On May 27, 2020 the Miss Rodeo America Organization issued a press release announcing their decision to cancel the 2021 pageant originally slated to take place in December.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in January, schools, businesses, and yes, even rodeos, have seen cancelations and closures at an unprecedented rate.
Miss rodeo America 2020, Jordan Tierney , could do little more than watch as her year of representing the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association and the sport of rodeo slip away.
Tierney is joined by countless state and local rodeo queens hoping to finally live out their life-long dreams only to see COVID-19 swallow up their events and rodeos.
In an effort to maintain health and safety during the pandemic, the Miss Rodeo America Pageant committee agreed that it was best to call off the 2021 event as well.
With the canceling of the upcoming national pageant, states also began canceling their events leaving the reigning 2020 queens to represent for the coming year.
State and national pageants were not the only rodeo queen events impacted. Many local rodeo and rodeo queen pageants were also forced to cancel or post-pone their events, impacting almost every current and aspiring rodeo queen.
If you are among these rodeo queens seeing the pageants you've worked so diligently to prepare for cancelled, disappointment is inevitable. However; this will provide you with an opportunity to better equip yourself for the next one.
For all the current and aspiring rodeo queens looking forward to their next pageant, here is a few tips to use Coronavirus to earn your next crown.
Study Up!
Rodeo queen pageants are all about testing a contestant's knowledge in a variety of areas.
Topics in horsemanship, equine science and rodeo events are obvious must-have knowledge areas for a rodeo queen, but it is equally important to be to be proficient in current events and local history.
With the additional COVI-19 time, consider reading up on rodeo history and delve into the history and location-specific details of the event you'er hoping to represent instead of binge watching the next big Netflix series.
Ride all the Horses
This can be a little hard depending on where you are and where you ride, but keeping your horse in shape and your horsemanship skills in tune is vital during the pageant break.
If you have your solid go-to horse, ride as much and as often as you can, but be sure to take a break from arena work and let you and your horse relax together.
Riding horses can be a great way to social distance with friends too. Ask your friends to trade horses if you are both comfortable with it and ride all the horses that you can.
If your pageant does a draw horse it is important to feel comfortable on any animal and if it does not, it is still good for your horsemanship to ride das many as you can.
Master the Model Walk
Sometimes its easy to just walk in a "normal" way and say that we can switch on our model walk on the stage.
While you might be able to do this, making your model walk your "normal" walk can help you not only in the pageant world, but in real life for the message of confidence and poise you will display everywhere you go.
While in quarantine, doing your model walk to the barn to do chores or on your way to get a snack from the fridge is all that it will take to make your model walk second nature.
Speech then Repeat
Speeches are often not the most favorite pageant event, but with proper preparation it can be.
COVID-19 cancellation is not the time to procrastinate writing or learning your rodeo queen speech. Use the time to practice and repeat your speech as often as you can.
Say your speech out loud, in a mirror and go slow! You're sure to speed up when the nerves kick in on stage.
COVID and Crowns
Despite the announcement of so many rodeo and rodeo queen pageant cancellations, COVID-19 can present an opportunity to rodeo queen hopefuls.
Use the extended time to hone your skills so that you are a notch above the next time around.
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