This past March, I traveled with my New York niece and nephew to a massive rodeo in San Antonio, Texas. It was a dusty, sprawling affair, and I was probably the only one not wearing cowboy boots.
To gear up the Upper East Side kids and better blend into the central Texas crowd, we stopped by a hat vendor. My 6-year old niece picked out a pink straw cowgirl hat, and her darling younger brother followed suit. When I tried to show him other options—a tan high roller affair, a black Stetson—he threw a tantrum. He wanted the pink hat. Only the pink hat.
Shame on me for imposing gender roles and colors on the young boy.
Rodeos are for everyone. Sure, with all but one marquee event reserved for the cowboys, it would be easy to think that the rodeo is a man’s world. Hardly!
Welcome to our Girls’ Guide to the Rodeo. Wear whatever color hat you want, buckaroos!
Here is a directory to the rest our Rodeo Issue.
This article appears in Jun 6-12, 2013.
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