Women in Rodeo: 75 years of history, fashion, and event pioneering
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- This year the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) is celebrating 75 years of women in rodeo.
One special rider from southern Colorado, Erin Johnson, has been part of the movement to get more events and more money on the table for women.
She says she loves to compete in the fastest event in rodeo in front of a hometown crowd, so much so, if you blink, you just might miss it!
It's all about "what can you do in two seconds," says Ann Bleiker, the Communications Director with WPRA. "That is what they have to do to win and there is a lot going on: You have the horse, a rope, and a calf."
The sport of breakaway roping was added within the last few years to the NFR Open and its popularity has been growing ever since. It's the fastest event in rodeo and it only lasts a few seconds.
"You come from the box and you chase a calf and rope it around the neck," says Erin Johnson, a breakaway riding champion. "It is similar to the men's calf roping event."
Erin Johnson is a breakaway roper from Fowler.
"She is a 3-time world champion breakaway roper," says Bleiker.
For Johnson and Bleiker, they're proud to see women continue to push the sport forward.
"Breakaway roping has come a long way and now it has kind of the next chapter going on with the excitement of women's rodeo."
Long before Title IX and the women's liberation movement, a group of trendsetting ladies banded together to create the very first professional sports association created solely for women by women.
"We are the oldest women's sports organization in the world and it all started in 1948," says Bleiker.
Now, the association is celebrating its 75th year in 2023, with about 3,600 members today; but one thing that has changed dramatically since 1948 is the fashion.
"In the early days to get the women into rodeo that is what the producers wanted," says Bleiker. "They wanted them to add the color, the femininity. It is amazing that they rode horses in some of these things."
This week you'll see Johnson sporting a more practical get-up.
"We have transitioned more to the apparel the men wear. And it makes sense. And it is comfortable," says Johnson.
Nowadays, while there might be less glitter, the rich history of women in the rodeo still shines through as the ladies lead the way for the next generation.
"The ultimate goal for me is to see my little girls rope there if they wish," says Johnson. "If rodeo is something they want to pursue, I want that opportunity to be available to them."
You can watch Johnson in the breakaway roping event Thursday night on July 13, and again during the newly added Friday Matinee Show on July 14.
She hopes to qualify for the Saturday finals. Aside from her world titles, she won the Rodeo Houston last year and now she wants the top spot right here in Colorado.
