Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • S U M M E R 2 0 1 7 106 Fannie Sperry was born on a homestead in the Prickly Pear Val- ley in 1887. Her mother taught her to ride almost before she could walk. At a time when women still rode sidesaddle, Fannie cast aside Victorian decorum and rode astride in a divided skirt. On week- ends, she and her brother Walter would round up wild horses that roamed the hills and drive them into the corral where Fannie rode the wildest ones. At the Montana State Fair in Lewis and Clark County in 1904, Fannie made her first professional ride, not on a bucking bronco, but as a relay racer. e Montana relay featured women riders who changed horses and saddles at top speed. Fannie and the "Montana Girls" rode relays across the Midwest in 1905, scandalizing crowds in their daring black bloomers. In 1907, Fannie began to ride in women's bucking horse competitions. After a cowboy died at the Calgary Stampede in 1912, Fannie rode his killer horse, Red Wing. at ride went down in rodeo his- tory earning her the title, "Lady Bucking Horse Champion of the World." She married rodeo clown Bill Steele in 1913 and earned the title again. Unlike most other bronc-busting contemporaries, Fannie rode "slick" instead of hobbled, a concession allowed women contestants. Most women rode hobbled, their stirrups tied together beneath the horse's belly for greater stability in the saddle. But hob- bling was dangerous as it prevented the rider from kicking free. Slick riding demanded precision, balance, courage, and unusual strength. Fannie was the only woman rider among her contemporaries to ride her entire career slick, just like her male counterparts. Any ride could end badly as Havre legend Marie Gibson's tragic death illustrates. Born in 1894 and married at sixteen, Marie was divorced with children to support when she began trick riding for prize money. Her professional debut came in 1917 at Havre's Great Stampede. After a second marriage to rodeo veteran Tom Gibson in 1919, Marie's husband retired and she went on to travel widely, busting broncs overseas and back East. Her many titles included World Champion Cowgirl Bronc Rider in 1924 and 1927. Marie had just made a successful ride on a wild bronc in Idaho in 1933. e horse was still bucking as the pickup man approached to take her off. In a freak accident, the two horses collided and Marie's horse lost his balance and fell on her, fatally fracturing her skull. Her hobbled stirrups prevented her from kicking free. After World War I as rodeo became its own genre, Fannie Sperry Steele and Marie Gibson were among the first generation of professional Montana cowgirls. ey witnessed the transition as ro- deo matured into a profession and communities began to establish their own rodeo events. As the first national professional rodeo organization formed in 1929 with men and women as members, Marge and Alice Greenough of Red Lodge bridged the transition. eir father, "Packsaddle Ben" Greenough, was a local character and seasoned guide who kept horses by the hundreds. A rock-littered corral at the Greenoughs' base camp served as his children's playground. Ben expected his children to gentle the wildest horses. So they learned their craft out of necessity. "No- body," Marge reflected, "could get bucked off in those rocks and live." N OWHERE IS THERE A RICHER RODEO HERITAGE THAN HERE WHERE THE BIG SKY MEETS THE ROLLING PRAIRIE. Montana has bred some of the best cowboys and meanest mounts as well as some of the West's most famous women riders. Fannie Sperry Steele, Marie Gibson, and Alice and Marge Greenough were world-class champions who bucked their way to renown. ey helped open the chute for modern legends like Ann Secrest Hanson and Jonnie Jonckowski, whose extraordinary accomplishments furthered women's opportuni- ties in rodeo. by ELLEN BAUMLER Alice Greenough rides a spirited bronc at the Red Lodge Rodeo. Courtesy Carbon County Historical Society and Museum. This courageous cowgirl at the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale earned the admiration of onlookers. Courtesy John Riggs.

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