hundreds of miles. Horses had to be broken and cattle reigned in. The all-important skills of the drover wee his strength, agility and staying power and accuracy with a rope.

The same set of skills are as relevant today as back then. A rider’s reputation is on the line when he takes to the ring. Fighting the thrashings of the steer or horse, precious seconds on the clock tick down; with the longest of the stayers receiving the adoration of the crowd.