Surprise proposal at Harvey Dickson Rodeo

Jayde Sinclair had more than one reason to be nervous when he climbed onto a bull at the Harvey Dickson Easter Rodeo — the end of the ride meant he would be dropping onto a knee to propose to his girlfriend Kristy Dobson.

The pair’s engagement attracted plenty of cheers from the crowd at the inaugural event in Boyup Brook on Sunday, where more than 4000 people gathered to watch the action.

Double Barrel Entertainment co-ordinator Mark Kestel was in on the secret and had been carrying around the 1.25 carat diamond ring for most of the night.

Moments after Mr Sinclair finished his novice bull ride, Mr Kestel announced the winner of a pretend door prize was Ms Dobson.

As she met Mr Kestel in the middle of the arena to collect her “prize”, Mr Sinclair quietly took the ring from Mr Kestel, dropped onto one knee and asked her to marry him. After a few expletives and tears, Ms Dobson said yes — much to to the excitement of the crowd.

“I had been in the chute for a while, dwelling over everything. I was more nervous about dropping the knee than riding the bull,” Mr Sinclair joked.

“I was still shaking from coming off the bull but I could hear everyone cheering.

“I don’t think you could print what else she said, aside from ‘yes’. There were a few expletives.”

The apprentice boilermaker and purchasing manager met on popular dating app Tinder last year and officially started dating on Valentine’s Day 2020.

It was a true country and city romance, with Ms Dobson — from Melbourne — now a regular on the rodeo circuit with her beau after never having been to a rodeo before. “She was with me for my first ride and she has been with me ever since,” Mr Sinclair said.

He said Ms Dobson was the perfect girl for him and she had “hung around through the bulls***”.

“I used to work fly-in, fly-out and that was hard, but she was always there for me when I came back and we have just stood the test of time,” Mr Sinclair said.

Mr Sinclair joked that his nerves may have got the better of him after riding his best time on the bull — about three seconds — but fouling early on in the piece for touching its back.