What is it about?
We interviewed women competitors who participate in Western Canadian rodeo barrel racing to better understand their experiences as women in rodeo. This paper focuses on the special bond the female barrel racers talked about with regards to their horse and how this unique bond distinguishes the 'legitimate' barrel racer from other rodeo cowgirls but also distinguishes them as 'feminine' compared to rodeo cowboys.
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Why is it important?
This analysis uncovers three interrelated roles within the barrel racing rider-horse relationship (the athlete, the team member and the trainer) that help explain how competitors see themselves as 'legitimate' barrel racers devoted to horsecare and horsemanship. These roles also help explain how these women embody a complex femininity that values strength, autonomy and toughness but also caring and gentleness.
Perspectives
What strikes me about this analysis is how the women barrel racers care so much for their horses and devote so much attention and time to training and caring for them. Barrel racing is a sport that requires that sportswomen develop their own skills to be competitive, but that they also focus on developing their horses skill if they want to be seen as 'legitimate' rodeo cowgirls. The way they focus on training and caring for their horse is what illustrates their complex gender identities that draw on qualities associated to both masculinity and femininity.
Christine Dallaire
University of Ottawa
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The gendered barrel racer–horse relationship in Western Canadian rodeo, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, June 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1012690217708578.
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