ATTUNGA publican Warren Miller proved he was not only handy at pulling a mean beer, but also hanging on for dear life by taking out the Cowhide Drag at the village’s Sibelco Down Under Rodeo on the weekend.
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The popular event required competitors to be dragged around the arena behind a galloping horse, on a piece of carpet, against the clock.
Ably towed around the drums in a spray of sand by local roper Casey Tribe, Miller stopped the clock in the slickest time to take home the spoils.
Though Miller, who jokes that he does know a horse’s head from its backside when it comes to rodeo – “but that’s about all” – said his trip around the arena was something of a “cushioned ride – better than I thought it would be”.
And he’s already signed up to defend his title in 2017 – “Casey asked me if I was good for next year, and I accepted”.
That “cushioned ride” Miller referred to was no doubt due to the generosity of local limestone mine outlet and major sponsor Sibelco who “donated around 300 tonnes of produce for us to re-surface the arena”, Attunga Rodeo’s Diane Norris said.
“They provided it and Beaumont’s donated the cartage. And from what I saw, the barrel times were faster – on par with and better than in previous years,” Norris said.
Kerry Badior and Roc N Billy took advantage of the new surface to fly around the drums in a slick 15.92sec to win the ladies’ barrel over Nicole Fitzpatrick (16.08sec) and equal third-placed Emily Learmonth and Bianca Canham in 16.34sec.
Fitzpatrick though atoned in the steer undecorating with her lightning 1.82sec while the ladies’ breakaway roping went to Lisa Sutherland with a time of 2.56sec.
In the timed events, Tamworth’s Blake Hallam won the rope and tie in 9.29sec, Scone’s Heath Nichols took out the steer wrestling with a slick 3.72ec, while locals dominated the team roping, with Casey Tribe and Lance Hutton combining to win with a time of 5.32sec over Ben Smith and Blake Hallam (6.14sec) and third-placed Greg Leys and Troy O’Neile (6.60sec).
Barraba’s Chris Lowe took out the open bullride with 85 points aboard Devils Dance, beating Attunga’s Clint Glass and Tamworth’s Steven Mason who shared the second and third cheque with 78 points.
Dee Heinemann won the open bareback with 74 points while taking honours in the Bill Newman Memorial Saddlebronc was Werris Creek’s Joel Taylor with 76 points, two points in front of Robert Bandy, also from Werris Creek.
