Underneath the Big Hair, Tight Jeans, Rhinestones,
and Gobs of Hair Spray are Some of the
Smartest, Sexiest Women in America. Hail the Queens!



Photograpy by Daniel Nadelbach
Styling by Gilda Meyer-Niehof

Americans love royalty, especially pageant queens with their exaggerated wholesomeness, their unflappably polite behavior and earnest desire to please, or at least appear pleasing. Wouldn't these life-sized dolls be perfect if you could just throw in a little grit? Welcome to the Miss Rodeo America competition, where there is much more to the weeklong competition besides being beautiful and intelligent. The prospective rodeo queens are expected to ride a horse—and ride it well. Horsewomanship is the most vital part of the pageant because Miss Rodeo America will be introduced during professional rodeo performances, ride in parades, and make countless other appearances where she must master an American Quarter Horse which may or may not be well-mannered. During the pageant, contestants draw for the horses they will compete upon in each of the two rounds of competition. The horses belong to Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association stock contractors and are unfamiliar to the contestants. As any rodeo queen contestant knows when she mounts up, expect the unexpected. Instead of descending staircases in ball gowns and butchering Whitney Houston songs as they juggle, these pageant girls barrel race at amazing speeds atop 1,000 pounds of horse flesh—never losing their composure, their grace, or their cowboy hats. Cowboys & Indians salutes Miss Rodeo America—and reveals four Rodeo Queens in their full glory—outside of the rodeo arena in Manitou Springs, Colorado at the historic Cliff House Hotel. Make the West a monarchy and let these women rule! Tara Graham: Reigning Miss Rodeo America 2001 Brandy Dejongh: Miss Rodeo America 2000 Shelly Williams: Miss Rodeo America 1999 Mary Shaw: Miss Rodeo America 1998

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