History of the rodeo continued ….

_Elsa_

‘A Sport for All - Initially, rodeo was a fairly nondiscriminatory sport, often including Hispanic, African American, Native American, and female contestants in an era when race and gender discrimination were commonplace. Women competed in many events at mixed-gender rodeos well into the 1930s. During this time, ladies often competed against men and won in a variety of rodeo events, including bronc riding and steer roping, as well as trick and fancy roping and riding.

One of the more well-known female competitors was Phoebe Ann Moses Butler. Butler grew up in a poor family in Ohio, where she took up hunting to provide for her family after her father died. From those marksman skills developed as a hunter, she earned the nickname “Little Sure Shot” and joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show as Annie Oakley in 1885.

Rules Changing - In 1929, two events occurred that changed the course of rodeo history:

1.- Well-known cowgirl Bonnie McCarroll died in a bronc riding accident at Pendleton, Oregon, leading many rodeos to drop women’s contests.

2.- That same year, the Rodeo Association of America was formed in an effort to bring organization and structure to the chaotic contest. It was established by rodeo organizers, and not the cowboys themselves, to standardize rules, establish a point system, monitor judges, and establish fair prize money. In large part because of McCarroll’s death, the RAA was organized as an all-male entity. 

On October 30, 1936, cowboys and cowgirls boycotted the rodeo in Madison Square Gardens in order to demand better prize money and judges who understood rodeo. The cowboys organized the Cowboys Turtle Association on November 6, 1939 — a name they picked because they had been slow to act but had finally stuck their necks out for their cause. In 1945, the Turtles became the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA), which evolved into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) in 1975.

1945 marks the year professional cowboys officially adopted the term “rodeo” for their sport. The PRCA went on to sanction the events and rules for saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping, and single steer roping.

Women Rally - When Gene Autry created his own rodeo company in the early 1940s, one of his first actions was to discontinue the cowgirl bronc riding contest. With that event gone, there was little left for the cowgirls to participate in except the invitation-only sponsor girl event. Soon, cowgirl contests disappeared from rodeos nationwide. 

However, it was these first sponsor contests that led to today’s barrel racing.

Women realized it would be up to them to get back into the mainstream of the sport and in 1948, the Girl’s Rodeo Association, now the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA), was started by a group of Texas ranch women. The WPRA was highly successful in restoring cowgirl contests to PRCA rodeos. Barrel racing was the most popular WPRA contest, and it spread rapidly throughout the country. It is now the only women’s event standard at PRCA rodeos and often ranks second only to bull riding in popularity.

If not for the McCarroll tragedy and Gene Autrey, it is unlikely there would ever have been a need for the WPRA, and barrel racing would probably not exist.’ (Source)

Let’s continue - What does it take to become a rodeo cowgirl?

Start at the beginning – Olivia wants to become a cowgirl