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No bull, the first time Bella Brinner saddled up to compete in a rodeo, she was gored through the bottom of her chin.
The 12-year-old from Narangba wears the resulting scar with pride, tilting her head back to show off the white line on her throat.
She’s had multiple fractures since, and even has her own bull nemesis.
Bella Brinner, 12, is a competitive bull rider.Credit: Jamila Filippone
But that’s not stopping her from getting on another one. She radiates excitement at the idea of her next ride, and shrugs off the question of why you’d get back on after being hurt.
“If I stop, people would be like, ‘she’s just going to stop because she got hurt’,” Bella says, planted on a picnic blanket in front of the ring at the Woodford Rodeo, about an hour and a half from Brisbane’s CBD.
“But I kept coming back, and more people are starting to talk to me. Acknowledge me.
“I had to show them that I want to be part of this. And a lot of people now talk to me. I’ve had people cheering for me that I don’t even know.”
Bella has been riding bulls for just over a year after catching the bug from her older sister, Mia.
“If she’s going to do it, I’m going to do it,” she says.
Bella mid-ride at the Woodford Rodeo.Credit: Jamila Filippone
Mia doesn’t compete any more. The National Rodeo Association (NRA) doesn’t let women compete in its Open Bull Ride category, so she stopped after ageing out of the U15 Mini Bull Ride category.
“The NRA has said, ‘we don’t want girls riding from 15 and up’,” Bella says.
Most of the rodeos within an easy distance of her home in south-east Queensland are part of the NRA circuit.
Other organisations, such as the Australian Pro Rodeo Association and the Australian Bushmen’s Campdraft and Rodeo Association, do not have age limits for women competing in bull riding. Professional Bull Riders overseas and in Australia does not restrict women from competing either.
The NRA did not respond to inquiries from this masthead about its restrictions on female competitors.
Bella behind the chutes at the Woodford Rodeo.Credit: Jamila Filippone
“There are a couple of girls that want to get started, but they’re too old,” Bella says. “They’d have to go to another place, and they don’t really want to travel a lot, so they’re not doing it.”
It makes no sense to Bella that they won’t let girls ride past 15.
“Girls can be really good. Half of the girls are better than boys.”
Bella is currently the top-ranked girl in the NRA’s U12 Mini Bull Ride category. The Woodford Rodeo on November 15 was her last show as part of this category as she heads into the U15 competition.
Next year, Bella will compete in Texas, representing Australia in the Youth Bull Riders World Finals.
On a team of 14 other riders her age, she’ll be the only girl, and she says that’s part of the thrill.
“It’s really exciting, showing that you’re a girl doing bull riding.
“You can be scared, but you’ve just got to hop on the bull. If you hop on it, that’s fine, because you’ve done your best.”
Bella preparing for her first ride of the day.Credit: Jamila Filippone
When it comes to the beasts themselves, it may be the cuter the name, the more fearsome they are.
“When I first started, I got on this bull named TikTok,” Bella says. “He flung me under and I got hung up, and he was stomping on my shoulder.
“I still got up. I wasn’t crying. I got up and I ran.”
At another rodeo, Bella hopped on a bull named Cupcake.
“He wasn’t very nice,” she says. “Cupcake’s terrifying.”
As for her least-favourite bull – he’s named Floppy, and they first crossed paths at the Canungra Rodeo, 30 kilometres inland from the Gold Coast.
“Never again,” she says. “He was so rude.
“We came out of the chutes … and he put me off. And then I forgot to get up because he stepped on my leg. I thought my leg was broken.
“The bull just ran over me three times.
“I had a scar, like my leg was open. I had a scar on my elbow, I had a bit of a cut on my arm. And then my hand was bruised everywhere.”
But a month later, Bella and Floppy were back in the ring, in the Sunshine Coast town of Nambour.
Bella runs to safety after her first ride of the day.Credit: Jamila Filippone
“They were like, ‘you’ve got this, you’re the girl in pink, you have to ride this bull’,” she says.
“I jump off, he comes around, looks at me, starts running at me. And there were no fences, so I had to sprint over to the other side.”
Bella holds grudges against bulls. Floppy is on that list.
“If you run over me, I will never like you. And he only runs over me.”
For most of the day at the Woodford Rodeo, the humidity is punishing. Bella sits under the shade of an umbrella as we watch the events before her, knowing she has to go and prepare for her ride any minute.
Maybe it’s the heat, but the bulls seem grumpier than usual. It seems like everyone is struggling to get out of the chutes, let alone achieve a qualifying time.
An hour before Bella is set to ride, the skies break open and rain pours down.
A storm meant Bella was competing in a muddy arena at the Woodford Rodeo.Credit: Jamila Filippone
The crowd flees the showgrounds, some sheltering under a nearby verandah as a crack of lightning goes off far too close for comfort. The rain subsides to a constant drizzle, and the contestants prepare to compete in what is now essentially a mud pit.
With her gear on, Bella is hard to miss – her now trademark look features a hot-pink helmet and pink chaps with gold tassels. Bella has seen other girls be encouraged to blend in with the boys, but she obviously decided to take a different approach.
On her first ride, her bull comes out of the gate too soon and gets briefly shoved back in. There are confused murmurs about a re-ride, but the show goes on.
On her second ride, she slides into a puddle of mud. Her chest and half her face are now brown instead of pink.
Bella was thrown into the mud on her second ride of the day.Credit: Jamila Filippone
A large part of the sport for Bella is simply accepting what she can and cannot control. She can’t control the weather or what the bull does when she gets in the chute, but it’s still her chute. The best advice she’s received is not to let any one tell her what to do when she gets in there.
“They don’t try and do it on purpose, but they’re like, ‘come on, hurry up, hurry up’,” Bella says.
She’s seen people fall off quickly because they weren’t ready, but now knows to take her time.
“I’ve learnt if the bull plays up, don’t worry about it,” she says.
“I had a bull lay down once and I was smiling. I don’t know why. I just felt like this happy energy go through me.
“[The bull] tries to beat you, because bull riding is a mind game. If you don’t have the right mindset, you’re not gonna do very good.”
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