After several years without kicking horses and raging bulls, Whitehorse residents saw a return of the rodeo at the Takhini Arena recently.

Triple Diamond Rodeo of Wildwood, Alta., trucked 50 head of horses and bulls up to the Yukon for the family event on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Producer Jared Miller said he brought the show up north because he had heard about enthusiastic audiences when the rodeo was an annual event in Whitehorse several years ago. It was alternately staged off Second Avenue and at Jim Dillabough's farm north of the city.

Although it took thousands of kilometres of driving to get here and three months on the phone to organize all the details, Miller said, he was pleased to be able to bring the show to the North.

"This is definitely the most beautiful city I've ever seen,” he said.

"Everybody's very excited to be doing something, and that was one of my other big reasons for coming up here.”

Although this is the company's first year organizing shows, Miller has spent a lifetime working in the industry.

"I went to my first rodeo when I was six days old – in a cardboard box,” he said.

His father has raised stock and worked as a saddle bronc rider in Alberta since before Miller was born.

Every summer weekend, the family would travel to nearby rodeos, where his father would ride horses and Miller would ride sheep.

"(Sheep riding's) probably the most dangerous event in rodeo,” he said with a laugh.

"You put these little kids on there and the sheep run 'em over.”

Triple Diamond Rodeo doesn't offer sheep riding, but it does include pig and chicken races. Children run after the frenzied farm animals, and if they catch one, it's theirs to keep.

Miller said the pig and chicken races fit in with the Triple Diamond's "Wild West” theme, which keeps the tradition of rodeo alive in the modern day.

The desire to host a classic rodeo was what inspired Miller to create and organize his own show.

However, he has added a couple of non-traditional events to the roster. One is the bull chariot, which has a cowboy sitting in a chariot that is pulled by a bull. The bull follows the chariot, essentially circling around itself.

Sitting on the chariot is Miller's friend and co-worker Les Hellekson, who is also a saddle bronc and bareback rider.

Like Miller, Hellekson was immersed in the cowboy lifestyle from an early age.

"I just kinda grew up riding horses and stuff, and then my friends started gettin' on steers, so I started gettin' on steers,” he said. "It kinda worked its way up from there.”

Although he's aware a lot of people get hurt or are killed by the sport, Hellekson said, he's never nervous about getting on the back of a bucking animal.

"You can get killed doing anything,” he said. "So you might as well be doing something you love.”

It's the rush he gets from the sport that keeps him riding in the rodeo, Helleckson said.

He added: "There's nothing else like it.”

Miller agreed, although he doesn't know exactly what keeps him in the industry after being seriously injured numerous times.

"I can't explain it,” he said with a laugh. "It's just life. It's just what we do.”

He added that injuries, and occasional deaths, are just part of the lifestyle.

"Instead of fear, you have respect for the animal. Because they will hurt you,” he said.

Even after participating in many rodeos where riders have died, Miller maintains the most dangerous part of the rodeo is driving there.

People have a better chance of getting hit by a car than being trampled or hooked by a bull, he said.

Although injured cowboys are frequent, the animals themselves rarely get hurt.

"If they do get hurt, we treat them like they're our own kids,” he said. "We definitely don't inflict any pain or injury upon anything.”

The nomadic lifestyle is also attractive to Miller, who brings his family with him on the road. On this particular occasion, Miller's girlfriend, mother and uncle were all part of the team.

"It like you're a travelling gypsy,” he said. "You just gotta keep travelling and keep going.”