Growing up in rural America, rodeos seem to be a tradition in many families. They usually include rough stock, timed events, and the occasional wild horse race. I have always loved watching these events, however at a young age I was always in awe of the beautiful sparkling cowgirls carrying our nation’s flag. Upon first look, the position of a rodeo queen may seem simple. I mean all they have to do is carry flags around an arena right? It wasn’t until I competed in my first queen pageant last year that I learned just how much these girls and women are an asset to the sport of rodeo. I have never competed in rodeo events, although I have longed to do so all my life. I saw becoming a rodeo queen as a getting my foot in the door; that would help me better understand this world. I signed up to compete in a small pageant for the White Earth Rodeo and I had no idea how this one leap of faith would change my life. In addition, I had no idea how much work, money, and outside resources I was going to need to accomplish such a task. Most queen pageants usually consist of a test, speech, modeling, interview, horsemanship, and a photogenic portion. During my preparation for the pageant, I relied much on the help of my aunt, who will deny it, but in my opinion is a wonderful “pageant mom”, the internet, and some other amazing people who I had not even met previously. First thing first, I needed an all leather dress, which can cost at least $1,000 or more. That is where the beauty of technology came into play! I rented my dress off of a webpage on Facebook, along with my horsemanship outfit, and several other outfits for the rodeo. I practiced every night for my horsemanship portion, which was the most nerve racking event for me because I was riding my five year old mare who had never been ridden in a rodeo in her life! On top of this, I knew my competition were great horsewomen as well, and horsemanship is the largest point total in the pageant. The test was fun to study for because my cousin Tylie, who ran for Little Miss, always quizzed me and motivated me to study harder, the last step of preparation was writing my speech. Since I had no previous rodeo background, I tried to think of a way to put my perspective into how important the sport of rodeo truly is. I decided to speak about my great-great grandfather who was a crucial role in the early movement of livestock into North Dakota, I mean you can’t have rodeos without livestock right? As the days to the pageant drew closer, I became more excited and equally nervous. I grew up a ranch kid, not a rodeo queen, and I was breaking about every stereotype of each role by running for the crown. That Friday morning I traded my straw hat and old button up shirt in for a crisp white hat, rhinestones, and fuschia jeans with a matching belt and boots of course. To my surprise, the pageant wasn’t scary at all. In fact, the girls I competed with, the pageant directors, and the judges were cheering us on wanting us to succeed. I realized that day that rodeo queen pageants are not about glitz and glam. They are about surrounding yourself with great people to promote rodeo to keep it's tradition for generations to come. My competition and I strived to help eacother and elevate one another's confidence, not tear it down. I had so many people tell me I couldn’t become a rodeo queen, even those very close to me in my own family. I heard things like "you can't ride like the other girls", "it's not who you are", and the list goes on. When I walked across the wooden boards of the stage to receive my sash, I can’t even describe the feeling I felt. I have never worked so hard for something I knew so little about when I started. My greatest achievement of this opportunity as serving as the White Earth Valley Saddle Club Rodeo Queen was not the saddle, crown, or sash, but impacting the lives of young cowgirls and encouraging them to push themselves out of their comfort zones. If you want to do something in your life, don’t let stereotypes, other’s small minds, or fear stop you. Changing hats opened a new chapter for me, along with allowing me to gain lifelong relationships with incredible women in our state. I hope you step outside your comfort zone to find “new hats” in your life. I may have hung up my sash and hat this past weekend for good, however the lessons this experience has given me will last long after my hat is covered with dust.
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AuthorThis is a blog to share many stories, laughs, adventures and lessons learned by yours truly, Haley Potter. Archives
July 2023
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