It is not Mary Olney’s first rodeo.
“You know you’re a rodeo queen,” Olney said. “You got to know something about rodeo.”
For the third consecutive year, Olney is serving as rodeo queen at the Sisters Rodeo.
Olney says her passion for rodeo began out of the spotlight on the Warm Springs Reservation.
“When we were little, it was hard to have access to our own horses, but I had some really really special people in our lives,” Olney said. “The Johnson’s down in Warm Springs, they let me ride their horses for a few years and they taught me a lot about riding. My mom and my grandma, they were always barrel racers and they always rode horses. Anything that they could teach me, they would teach me.”
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As a young girl, Olney wanted to grow up and become a barrel racer and of course, a Sisters Rodeo Queen.
Olney auditioned for rodeo queen in 2019, alongside her horse Dixie, after graduating high school.
She earned the title of 2020 Sisters Rodeo Queen, and because of the pandemic, 2021 and 2022 queen as well.
“Most ladies are blessed to have one year as a Sisters Rodeo Queen,” Olney said. “I’ve been blessed to have three.”
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Even when Olney hands off her crown, it will not be her last rodeo.
“The town’s excited, we’re all excited, our horses are excited,” Olney said. “We can’t see everybody there at the 2022 Sisters Rodeo.”
The Sisters Rodeo runs through Sunday.
