As soon as the youngest members of the McKerchar clan from Roxburgh could stand on their own, their parents were hoisting them into saddles.
Almost two decades later, all four members of the family were raring to go at yesterday's Millers Flat Rodeo.
Karen and Stu McKerchar have been competing in rodeos around the country for about 20 years and when children Luke and Jess came along, they made sure their legacy would live on.
Mrs McKerchar said her children had been on horseback since they were "babies".
"As soon as they were old enough to sit upright on a horse really."
Mrs McKerchar said "um, no comment", when asked if so much time spent on the road in close quarters had led to any disagreements.
"There's definitely been some bickering between [Luke and Jess], but I think it's just some brotherly and sisterly stuff ... they get back in line very good."
Jess said she thought her first rodeo may have been at the age of 10, but it had "been so long I can barely remember".
Now in secondary school, Jess and her university-student brother Luke were spending their summer break on the road competing in rodeos up and down the South Island, horse floats in tow.
"It's an awesome environment. Growing up in a rodeo family has been so fun and it keeps us busy, the rodeo environment is such an awesome environment and I've made so many friends," Jess said.
Three of the four McKerchars competed yesterday, with Jess up first in the second division barrel race.
She said it was her horse Kelso's second rodeo, but judging by his performance yesterday "he has a long and great career ahead of him".
Mrs McKerchar competed in the open barrel racing and in the open breakaway roping _ the latter against her daughter.
Luke competed in the open team roping and the open rope and tie.
Miller's Flat was the first stop for the family on the southern rodeo circuit, and the next opportunity the clan would have to compete would be at the Omarama rodeo tomorrow.
Millers Flat Rodeo Club secretary Lauren Kitto said the day bought out a lot of families and it was great to see so many children competing with their parents.
"We have people from all around New Zealand here, and from Australia, it's so great to have everyone together."
About 1000 people attended the rodeo yesterday.
She said everyone had been enjoying themselves during the day, people competing were having a blast and the atmosphere was great.
