Kylee: "I started riding really young but I was never pushed. I had a fall here and there and went off it, but I came back because I wanted to. I started competitive barrel racing when I was 11 or 12 and Dad took three months off after my little sister was born and we went right down to Victoria, so Dad and I were competing at the same rodeos. I'm still friends with people I met then, the Schiller girls, Sharon McGuire and Danny, her brother.
 
"In that first year we did a lot of travelling. I was just barrel racing and I won more money doing that than any other girl. But I couldn't qualify for the All Round unless I competed in more than one event. So I started goat tying, that used to be an event then and breakaway roping, both at once. At my first breakaway roping I fell off in the arena and my first goat tying was at Darwin. I was a real skinny little kid and they had these whopping great big billy goats and I couldn't even throw them. I never ever considered steer undecorating because I didn't think there was any skill in it. I never wanted to do saddle bronc - not by choice, anyway, though I've been on horses that bucked. I know a lot of girls wanted to, but I wasn't real rough and ready. I'd like to say I was a bit tougher than I am but I reckon leave that for the people who know best.
 
"I was Australian Junior Barrel Racer and Junior All Round in '84, '85 and '86. In '86, while I was still a Junior, I won the Golden Run North Queensland circuit. I was 12 going on 13 and was the youngest at that stage and I think I still might be. I don't think anyone younger has won it."
 
Kylee remains one of the top competitors, winning the breakaway in 1998, the barrel race in 1999 and the All Round in 2000.
 
"I remember when I first started competing we used to do the horses up in glitter with stars stuck all over them and we wore bright colours. In the past few years, people have gone back to wearing really bland colours that don't stand out too much, just denims and creams and I reckon it'll go back in another circle. But you always have your horse looking nice. We don't glam it up as much as we did then, but you always bath them and have them nice and shiny, but not with all the sparkles. There are rules, like you always have to have long sleeved shirts and a hat and boots, not just for safety but for the image of the sport as well. Being Miss Rodeo Australia meant travelling all over the country, talking to the public and being on show. A lot of people in horse sports don't like the public side of it, but so long as you can handle that I think it's probably a good thing and good for the sport.
 
"I've been to the States about five times now. The first year I competed but only in amateur rodeo. Now my brother's over there so I go mostly to catch up with him. I took him over for a holiday when he just turned 17 and he never came home. But he's got a lot of natural talent. I had to work for mine, still have to, I'm not a natural. I've pretty much got to ride every day just to be competitive and I've never been able to go out and win just on my natural ability. But my brother is a total natural. He never has to practise, he can just go out and ride.
 
"Kolt won his buckle at the Cloncurry Western and Cutting Club which Dad started in the early '70s. The little ones compete in barrel racing, bending and they have dummy roping. They don't rope a real calf and Kolt's still only doing it off the ground. He'll start doing roping from horses later this year but he needs a bit of help and a bit more strength to be able to throw it. It's fair way to the dummy off a horse.
 
"When I first met Colin I just remember that I thought he had a nice car. WE got together at Ascot Rodeo when I had my 18th birthday and invited him and his mates. His main event is steer wrestling but he's team roped and calf roped and once a year he'll either get on a bronc or a bullock at Winton. We've had the shop for five years now. It's a way of paying for the fuel to get to rodeos."
 
Cliff: "That's one of the killers now. In the '60s and '70s the dollar seemed to go further. People who pay their entry fees and come away with nothing are probably a bit downheartened. But it's not the end of the world so they hope the next rodeo will be the one where they pick up. With the cost of everything these days, cowboys have to work out what they're best at to save paying entry fees in events that they're not going to win.
 
"I've done all events. I went into the open in Hughenden and came out to Cloncurry in '67. I broke my arm in the 2nd Division Saddle Bronc that year, but broken bones are part of the deal. You want someone to run out with a matress and put it under where you reckon you're going to fall. And competing in all events really helps in judging and I've done a fair stint of that here in the North. I'm still competing. I'm in my fourth decade now, mainly team roping and calf roping - but I've ridden bulls too.
 
"I always worked in between rodeos, wherever I could get a job. We did everything from chipping burrs to fruit picking, working in meatworks, general labouring. We weren't fussed. There was always plenty of work about in those days and people would employ you for two or three days. Now you can't get those sort of jobs.
 
"We prefer to train our own horses. It's hard to pick them from a foal, so I buy horses that have done stockwork, mustering or something like that, with part quarterhorse in them at least, with some cow sense and temperament. And then you go through the process of teaching them calf roping and bulldogging. Most of the quarterhorses have good temperaments.
 
"What I'd like to see in the future is how they go in America by teaching those young kids. We're a fair bit behind America where they have colleges that offer scholarships and Junior High School rodeos. Kylee and I both went to these junior rodeos to bring back ideas for the Western Club here.
 
"Competing is more important than winning. It's the adrenalin. It's not a contact sport but it's something similar to football, except it's man against beast instead of man against man. Everyone goes in to try and win, but that's not the most important part. It's the fun aspect that comes out of it and the mateship."