Beers, barrel racing and blue skies set the scene for Wanaka Rodeo’s 60th year yesterday.
The event had spectators travelling in from across the South Island.
They agreed unanimously on what made a good rodeo.
"Beers for start," Mr Crone said.
"We come to this one all the time," Jordayn said.
Their advice to rodeo first timers was to drink beer and watch team roping.
"That’s my favourite - basically there’re two people on horses and then the steer runs out, one person’s got to rope their head, one person’s got to rope the back feet, at the the same time, and then it’s like a time thing," Jordayn said.
"Could be up to 5000 people here, but we won’t know until the end of the day. We’re really rapt with the turnout," she said.
There were seven rodeo events across the day - bareback, open tie, saddle bronc, barrel racing, steer wrestling, team roping and bull ride.
"There’s a lot of preparation that goes on leading up to it," she said.
Mrs McCarthy rode her two purebred quarter horses.
"One’s 7 years old and the other one’s coming up 12 years as well now - so he’s our favourite," she said.
Quarter horses were a warmblood breed known for their patient and co-operative temperament, Mrs McCarthy said.
