"I took over the running of the paddock at Carandotta in the mid 70s. All the owners who came later honoured the agreement that it was ours to use if we upgraded it. Which we did. We upgraded the water supply and built plenty of yards and miles of fences. We'd go down quite a few times every year. A lot of the Rotarians used to bring their own gear down, like the fellow who owned a crane and MIM would donate bulldozers and motors. Other businesses in town used to supply blokes to go down there and give us a hand. It was always there over the years, just for the asking.
 
"I don't know how my wife Helen put up with it really. I'd disappear for weeks at a time. And if I needed some really important machinery part she'd drive it halfway and I'd meet her. Our only contact was by driving to the closest cattle station to send a telegram through the Flying Doctor, or a 90 kilometre round drive to Urandanji to use the phone.
 
"When it flooded and we couldn't get the horses in, we'd round them up in helicopters. An aboriginal family, the Ah One's, used to go down a fortnight before and catch them all when they came in for a drink of a night time, run them into the yard and then physically drive them through to Mount Isa. When the road traffic increased and more fences were built we went to road trains.
 
"Bill and Pam Davitt went there as managers in '91 or '92 and it eased the pressure on me considerably. They did a very, very good job, got some lawn going and cleaned it all up. But it started to get more difficult to get horses and the cost got out of hand. So we decided to go to contract stock. The cowboys were much happier about it too. There was no certainty that those mad yang-yang bush horses would buck and they never saw humans from one year to the next so they were always a bit skittish. We donated 60 good horses to the Urandanji Horse Sports Association and the rest were bought by different stock contractors. There are still a few of our horses on the rodeo run now. But not Blondie. I think we've lost her now, I think she's died.
 
"I don't know if Ray Hermann rode Blondie. I'll argue either way. He was certainly good enough to do it but who knows? It always livens up a good party. I was at a bush pub the other day and somebody asked me and everyone joined in and it became quite a discussion. We used to leave her locked up in the yard over Saturday night so she'd only be there a short time. But the story goes that Ray Hermann got in the yard and rode her.
 
"Our biggest disaster was the day she turned up with a foal. Nobody knew she had a foal. She was 60 kilometres away locked up in a small paddock so nothing would happen to her, but a stallion must have got to her. She still put up a good ride that day and Steve Gibson, the bloke who rode her, did well. But to see our feature horses win and throw their riders, that was a plus for us.
 
"I was on the Rotary Rodeo Committee until we got rid of the horse paddock and I said to the fellows, 'When the horse paddock goes, then I'll go', and I went. They brought younger fellows in and they've learnt the ropes and they're doing as good or better than we did.
 
"Cowboys now are much more professional. They seem to be quieter and more dedicated to their sport. There were a lot of larrikins and characters in the old days. In the late 70s a bull just burst through the gate past me and in amongst all the cowboys in the saddling yard where they all sit down. He caused great commotion and generally livened everybody up - emptied the yard out. One of the local cowboys got it out of the yard and then the rodeo just carried on. No one in the arena knew it had happened but everybody in the back yards knew about it. There were blokes running everywhere."