Forget the gut-churning thrills of the US rodeo - a Norfolk cattle owner has proved he can ride his beloved bulls by simply offering them affection, trust and a back-rub.

Julian Pearson, 60, is a full-time IT consultant who lives on a farm at Holme Hale, between Dereham and Swaffham.

But outside his day job, his passion is his herd of Belted Galloway cattle - and he has built an astonishing rapport with these distinctive animals.

He has even trained some to let him ride on their back - including King Leon the bull and Normski, a steer named in memory of Mr Pearson's former scout leader.

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It's a world away from the glitzy American rodeos, where cowboys ride bucking bulls to entertain fanatical crowds.

For Mr Pearson, the privilege of riding an animal is an illustration of the trust gently nurtured throughout their lives.

"It's a two-way trust," he said. "They want an opportunity to prove they can be trusted, and I want the opportunity to prove they can trust me.

"So I start off just by touching their heads when they are feeding.

"Sometimes they back away and sometimes they don't, but I persist and when they accept me touching their heads I climb onto their side of the rail and I apply a little weight to their shoulders and other movements until I have a leg over.

"Then I will sit on them while they are eating and eventually I won't get off when they are finished.

"Then they have learned that I am not doing them any harm, and then some volunteer to come over, like Normski, and ask to be ridden, because they know that when I'm up here they get a shoulder rub."

He added: "I would like to think of myself as a welcome visitor to the herd, because I am not their master. I am allowed to take part in their life, at their bidding."

Mr Pearson has been tending cattle in his spare time since 2005, and is also a bull inspector for the Belted Galloway Cattle Society.

Although he knows some dairy farmers who ride their milking cows off the fields, he said "very few people can do it with a bull".

Mr Pearson is selling many of his cattle due to a loss of grazing land. For more on this story, see Saturday's EDP Farm and Country pages.