It is not even one month into 2019 and Brodie Meredith has already made it his year.
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Less than two weeks ago the youngster was representing Kingstown Pony Club at the Zone 13 Jamboree where he finished as the champion nine and under 11 boy.
This week, the Armidale local, took on steer riding at the ABCRA National Junior Rodeo Finals in Tamworth and claimed his first buckle.
Of all the eight and under 11 competitors over the two nights, Brodie managed the highest score with a ride of 79 on Tuesday.
He then competed on Wednesday night and, although he drew a tough steer, he managed to score 69.
His average across the two nights put him in equal first and with the highest scoring ride over the two nights, he earned his first rodeo buckle.
Naturally, he’s been wearing the buckle with pride since his win and another highlight for Brodie was the winner’s lap of the arena in the truck Tuesday night.
“I just thought ‘yay! I get to go on the back of the truck,’” Brodie said when asked what he thought after his win.
“That was pretty cool I reckon.”
Brodie only began rodeo events two years ago with mini bull riding and has only been riding steers for one year. He said there wasn’t too much of a difference between riding the mini bulls and the steers, just a little bit of height.
“Some of them are bigger, the ones we had last night [Wednesday] we had were a bit bigger, taller, but they were no where near as heavy,” he said.
Brodie’s recent feats nearly didn’t happen after he had a fall from a motorbike on Boxing Day and landed himself in a moon boot.
He admitted to being worried he wouldn’t be able to compete at nationals after suffering the injury, and ruling out a chance at riding internationally, but set to work in keeping his fitness up with gym equipment.
“I really wanted to do that [ride at nationals],” he said.
“Las Vegas is coming up and if I didn't ride at nationals I would have had no chance at being selected to ride in Las Vegas.
“That would have been nationals and Las Vegas out.”
Brodie still has three nights of mini bull riding and then said he will continue to compete on the local rodeo circuit.
Brodie and his family would like to thank Brad McLoughlin and the Edgar family for their encouragement and ongoing support.