Jamie Clinch clowns around in a serious way on the rodeo circuit

He begins to breathe heavily to give his body oxygen to think.

Across from him, a massive bull has just bucked off its rider and now has its sights set on who to target next.

If this was a cartoon you would see red smoke coming out of the bull's ears, as Mr Clinch works to protect the fallen rider and calm down the bull.

'Oh no, this guy is in trouble!' an innocent passer-by would be forgiven for thinking.

Nope, Mr Clinch finds this fun.

Mr Clinch can list all the bones he's broken while being a protection clown with ease, and upon analysis I am still not sure whether that is really cool or downright insane.

Mr Clinch laughed when I implied the latter, and said it wasn't the first time he's heard it.

The long list of broken body parts include a collarbone, two legs and a "bit of a groin injury" that would have any grown man worrying for Mr Clinch's wellbeing.

But it's all worth it for Mr Clinch, who loves both the adrenaline rush and the camaraderie that comes from rodeo.

"Nothing compares to when you nearly get hit by a bull, but then you're going around them without getting touched," Mr Clinch said.

"I like the feeling of protecting your mates and being out there for them.

"You don't go out there with the intention to be there for the crowd, but you're there to protect your mates."

He also loves taking the time to chat with kids who are interested in the sport, as rodeos always need more competitors.

Mr Clinch began bull riding about 12 years ago, participating in all the junior events, but confessed he probably "wasn't the greatest".

His bull riding career was short-lived, as he broke a couple of vertebrae in his neck diving into a sandbank in Moore River.

After a long recovery, Mr Clinch rejoined the rodeo scene five years later as a comedy clown - which entertains the crowd during slow moving moments of the rodeo.

He only became a protection clown when someone called in sick, and "just fell in love" with the role, and hasn't looked back since.

Protection clowns protect the bull riders when they fall off by taking the attention away from the rider, or if a bull rider gets "hung up," such as their hand stuck in a rope, they go and get them free.

There is a definite art to being a protection clown, and the goal isn't to tame the bull - but rather to protect the rider.

"You've got to keep the rider in your sights and make sure that if they're knocked out or something to try and grab that bull's attention so that he doesn't get stepped on or get any more injuries," Mr Clinch said.

"We're not going to try and tame them out there, but we'll leave them alone, we won't keep antagonising them or trying to get them to fight us."

Mr Clinch admitted there were times when he had been scared in the arena but said he had to put on a brave face and not show it.

"You gotta be the tough guy, you kind of just man up and get through it," he said.

He has competed all around the world, including the United States and Canada, where he has both been a protection clown and done freestyle bullfighting.

"They pretty much let a bull out with you for 60 seconds and you've just got to try and stay alive basically," Mr Clinch said.

Competitors are given points on how well they do - ranging from how they control the bull, how close they get and what manoeuvres they do (whether that be jumps or flips).

Rodeo runs through the veins of the family, with Mr Clinch's brothers, dad and wife all heavily involved in the scene.

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"My old man, he was a bull rider, I think he did a bit of bronc riding up in the Kimberley," he said.

And Mr Clinch's wife, Stef, has just been crowned the WA Rodeo Queen.

Their daughter Kaycee is looking promising to become the next of the Clinch's to make a name for herself on the rodeo scene.

"She's got nearly everything that you need for rodeo already," Mr Clinch said.

"She's got about three or four rocking horses that she makes them buck and I think she's got her own little kids rope.

"So I think she's well equipped for it already."

Animal welfare is extremely important at rodeos, and everyone involved has the animals' best interests at heart.

"That's a massive thing in the rodeo world, and we're always working on it," Mr Clinch said.

The last event Mr Clinch participated in was the Gilmac Mogumber New Year's Eve Rodeo.

"They've done an unreal job, because that was their first time running at their new venue," Mr Clinch said.

"I think it was really professional, everyone knew where to be at what time and the crowd was awesome."

Gilmac Mogumber Rodeo volunteer event organiser Pauline Bantock said the night was a "massive event" for them and it was by far the biggest crowd they've ever dealt with.

"We're really, really proud of it - we were just so pleased that everything went off rather smoothly," Ms Bantock said.

Just under 200 competitors entered in 17 events and 335 competition runs, which made it a record breaking night for the Gilmac Mogumber Rodeo.

And when the competitions ended for the night at about 10pm, attendees kicked up some dust to bring in the new year.

The rodeo was on a new site, as the old oval they used was declared an Aboriginal heritage site in 2020.

"We've had a wonderful landowner in the district who has basically allowed us to set up the arena on his parcel of land - that meant we could have a home for it this year - and everything was a great success," Ms Bantock said.

She planned on setting up a similar agreement for the next rodeo as well.

Part of the proceeds raised from the rodeo will go towards the Mogumber Hub, the tavern in town that the Mogumber Outback Club has recently purchased.

"By fundraising through these sorts of events, we can actually improve infrastructure and services in our tiny little rural town," Ms Bantock said.