A local bucking bronc with loads of character and a big heart, has won awards, respect, and is soon to be immortalised in print.

Bandit, owned by the Wanaka Rodeo Club, won the New Zealand Cowboys Rodeo Association’s saddle bronc horse of the year title during the 2015-2016 season and was runner up last season.

Standing at only 14.2HH (142cm) high at the wither, Bandit is probably the smallest horse to have ever won the title.

“He might be small in size but he has the biggest heart I’ve ever seen,” said his carer Andrew Dawson.

Andrew is the club’s stock convenor. He’s responsible for caring for the club’s 16 horses, making sure they’re fit and healthy, trained for the job, and travel to and from the rodeos safely. 

Most of his life is spent with his “herd” in the high country on Mt Grand Station near Hawea Flat. PHOTO: Supplied

At the Wanaka Rodeo Club’s annual event (January 2) Andrew’s also in charge of the yards and the chutes and all the stock, from bulls and steers to the rough stock (also known as saddle broncs and bareback horses) ensuring their wellbeing and that they return home safely at the end of the day.

Andrew is particularly fond of the 16-year-old pinto, Bandit.

“He’s a bit of a dude.”

Bandit’s got character and attitude to spare, it appears. He’s a natural born leader and has no problem holding his position as the highest-ranked in his herd - his five other ‘stablemates’ who live most of the year round on a big block on Mt Grand Station near Hawea Flat.

“It’s quite funny to watch,” Andrew said. “He’s by far the smallest horse in the herd but he’s the boss and even the 17.2HH Clydesdale is junior to him.”

While his daily view is of wide open pastures he has no problem coming down from the high country “to do his job”. Often it’s with his best buddy Murphy, another brown and white pinto or “paint”; the two travel together to various rodeo venues in the South Island throughout the rodeo season from October to March.

Andrew says Bandit really knows his job. He’s been bucking off cowboys for seven years now. “He’s good in the chutes, patient with the riders, and doesn’t play up. He’s just waiting for his chance in the arena to buck out.”

Top saddle bronc rider Ross Dowling bites the dust as Bandit chalks up another win. PHOTO: Adair Wilson

In the arena Bandit is dynamite; even the most experienced of saddle bronc riders have suffered the humiliation of being dumped on the ground long before the eight second buzzer.

“He’s cocky, a bit full of himself but he’s got to be like that; that’s why he’s so good at his job. And he really does like his work. He comes out of the chute, he bucks, we put him back in the pen where he paws at the gate as if he wants to go another round - every time,” Andrew said.

Bandit was nine-years-old when he joined the club’s herd. Andrew said Bandit had been “handed around as a young feller” when he was first broken to saddle, moving from home to home, before he eventually wound up at a trail riding outfit in Glenorchy. 

“He was used for trekking but he was easily bored, and he’d get part way into a trail and play-up and dump people off,” Andrew said. The trail riding outfit couldn’t keep him as he was too unreliable and couldn’t be trusted with clients. He already knew how to buck so giving him to the club was a no brainer - and the rest, as they say, is history.

As a bucking bronc he was considered too short in the leg for bareback riders so he became a saddle bronc. The fact he was used to being handled, was well socialised with other horses, and travelled well, were all pluses for the club.

Club member Roger Moseby has spent quite a bit of time with Bandit over the years and described him as “one of the sweetest natured horses around”. 

“He doesn’t have a mean bone in him. He bucks because he enjoys it,” Roger said.

His gentle nature has even been captured in a children’s story book written by rodeo barrel racing competitor Gemma Oliver, soon to be published, Roger said.

The club has four “open” grade horses (used only for the top rated riders) of which Bandit is one, and the remaining 12 horses are second division stock.

All the club’s rough stock graze in the high country scattered between Mt. Grand, Glen Dene and Mt. Burke Stations. The hilly country keeps them fit and happy but it’s not always easy to keep an eye on them regularly.

Club member Roger Moseby helped with Bandit’s recovery after he was injured last year. PHOTO: McKenzie Media

Last winter Bandit suffered a serious injury. Andrew found him on his block with a severe wound to the stifle joint. “We’re still not 100 per cent sure what happened as we never found the site of the accident,” he said. “We can only assume he staked himself on a tree branch or waratah. 

“It was touch and go for a few days. The vet wasn’t sure how he would respond to the treatments but he’s got a big heart, that wee horse,” Andrew said. 

The club’s president Patrick McCarthy was called in because the vet didn’t like Bandit’s chances for a full recovery. “Any other horse and maybe we would have made a different decision, but this was Bandit and we knew his spirit would get him through it,” Patrick said.

Bandit was brought down to a yard at Patrick’s Hawea Flat farm and he and his wife Deanna spent eight weeks nursing him, including administering up to four intravenous antibiotic injections every day.

“Some horses wouldn’t be able to handle that but he took it like a champion. Never once did he cause us any trouble,” Patrick said.

Bandit made a 100 per cent recovery and it was satisfying to see him leading the herd around in a canter at the club’s arena during the Wanaka Rodeo last January, Andrew said.

Bandit has been selected to attend the two-day 2020 National Rodeo Finals at Miller’s Flat next month (March 28). Only the best of the best are selected for the finals and Bandit has attended every national finals held in the South Island since he became a saddle bronc, Andrew said with pride.

He is held in the highest esteem by cowboys who try to ride him, Andrew said. “The cowboys just love him. All of them want to draw Bandit because they know if they can ride him for eight seconds there’s a good chance they’re going to win.”

It’s the cowboys who select the winner of the saddle bronc of the year title each year - Bandit has earned their respect. Roger said Bandit missed out on this second title last season by only one point. Who knows, maybe this season he will be victorious.