Breakaway Roping 46 Celebrating Extraordinary Cowgirls

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BREAKAWAY ROPING 101

Breakaway Roping is one of the fastest events in rodeo, requiring impeccable speed, timing, and precision. The barrier serves as a starting line, starting the time and giving the livestock a head start. If the athlete crosses the barrier before the stock gets the designated head start, a penalty of 10 seconds will be added to the time. The athlete’s rope is secured to the saddle horn with a soft piece of string. As soon as the stock is caught, the horse stops and the rope breaks away from the saddle horn. Anything other than a clean catch results in a disqualification. When the rope breaks-away from the saddle and the Official drops the flag, the time is stopped. The athlete who catches the stock the fastest is the winner.

The Rest of the Women’s Rodeo World Championship Story: Celebrating the Best of Times for Extraordinary Cowgirls

BY: KENDRA SANTOS

It’s Official: The page was turned in the women’s rodeo history books at the inaugural $750,000 Women’s Rodeo World Championship last fall in Fort Worth, Texas. The sport of women’s rodeo is being revolutionized right now, and it’s an especially spectacular sight for someone like me. There was no financial future for girls who roped when I was Madison Outhier’s age. So we studied hard, and when we graduated from college it was basically over for those of us who needed to make a living.

Times have changed, and the 254 women of all ages and area codes who convened at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas, last November—which decided the top six breakaway ropers, barrel racers and team roping teams who then advanced to the Championship Round held during the Professional Bull Riders World Finals at AT&T Stadium in Arlington—are amazing people in and out of the arena. work, and witness the dawning of a new day for women in rodeo. It is now possible for all that hard work to pay off enough to cowgirl for a career. And guess what about those cool big cardboard checks that were presented cen-

ter stage at AT&T Stadium? In a lot of cases, they didn’t paint the whole financial picture in the best possible way. Teenager Rylie Smith and Hope Thompson were the only team roping team to stop the clock over at AT&T. They were 13.66 with a leg. Admittedly not their most magnificent run, but sometimes stuff happens. There are no style-point deductions on timedevent checks, and hey, it happens in major cowboy contests, too.

Suddenly, those $60,000 checks Rylie and Hope were holding were worth $90 grand per (wo)man. I was standing there when Jackie Crawford shared that news of the staggering windfall win with Hope, and she literally dropped that big check in disbelief. All told, Rylie won $98,410 at the WRWC, and Hope was the high-money-winner with $99,660. “This is life-changing money,” said a still-stunned Thompson.

Also worthy of the most honorable mention is the fact that the World Champions Rodeo Alliance saw fit to give these girls equal money in the team roping from the start. There’s no telling what the likes of living legends Speed Williams and Rich Skelton, and Jake Barnes and Clay O’Brien Cooper would have won in their Hall of Fame careers if team roping pay would have been equal to that in every other event in rodeo. They fought for equal money and have yet to get it. Thank you, WCRA President Bobby Mote and Vice President Scott Davis, for being good guys AND girl dads who believe this women’s rodeo party is just getting started.

Crawford won the $20,000 WRWC All-Around Bonus, and deposited a total of $34,539 in breakaway and team roping checks into her bank account in her Cowboy Capital of the World hometown of Stephenville, Texas.

When Jackie looks back on the story of her life, I’m betting the best part of this rodeo revolution for her will be her ability to have it all. There she was 21 weeks pregnant with the baby girl she and husband Charly brought into this world in March—breakaway roping in a saddle with a sawed-off horn for baby Journey’s benefit. Imagine the rodeo world Journey will grow up in. The world’s richest women’s rodeo will be a special part of her personal history.

Jackie wasn’t the only champ at the WRWC with a mom story that’ll melt your heart. The horse Hallie Hanssen rode to the barrel racing winner’s circle—Vida—is a mom, too. Vida had a baby girl of her own in May. She may have been unplanned— thus the name “Jess A Whoopsie”—but what a beautiful blessing. Motherhood obviously hasn’t slowed Vida down anymore than it has Jackie. With her trainer and besty Hallie aboard, Vida earned $60,000 at the WRWC, and only made three runs to get that done.

WRWC Breakaway Roping Champ Madison Outhier had just turned 18 when she struck in Fort Worth. Talk about an all-around cowgirl, and one wild whirlwind of a day. Before Madi stepped up to received the $61,028 she won at the WRWC, she and her

But don’t cut yourself short in life and what’s after this career. I can do it, and so can you.” – Jackie Crawford

PBR COMMISSIONER SEAN GLEASON AND WCRA PRESIDENT BOBBY MOTE MADE DREAMS COME TRUE FOR HANDY COWGIRLS LIKE HOPE THOMPSON AND RYLIE SMITH LAST WEEK.

MADISON OUTHIER BRINGS NEW MEANING TO THE TERM “ALL-AROUND COWGIRL” BY BEING ONE OF THE VERY BEST IN BOTH POLO AND RODEO. PHOTOS COURTESY OF MADISON OUTHIER