Nestled under a 10-gallon hat, wearing chaps and spurs, and standing about as tall as a knee-high cowboy boot, Marshall Woods is possibly one of the outback's biggest rodeo fanatics.
The five-year-old from Stradbroke Station near the Queensland–Northern Territory border decided riding on the back of a bucking bull was the path for him.
Itching to try the sport for quite some time, Marshall was one of the youngest riders at the local Dajarra Rodeo, jumping on the back of a calf.
He said his first ride did not let him down.
"I liked it because it was bumpy and fun," he said.
However, Marshall's mother Annabelle Woods said watching her son riding in a rodeo was nerve-wracking.
"When they ran the cow in that day I was thinking 'Oh, it's going to be a little calf' not a weaner, and then I wanted to bail out at the last minute," Ms Woods said.
Hit film 8 Seconds provides inspiration
While Marshall's father was also a keen bull rider, it was rodeo legend and lead character of hit film 8 Seconds, Lane Frost, who inspired him.
"At my old home in Numinbah Valley I used to watch it every arvo," he said.
Ms Woods said since watching the film with them one day, Marshall had become fascinated with the sport.
"We had some blokes who used to come and just practice bucking out some horses and he was just fascinated with it," she said.
All the gear
Marshall's favourite toys had nothing to do with big trucks or ball sports; he owned a blow-up bucking bull and makeshift rodeo chute made from tent canvas.
"It's like one of those big bouncy balls that you hang onto the ears and bounce along, but it's a bull," she said.
"They hop in there and they buck out and they do it all day if we let them."
Ms Woods said Marshall had even marked out a specific shirt in his wardrobe that was only to be warn at rodeos.
"I asked him if he'd like to wear it to something we were going to and he said 'No mum! That's the rodeo shirt," she said.
"So to be doing the real thing was pretty much the highlight of his life."
