In cowboy hat, spurs and tasselled rodeo chaps, Haider Al Hasnawi does not fit any stereotype of a young Muslim man.

The 17-year-old from Katherine in the Northern Territory is probably Australia’s first Iraqi-born bull-rider.

“I just love it… just the adrenalin rush, the atmosphere, there’s no better feeling than being on the back of a bull,” he said at the Mount Isa Rodeo in outback Queensland over the weekend.

The fencing worker drove 1,400 kilometres in a borrowed car to compete at Australia’s richest and biggest rodeo.

“It’s not just walk in and jump on,” he said in a broad Australian accent.

“There’s a lot to it. Lots of training. You’ve got to have strength and balance and you’ve got to be positive about everything.”

Haider first jumped on a bull at the Noonamah Rodeo outside Darwin two years ago, and was instantly hooked.

Last year he was runner-up in the Northern Cowboys Association’s junior bull-rider category and competed in the national titles in Dalby.

Haider said it was a dangerous sport, but after growing up in Nasiriyah in south-eastern Iraq, he took a relative view.

“A bull can kill you, so can a gunshot,” he said.

Nasiriyah was at the centre of one of the fiercest battles between Iraqi and American marines during the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“It is a scary thing… you can be playing out on the street and out of nowhere, there are gunshots and bombs and straight away, you know, you have to take cover,” he said.

Haider Al Hasnawi competing in the junior bull-riding competition at the Mount Isa rodeo. Photo: ABC/Stephen Mowbray

Haider, his mother and three brothers moved to Australia in 2009, finally reuniting with Haider’s father who first arrived 20 years ago.

Swapping bullets for bull-riding was not the safe future Haider’s mother had imagined for her son.

“Mum, she’s a bit worried and that, like a normal mother but real supportive and Dad, he’s not so worried, but he lets me do it as well,” Haider said.

He said he gets nervous before a ride, but that his experiences in Iraq have probably helped forge a mental toughness.

Once on a bull, it is all about living in the moment, and trying to stay on for the eight seconds needed to score.

“You can’t think about too much or you’ll get bucked off,” he said.

“You’ve got to have your eyes on the bull and go where he goes and hold on for your life.”

The bulls got the better of Haider at Mount Isa this time round.

But next weekend, he will be at the NT’s Pine Creek rodeo, trying his luck again.

“As long as I’m riding a bull, I’m happy,” he said.

–ABC