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In addition, the top 15 cowgirls are invited to compete at the PRCA Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR), one of the world’s most prestigious rodeos, held in Las Vegas each December.Ĭhampionship and world title opportunities don’t end there, however. WPRA barrel racers compete for millions of dollars each year, culminating in 12 circuit finals rodeos held throughout the country and the Ram National Circuit Finals Rodeo held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, every April. The majority of the WPRA’s barrel racing events are held in conjunction with Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) events. Today, the fast-paced event of barrel racing dominates the WPRA, although the Association’s roping events are certainly not something of the past. Today’s WPRA: Taylor Jacob setting a new arena record at the Thomas & Mack center during the WNFR. The original Women’s Professional Rodeo Association began with 74 original members, 60 approved contests, and a total payout of $29,000. The earliest pioneers of the GRA were ropers, bronc riders, and barrel racers that had become “fed up with a system which did not grant them competitive opportunities in the arena and, when it did, operated under unfair conditions,” as it is noted in the WPRA’s historic records. These cowgirls wanted to add a splash of color and femininity to the rough–and–tumble sport of rodeo, and they did just that-all while keeping the same competitive pace as the cowboys they rode beside. The goal: to create an organization dedicated to the promotion and advancement of women in the sport of rodeo.

The WPRA-the oldest women’s sports association in the United States and the only one governed entirely by women-was formed in 1948 when its 38 founding mothers, all ranch women, came together in San Angelo, Texas.

While many rodeo fans associate the event of barrel racing with “pretty women on fast horses,” the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) as it became known in 1981, proves these cowgirls have exactly what it takes to own the arena. In a sport dominated by men, the cowboys’ female counterparts often get lost in the shuffle. These women founded the Girl’s Rodeo Association (GRA), and the rodeo world was never the same again. M ore than a half–century ago, 38 cowgirls, frustrated by the lack of opportunities for women in the rodeo universe, banded together in a way that only true cowgirls can, and created a solution for the problem they faced.