Mr McCarthy, 76, of Chatto Creek, had knee replacement surgery last year and was given the all-clear from his doctor to compete at the Millers Flat Rodeo on Boxing Day.
His new knee had been "bloody good" and he competed at Outram at Waitangi Weekend and will test his knee again at the Waimate Rodeo this Saturday, as he chases points to qualify for nationals.
If he was short on qualifying points, he would still watch the New Zealand Rodeo finals in Kihikihi, Waikato on March 22.
He had attended about 40 nationals and won steer wrestling and team roping titles.
Rodeo was his family’s sport, his son Pat McCarthy Jun and his wife Deanna, and daughter Kate and her husband Ben Haugh and his grandchildren compete.
Granddaughter Bianca Haugh competes in the team roping event with her father and her proud grandfather got "a hell of a kick out of that".
Pat Sen left school at age 15 to work on his family’s 400ha sheep and cropping farm Ardmore in Hāwea Flat.
His father, who was also named Pat, died when he was 4 and his late uncle Neil ran Ardmore.
Now his son Pat Jun runs sheep, beef and cropping on Ardmore and Pat Sen helps when needed.
"I enjoy going up there and giving them a hand," he said.
Growing up on Ardmore, showjumping was his sport of choice.
His focus shifted to rodeo after being introduced to the sport by the Robinson family and entered his first rodeo at 17.
The major difference between the two sports was an exceptional horse was needed to progress in showjumping.
"In rodeo, you have more of an opportunity to make it," he said.
He enjoyed developing horses for rodeo events.
"Most of my horses came from people who didn’t want them because they got a bit too much for them. I’d get them cheap and turn them into reasonable horses."
Rodeo had given many unruly horse a second chance to find its purpose, he said.
He was one of the older rodeo participants in New Zealand but there were a few others in their 70s competing mostly in roping.
His enduring memories in the sport includes winning the first round of steer wrestling at the World Rodeo Championship in Sydney in 1978 and attending some of the "biggest and best" rodeos in the United States since 1971.
"That was a wee bit like going to the moon," he said.
He had attended the national championships in the United States about 10 times and made lifelong friendships.
"There is a lot of camaraderie in the sport, which I really enjoy."
In Colorado, he rode the most revered bucking horses at the time.
"I rode him across the arena and then he got rid of me."
This season he considered watching rodeo, rather than competing but Alyce Perkins, of Mataura, was seeking a team roping partner.
The idea of retiring from the sport always got "thrown out the window", he laughed.
"If I’m not doing this then what would I be doing? I have to be doing something."
