Earlier this year in July, Cheyenne Frontier Days (CFD) officials announced on the Cowboy Channel that the 2024 Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo would be the Year of the Cowgirl. My reaction was great! I’m glad to see cowgirls getting some recognition, especially since cowgirls have been around as long as the rodeo itself. But CFD will also focus on the history of the cowgirl, and I thought it would be fun to get a jumpstart. With this idea in mind, I traveled to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming in Laramie and happened to see their Breakin’ Through statue by D. Michael Thomas which “celebrates the accomplishments of Wyoming women in a larger-than-life statement.”¹ 

Throughout much of American history the gains toward equality made by women have utilized the analogy of “breaking the glass ceiling.” Perhaps if we look at this another way, glass breaks easily, and frankly women have not had it easy. The monumental sculpture, Breakin’ Through offers a different perspective. Yes, it celebrates women’s breakthrough in education, but also co-donor Brimmer Kunz says, “It stands in recognition of the contributions of women — past, present and future — to Wyoming, the Equality State. Sic itur ad astra — and, thus, to the stars.”² In celebrating women of the past, this bronc riding cowgirl is busting down a near sixteen-foot-tall rock wall into the rodeo arena. While common in early rodeo, this event has not been easily regained by cowgirls–at least not on equal footing. 

That this incredible art is located at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming is prominently explained in the dedication plaque which under the important donor names, Marian H. Rochelle and April Brimmer Kunz reads: 

Wyoming is the equality state. It was the first state to give women the right to vote, the first to elect a woman to governor and the first to have a female Justice of the Peace, [and] juror…commensurate with this achievement, the sculpture Breakin’ Through celebrates the accomplishments of Wyoming women in a larger-than-life statement. ³

The sculpture reveals a telling history of cowgirls’ bronc riders as well, although she’s lost her hat, she has not lost her seat and more importantly she is riding “slick” that is, without hobbles, an important change that injured many cowgirls. 

Over this next year is a good time to reflect and delve into this history as cowgirls are re-entering professional rodeo in new ways. 

1. Quoted from the “Marian H. Rochelle and April Brimmer Kunz” plaque at the Breakin’ Through statue, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming. ↩︎
2. “Breakin’ Through Revealed at UW” University of Wyoming News May 14, 2015, (Accessed September 27, 2023) https://www.uwyo.edu/news/2015/05/breakin-through-revealed-at-uw.html
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3. Quoted from the “Marian H. Rochelle and April Brimmer Kunz” plaque at the Breakin’ Through statue, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming. 
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