Unwritten Cowgirl History
When writing about the Wild West, both historians and Hollywood left out the cowgirl. Many historians would have you believe that pioneering women all stayed home, close to their tea sets. (It’s my guess that most sold their tea sets in exchange for a good horse.) One of the toughest chores that Hollywood had for Dale Evans was riding to the café for sandwiches. You can bet that Dale never asked Roy to fetch sandwiches. Ha! The truth is, that women cowboyed on ranches all over the West during the early 1800s. They took on the same chores as men and when they earned their spurs, they were accepted as cowboy equals.
The same was true for women in rodeo. Historians would have you believe that women didn’t rope steers or ride broncs until the 1900s, when in fact many women were competing informally against neighbors in local ranch rodeos in the 1800s. Records indicate that by 1887 Buffalo Bill was adding women to his Wild West shows as fast as he could scout the female talent. It seems the public had an appetite for feminine women performing daring western stunts.
From the Wild West shows, dozens of talented cowgirls went into professional rodeo and were frequently allowed to compete against men. Cowgirls excelled at all rodeo events until the late 1940s, when women’s events were cut in order to increase the purse for men. (Some things never change!) When cowgirls were reduced to competing for rodeo queen and best barrel racer, they did what you’d expect of any gutsy, independent women—they started the All-Girl Rodeo in 1947. This organization later became the WPRA (Women’s Professional Rodeo Association) and it is the oldest women’s professional sports association in the world. Leave it to cowgirls to blaze their own trails.
Despite the many factual accounts of cowgirls across the West, the general public can only recall the names of western bad girls. Cattle thieves and murderers like Belle Star and Sally Skull have been made into western heroines. Stories about women like Etta Place, who robbed banks with the Sundance Kid, have received more press time than all the real cowgirl heroes combined. To the casual observer of history, cathouse madams with their bevy of shady ladies were the only women earning their own way. It makes me spittin’ mad, because it’s just not true.
Stories of infamous wild-bunch women have been elevated to that of legends, while the cowgirl stands quietly in the background. It’s an injustice that the real cowgirl heroes of the West—women who settled the land, who earned women the right to vote and who blazed the trail and set standards for the new Americana woman—always get second billing to women outlaws. Well I’m here to change that.
When I think of cowgirls in the Wild West, the words gutsy, tough, hardworking and honest come to mind. I think about how they had to buck all societal norms to be cowgirls. Hell, putting on pants or riding astride could get them put in jail, run out of town or—least of all—scorned. These cowgirls weren’t just tough, they were ballsy. They didn’t give a rat’s tail what others thought of them because they were pursuing their dreams of being cowgirls. They showed women everywhere how to make their dreams of freedom come true—freedom from the confinements of Victorian society and the feel of freedom while riding full gallop through wide open spaces. Cowgirls knew that from the back of a horse, the world looked wider. And because cowgirls were a generous bunch, they were kind enough to take their eastern sisters along for the ride of their lives.
Some cowgirls in the Wild West were debutante runaways, whose daddies spent thousands of dollars trying to bring them back home. But most were unlettered women full of wisdom beyond their years. While a formal education might keep a cowgirl’s mind entertained, it wouldn’t help her bring in the cattle, settle a spooked horse or fight off a mountain lion. Cowgirls lived by the seat of their pants, that is, when they were allowed to wear them. The best measure of any situation was usually their common sense. There was no guide book titled, “How to Tame the West” at the library—heck, there weren’t even any libraries. What these cowgirls had was cowgirl smarts. They lived by an unwritten Cowgirl Creed that helped them tame the West and rope a kick-ass life.
It’s about time someone published this Cowgirl Creed. Don’t you think? The trouble is, no one bothered to write it down. The Cowgirl Creed has been handed down from mother to daughter for generations, until it’s become an intrinsic component of ranch culture. Cowgirl Smarts is the Cowgirl Creed for the modern woman, illustrated with a stories of real cowgirls who have mastered the Cowgirl Creed.
Click here to read about the book, Cowgirl Smarts.
Click here to buy the book, Cowgirl Smarts.
.
