{"id":66017,"date":"2023-06-30T11:40:59","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T23:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/?p=66017"},"modified":"2023-06-30T11:43:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T23:43:56","slug":"how-a-bareback-rider-boots-the-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/people\/how-a-bareback-rider-boots-the-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"How a bareback rider boots the blues"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Te Anau scrubcutter and rodeo rider Slade MacDonald has faced his fair share of challenges. Now he\u2019s using that experience to help others doing it tough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your current job?<\/strong>
I\u2019m working as gorse cutter and sprayer. When I\u2019m not doing that, I\u2019m helping out another local contractor here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve had some challenging times by the sound of it …<\/strong>
Yes, I really struggled there for a while. I lost my dad to an ice-climbing accident when I was eight. He was only 36. It was real shock and that was definitely hard on Mum, so things were a bit rough for a while because she was left to look after three wild little boys, me and my two older brothers. Dad was Kiwi and my mum\u2019s a Canadian and so we went and lived over in Canada. Mum got all better and everything was cruising along, but then when I was 17, in my last year of high school, she passed away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That must have been incredibly tough.<\/strong>
Yeah, it\u2019s not until you\u2019re an adult that you kind of understand the full impact of something like that. But for while there, I was a wild child that\u2019s for sure. I got up to some bloody mischief and acted like a real dip shit. One of the reasons I came back to New Zealand was to straighten myself out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did that work out?<\/strong>
I was doing all right for a while, but when you don\u2019t talk to anyone about what\u2019s going on for you, it all just kind of boils up eventually and overwhelms you. I just felt frustrated all the time and done with everything. I was working as a farm hand and I remember one time something happened with a fence and I was so frustrated I started bawling. I was so angry at life. I wasn\u2019t eating or sleeping properly either and that definitely affects how you operate during the day. I\u2019d end up drinking too much and making silly decisions. It felt as if life wasn\u2019t worth living. But thank God, I\u2019m still here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What helped you get through?<\/strong>
Reaching out for help and talking to people. But also, finding the right person to talk to, and that can take a bit of time. But thankfully here in this town, I\u2019ve got a lovely lady who\u2019s very heavily involved in the rural mental health sector. If I need to talk to someone, she\u2019s been amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What else helped?<\/strong>
I realised I didn\u2019t have anything to look forward to, so I got into the rodeo scene and started hopping on bareback horses. Dad was a bareback rider and one of the first Kiwis to make it to the Canadian rodeo finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did bareback riding help your recovery?<\/strong>
I suddenly felt a lot more motivated. It gave me something to look forward to and it was a decent challenge too. I\u2019ve had to learn new skills and step outside my comfort zone. I\u2019ve been doing it two years now. I\u2019ve still got a lot to learn, a long way to go, but I really enjoy it. It\u2019s bloody awesome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Slade MacDonald says he was a wild child but came back to New Zealand to straighten himself out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the buzz of it?<\/strong>
Bareback riding requires your total focus. As soon as I hop on and put my hand in the rigging, which is what you hold on to, it\u2019s kind of like a suitcase handle that\u2019s on the back of a horse, I forget about everything else. As soon as I drive my hand into that, all the worries of the world go away. And it\u2019s a real rush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What else do you do to maintain your wellbeing, so you don\u2019t slip back into that negative<\/strong> headspace?<\/strong>
Keeping well is about doing a lot of small things that add up to big wins. Finding someone you get on with to talk to. Going for a drive down the road and spending time at a beautiful spot. It\u2019s doing the small things like that and then having something that really turns your crank to build up your confidence and self-esteem again. For me it was rodeo. But if you like rugby or hockey or golf or whatever, get into that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any other tips for keeping well?<\/strong>
It\u2019s good to keep the body moving and stay in shape. That\u2019s one of the reasons I started gorse spraying \u2013 to stay fit for rodeo. I thought, if I go gorse spraying, then I get paid to work out, pretty much. So, I run around and do that and that helps keep me well, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any strategies for dealing with stressful moments during the day?<\/strong>
I find breathing techniques pretty handy. It\u2019s kind of like the deep breathing they do in yoga.
When you focus on your breathing like that, it regenerates the mind. The other thing I do is just go for a horse ride. I live on my grandparents\u2019 farm and we\u2019ve got horses here. So I ride out onto the neighbour\u2019s place and around the cow block here. It\u2019s a great way for me to just kind of take in the natural environment and have time to myself. Even though I\u2019m a social guy, I quite enjoy the solitude of moments like that. They calm you down and relax you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmstrong\u2019s working hard to improve the wellbeing of rural communities. What do you think needs to happen?<\/strong>
It probably sounds a bit \u201chippie\u201d but I think we\u2019ve all got to try and be more positive and treat life more lightly. Sometimes it seems like we\u2019re just surrounded by all this negative news and negative people. If all you\u2019re reading is this negative stuff or you\u2019re just thinking negatively about life and yourself, then there\u2019s only going to be a negative outcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think we\u2019re making progress?<\/strong>
Yes I do. The rural community where I work in the Te Anau basin is amazing. I\u2019ve found there\u2019s no stigma if you want to go talk to your mates about mental health. My experience has been that nine times out of 10, your mates are going to pat you on the back for speaking up and they\u2019re going to talk to you about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your message to someone out there who may be struggling?<\/strong>
If you need help, speak up. Give your mate a text, hop in the ute and go round and have a beer with them on the veranda. Just say \u201cThings are a bit tough right now, mate, and I don\u2019t know what to do.\u201d My mates definitely guided me in the right direction. That\u2019s where it all started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back at your journey, what\u2019s your main take-out?<\/strong>
If you\u2019re struggling with burnout and anxiety, you\u2019ve got to fight it. You can\u2019t just give up and let it drag you down. My story shows that there are always things that you can control that will make you feel a hell of a lot better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day, everyone has challenges in life. You\u2019ve just got to tell yourself, \u201cLife\u2019s a bitch, I\u2019ve got to make it a beach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More<\/strong>: Farmstrong is a nationwide, rural wellbeing programme for farmers and growers. To find out what works for you and lock it in, visit www.farmstrong.co.nz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Slade MacDonald says he was a wild child but came back to New Zealand to straighten himself out.\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":66030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[129,102],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t