Robert and Gail.
Fellow rodeo competitor Chris Wilson said of ‘Bomp’. “If there was a hall of fame for guts, he would be right up there with the best of them. In all the years I have been around Rodeo, he’s probably the toughest competitor I’ve ever come across.” Robert ‘Bomp’ Leitner was born on November 24, 1958 to parents Herman and Alfreda, who migrated to Australia from Austria.
The early days.
He said “I was just a normal kid. I always liked horses, I was about 11 or 12 when I used to walk from Neill Street to Cunningar to work on a dairy farm. I worked from 2:30am to 7:00am before getting a lift back to town to the butter factory. I did that 5 days a week just so I could get a chance to ride the boss’s horse. But he told me they weren’t broken in and couldn’t let me on.”
Bomp didn’t let the fact that horses weren’t broken in from stopping him from riding later in life. In fact, he relished the chance to see if man could beat beast on the rodeo circuit and also if man could have a relationship with beast when he went on to ‘break’ horses in for himself and many others in the area. He saved up an bought his own horse at the Harden Horse Sales. He was a chestnut horse called Chuck who was renowned for throwing riders. He said “I started breaking him in and he started bucking and bucking. Billy ‘Wombat’ Graham said ‘Try riding him in the dark.’ “It worked perfectly until he got to a street light and he bucked again.”
Bomp also worked on a dairy farm with the Spackman family and the Ampol Garage where Tegra is now situated. After finishing his schooling he left Harden and went to live in Canberra for 6 months before returning to work for the O’Connor family outside of town. He met wife Gail at Bungendore Rodeo and joked that she chased him to Yass Rodeo soon after. They have been married for 33 years. Gail was born at Collarenabri and worked in the bank for many years. She also loves horses and regularly rides. She spent 3 years in Canberra where she took part in ceremonial work on horseback. After finishing up at O’Connors Bomp took up a position with the railway and worked for them for 30 years and 2 weeks. A huge achievement! For his service on the railway he received a gold watch and a gold travel pass. The pass allows him and Gail, free travel on any ferry, train or bus. They sometimes head down to Sydney to Randwick for the races and and watch the horses go around.
After finishing on the railway Bomp worked in Canberra on excavators for 8 years. He did a lot of the foundations under the Canberra Tourist Information Centre and a Cancer Ward at Woden. He said “They had to go down 11 metres at Woden and we hit rock after a metre. It was a long job.” Since returning he has been working for a year and a half at Graham’s near Galong. Bomp’s first rodeo was at Young.
He was 17 when he took part in his first bareback ride. He said “In those days all we had to hold on with,was something similar to a suitcase handle, compared to now where it is a hard fibreglass handle.” The bug had well and truly bitten him and he commenced a rodeo career which spanned over 3 decades and was filled with achievements as well as some terrible injuries. During winters he also played Second Row for the Harden Hawks playing into his mid 30s. When summer came he would hit the Rodeo circuit. Heavy contact doesn’t seem to worry ‘The Iron Man’. The name with which he became known amongst his Rodeo competitors and spectators.
Bomp often worked at the Rodeos as a comedy clown, looking after the welfare of other cowboys. A Rodeo Clown has the thankless task of putting his body on the line to distract Bulls as fallen riders look to make an escape. He would more often than not ride first so that he could quickly get changed to help the other clown out for the rest of the schedule. He was part of an act with another clown who would rile the crowd up and boast that he could shoot a pole with a bullet and ricochet the bullet off several objects before hitting Bomp in the bottom. The sound effects went on the load speaker whilst Bomp waited with a detonator in his hand to let the explosives off which were hidden in his pants. One particular rodeo the mix must have been a bit high, the powder went off and threw him a few metres. He couldn’t sit down for hours.
Injuries are part and parcel of being both a cowboy and a rodeo clown. He suffered a broken leg after a bull threw him 10 feet high in the air and over the fence at Jindabyne. He knocked the hat off Coota man Jimmy Gilpin as he flew through the air. The photograph on the next page shows Jimmy circled standing on the gate and Bomp mid flight. Bomp said “Based on Jimmy’s height and the 6 foot gate he was standing on I probably got thrown 15 or 20 foot in distance and went over the top of Jimmy about 10 feet in the air, I knocked off his hat as I went over him.” He landed on the other side of the fence and sustained a broken leg. There was a problem with the broken leg. It was getting in the way of him finishing his day clowning for the other cowboys and on top of that, Nowra Rodeo was the next day. The car load of cowboys took off after the rodeo and stopped at Milton Hospital for crutches, however, Bomp thought $20 for a set of crutches in the early 80s was a bit steep (and rightly so) so he passed them up and arrived at Nowra.
