I RUN A BEAUTY SHOP AND… BREED BUCKING BULLS!

From painting nails to wrangling bulls, it’s all in a day’s work for Heidi Yates

- Michelle Meehan

When Montana-born beautician Heidi met handsome Aussie cowboy Eric Yates at the professional bull riding finals in Las Vegas, she was instantly smitten.

And while she tried to resist falling in love because of the 13,000km distance between her US home town and Eric’s home in the tiny rural town of Gloucester, north of Sydney, she agreed to marry him just 12 months later.

Even Eric’s shock diagnosis of a serious heart condition on the eve of their whirlwind wedding couldn’t stand in the path of their love, with a heavily medicated Eric flying to Montana for their nuptials in December 2000.

The couple returned to Australia to start a new life in the beef belt on the NSW Mid North Coast, with Eric starting a bucking bull breeding company after he was forced to retire from riding because of his heart condition.

Heidi started her own beauty salon in Gloucester, while Eric poured his energy into his dream of breeding bulls – in the hope that one day he could supply the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) circuit with his own home-bred stars.

HEARTBREAKING LOSS