Picton 2571

STEER wrestling is a rodeo discipline in which a man on horseback races after a castrated bull and makes a flying grab for its horns.

rodeo

STEER wrestling is a rodeo discipline in which a man on horseback races after a castrated bull, makes a flying grab for its horns then muscles it to the ground.

This is a photo of Matthew Parker in action at Picton, near Sydney. You might be thinking, "Poor animal". But spare a thought for Parker too: his body has taken a beating in the 20 years he's been doing rodeo. He's been knocked down by bulls - "like getting hit by a car" - and run over by horses. He's had shoulders torn from their sockets and ligaments snapped. He's had five knee reconstructions, and more cortisone injections than he can remember. He's been gored, too. One time (you may wish to cross your legs now) a horn ripped through his scrotum. Surely most blokes would have said, enough is enough? "Nah," he says. "I thought, 'It's just a hole - it'll heal'."

The 44-year-old father of two, who lives in western Sydney, spends Monday to Friday designing water and sewer systems for housing developments. Come the weekend, though, it's the cowboy life for him. Parker got his start in rodeo as a "protection clown" - an assistant in the bull-riding event, tasked with distracting the animal when the rider's thrown; he'd played rugby league since the age of four so he proved pretty handy at sidestepping 700kg of beef. But when he tried his hand at steer wrestling, he knew he'd found his calling. "It's a good adrenalin rush," he says, and he's addicted to it, often driving 800km to a weekend rodeo for just one run - a run that might be all over in four seconds, if it's a good one. His best ever was 3.2 seconds, at Nowra in 2006, the same year he won the Australian title.

Parker knows he's getting old for this game but says he'll keep going until his body gives out. Meanwhile, his son Blaine, 15, is already competing in junior breakaway roping. What if he wants to try steer wrestling? "If he has the heart for it, I've got no dramas," Parker says. "You can get hit walking across the road."