Entertainer, cowgirl and rodeo performer. Having been brought up on a working Montana horse and cattle ranch, she and her siblings were expected to do daily chores, including taming wild horses and roping calves. She competed in her first rodeo in 1924, winning $15 for the half-mile cowgirl race at the Red Lodge rodeo. In 1929, she and her sister Alice joined the rodeo circuit with Jack King's Wild West Show. She rode bareback bronces and steers, trick riding and wild horses throughout her career, earning multiple titles around the country. For a woman, the rodeo circuit was difficult in the beginning. At one rodeo, she would compete against women in events like horse riding and then against men in bronco riding. She met her husband, cowboy Charlie Henson, on the road, and they began traveling the circuit with her sister Alice and her husband, Joe Orr. She became pregnant in 1931 and kept competing in rodeos until she was three months pregnant. She spent the rest of her time on the road, making rodeo appearances on horseback. Ten days after the birth of her son, she was back on the rodeo circuit. In 1937, they all joined Johnny Hartwig's show and traveled by train across Canada, performing in a new town rodeo every week. Her son was five at the time, and he would ride out on his pony with a big shotgun and fire it once. She was a champion bronc rider who competed in practically every major rodeo in every state from 1920 to 1940, often as the only female bronc rider, and was twice chosen as rodeo queen. She retired in 1956 and moved to Tucson, Arizona, where she worked as a horse-wrangling team and as a movie and television extra with her sister. She was a member of the Cowboy's Turtle Association as well as the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1983.
Entertainer, cowgirl and rodeo performer. Having been brought up on a working Montana horse and cattle ranch, she and her siblings were expected to do daily chores, including taming wild horses and roping calves. She competed in her first rodeo in 1924, winning $15 for the half-mile cowgirl race at the Red Lodge rodeo. In 1929, she and her sister Alice joined the rodeo circuit with Jack King's Wild West Show. She rode bareback bronces and steers, trick riding and wild horses throughout her career, earning multiple titles around the country. For a woman, the rodeo circuit was difficult in the beginning. At one rodeo, she would compete against women in events like horse riding and then against men in bronco riding. She met her husband, cowboy Charlie Henson, on the road, and they began traveling the circuit with her sister Alice and her husband, Joe Orr. She became pregnant in 1931 and kept competing in rodeos until she was three months pregnant. She spent the rest of her time on the road, making rodeo appearances on horseback. Ten days after the birth of her son, she was back on the rodeo circuit. In 1937, they all joined Johnny Hartwig's show and traveled by train across Canada, performing in a new town rodeo every week. Her son was five at the time, and he would ride out on his pony with a big shotgun and fire it once. She was a champion bronc rider who competed in practically every major rodeo in every state from 1920 to 1940, often as the only female bronc rider, and was twice chosen as rodeo queen. She retired in 1956 and moved to Tucson, Arizona, where she worked as a horse-wrangling team and as a movie and television extra with her sister. She was a member of the Cowboy's Turtle Association as well as the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1983.
Bio by: Debbie Gibbons
Family Members
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