There are plenty of parents who travel all over the countryside taking their kids to all manner of sporting events.

But Ms Gard seems to have taken that commitment to a new level and next week will have her back tattooed with a picture of her daughter Stephanie in action on the professional rodeo circuit.

In particular a tattoo of a picture of her daughter and horse Pebbles racing to victory in the Australian Junior Barrel Racing championships at Beaudesert in Queensland in May.

“I am very proud of her and the picture is fantastic,” she said.

“I’ve booked in to have it done but they won’t tell me how painful it will be.

“But it will be worth it.”

However choosing which picture would adorn her back must have posed something of a dilemma for Ms Gard as Stephanie also won the senior female Australian Breakaway Roping championship, on Tuff, at the National Finals Rodeo held at the Gold Coast Exhibition and Convention Centre in June, topping off a fantastic month of competing.

But after turning 18 on Sunday she can now only compete in senior competition.

Stephanie and her siblings followed their mother into riding.

“I have been involved with horses all my life and competed mostly in showjumping,” Ms Gard said.

“My son Ben, 15, is into bull-riding as is my daughter Ellie, 10, and she has also started in the roping competitions.

“We also have a young indigenous boy from Western Australia, Jake, living with us.

“He is 16 and into rough riding, bareback riding and bull riding and he also wants to advance his education.

“My partner, Mike Rake, is the only one who is not involved in horses — he’s our truck driver.

“We live on 100 acres at Table Top and run about six to eight horses on it.”

Ms Gard said her daughter was always going to be involved with rodeo.

“She started riding when she was three and never wanted to go to pony club,” she said.

“Stephanie just wanted to ride like the big girls, on quarter horses, and go fast.

“She rode in the local rodeo when she was five or six competing in the under-eights.

“For the senior nationals she went into the finals ranked number three and came out at number one.”

Ms Gard said the sport was an expensive one.

“Obviously the sport is not cheap and apart from equipment, transport, accommodation and veterinarian bills, entry fees for some tournaments are as high as $150 per event,” she said.

“But prizemoney helps to break all that down; you might win $1000 to $1500 at some rodeos.

“The amount of prizemoney a competitor wins determines whether or not they go into the finals, which is for the top 15 riders.

“And Stephanie has been very lucky as she has been sponsored by Tuffrock, which sells horse products, for years.”

Stephanie agreed her head was still spinning with the results she had attained.

“It has been awesome,” she said.

“In the juniors the males and females compete against each other until they split up in seniors.

“But we’re all in this together and the boys never give the girls a hard time.

“That’s what I love about the sport, seeing my friends at all the rodeos and competing against them and all the older people who I had looked up to when I was younger.

“And also training and owning my own horses — some people ride horses owned by other people.”

Stephanie said in the short term her goal was to be competitive for as long as possible.

“The next step is to also win the senior female barrel racing championship and I am now also competing in team roping with Ben,” she said.

“But ultimately I would like to go to the US.

“I attended a school run by Marlene McRae, who is very big in the sport, last November and she has invited me to go and spend some time with her in Texas.”