Local 14-year-old Kade O’Dea galloped onto the rodeo scene three years ago with help from his uncle and mentor David Shegog.

Since then, he has seen a lot of success, notably making the junior national finals in Emerald, Queensland last season and winning three South Australian state titles.

O’Dea grew up around cattle and horses from a young age and competes across Australia.

Despite living in Mount Gambier, O’Dea’s local practice is with Shegog in Dartmoor and travels about seven hours as a return trip to Saint Arnaud, Victoria for a full weekend of practice.

He is going into his second season sponsored by family-owned business Rustic Edge Western Wear, for which he was their first junior sponsored rider.

O’Dea said it was great to meet all the team members and publicise the brand.

“I enjoy roping because it is fun and I get to work on my horses and watch them get better,” he said.

“My role-models in rodeo are my uncle, the Flanagan boys from Saint Arnaud who are Australian champions and three-time Australian champion Aron Bouck.

“I admire how they look after their horses and the way they rope.

“When I get older I would like to compete in the calf roping and steer wrestling.”

Kade’s father Scott O’Dea said rodeo has been an outlet for his son.

“When Kade was as young as three months old, I used to ride out a lot of young horses and as long as he had water he could watch for up to four hours,” he said.

“When he was a toddler he used to always play with horse and cattle toys.

“He is going to be a very good horseman, there is no doubt about that.

“He recently paid $500 for a young pony he trained for 12 months which ended up being sold to someone in Perth for 10 times that much.

“Kade is looking at rodeo college in America as a serious option for his future.”