The broken leg incident. An amazing photograph taken just after a bull launched Bomp in to the air (orange vest) whilst he was Rodeo Clowning at Jindabyne. Jimmy Gilpin is standing on the gate wearing a black hat. Bomp knocked Jimmy’s hat off as he went over the top of him.
“I couldn’t ride saddle bronc, steer wrestle or clown at the rodeo but I could bareback.” He rode the infamous horse ‘Volcano’ and won the event. They stopped at Bateman’s Bay Hospital after they cut the boot off due to swelling and confirmed the break which had occurred at Jindabyne. The leg wasn’t the last injury he had in his career.
He broke his ankle, both arms, one shoulder and dislocated the other. He cracked his sternum at a Sydney Rodeo when a horse kicked him in the chest. He had a horn go through his forearm twice at two separate rodeos in Moruya and Gundagai. Funnily enough, the arm with the forearm injury is fine but his right hand gives him grief on the other side. He said “When numbers were small at some rodeos we often put another jacket or pair of pants on and the announcer would yell out a different name and I’d go again.”
At 58 he hasn’t competed in rodeos for 6 years. He suffered a heart attack and gave it away before making a comeback and competing for a couple more years. He gave up cigarettes cold turkey after the heart attack “My heart was damaged I didn’t have the strength or the balance to go on. The mind was willing but the body was not.” Last weekend he attended Yass team sorting and watched granddaughter Angel compete in her first barrel race.
Closer to retirement.
The Leitner family continue to be involved in Rodeos and horses. Son Zak’s breaking in horses, and daughter Jade competes in barrel racing and steer undecorating. Jade and her husband run a construction business in Canberra. Alongside Zak she will be competing on Saturday at Harden. Daughter Kacie rides horses and owns 180 Clothing with her partner. Towards the end of his career Bomp competed against Zak at a large number of rodeos. Something very few fathers and sons could lay claim to. In 30 years “Ive taught 100 odd kids to bareback and saddle bronc. There were 4 or 5 kids in rodeo who had passed away from cancer or in car accidents, some had committed suicide. This pushed me on to try and train the next crop”
The family: Jade, Zak, Bomp and Kacie. Front Cruz, Koby, Gail, Jett and Angel.
At Tumut ‘Volcano’ came up in a feature ride with a purse of $500. Before either left the shoot ‘Volcano’ knocked him off and jammed him against the back of the shoot. The horse continued to kick him cutting his legs to shreds. “Three blokes grabbed me and pulled me out with blood flowing from my legs. They called the ambulance and wanted to call it off I said, “NO you’re not, give me two minutes and I’m getting back on that horse. They bandaged me up and I rode it to time and won the $500 dollars. The 8 seconds can feel like a very long time sometimes.”
Bomp rode ‘Volcano’ 27 times during his career and managed to stay aboard for the required 8 seconds an amazing 21 times. ‘Volcano’ won Australia’s Best Bucking Horse of the Year 9 times. “We used to do around 40 rodeos a year. Over the christmas new year period I would do 7 rodeos in a week and a half.” He said “You wouldn’t give up your day job but there was good money in it.”
He had a chance to go to the U.S for 6 weeks but admitted he’s not the best flyer. He doesn’t like planes all that much and although he gets on them he often breaks his trips up when flying. Bomp said “Rodeo people are honest people, if they don’t like you they will tell you, they don’t beat around the bush.” He has friends in country towns all over Australia. He went to Darwin and ran in to someone who knew someone he knew from the rodeo circuit. “It’s a small world” he said.
Bomp’s love of everything to do with horses has taken on another angle of late. He recently took out his trainer’s licence and has two horses in his stable in ‘Triple Bolt’ and ‘The Conqueror’ the latter an 8 year old gelding who had his first run at the Harden Picnics after 29 weeks off. The Conqueror didn’t handle the wet at Harden but he came in to some good form in his second run for Bomp at Tumut on October 29, finishing just 2 lengths off the winner. On Snake Gully Cup day at Gundagai on Friday he had his 3rd run for Bomp and finished just 3.8 lengths off the winner amongst some very good company. There is no doubt that with further training and Bomp’s life long experience with horses, he will find a win for The Conquerer soon.
The ‘Iron man’ has hung up his spurs for good when it comes to Rodeos. It doesn’t mean he has to like it and he probably doesn’t. You can tell he doesn’t like the fact he doesn’t compete anymore when you talk to him. You can tell he would get back on a bucking horse this minute if he could.
In his prime, ‘The Iron Man’.
One thing is for sure. Bomp Leitner is not only a legend in the twin towns, he is a dead set Rodeo legend too.
The Harden Fuel Supplies Twin Town Rodeo is on this Saturday at the Harden Racecourse commencing at 9am.
