Anna Lee Aldred (April 19, 1921 – June 12, 2006) was an American jockey and trick rider in rodeos. She was the first woman in the United States to receive a jockey's license. She pursued her professional horse racing career from 1939 to 1945, winning many races at state and county fairs. She then pursued a second career as a trick rider from 1945 to 1950. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Anna Lee Mills |
| Born | April 19, 1921 Montrose, Colorado, US |
| Died | June 12, 2006 (aged 85) Montrose, Colorado |
| Occupation(s) | Jockey, trick rider |
| Years active | 1939–1950 |
| Weight | 100 lb (45 kg) (1939–1945) |
| Spouse | Wayne Aldred |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | Horse racing |
| Turned pro | 1939 |
| Retired | 1950 |
Early life
editAnna Lee Mills was born in Montrose, Colorado, on April 19, 1921.[1] Her father, Tom P. Mills, was a horse trainer and racer, and raised horses together with her mother, Dottie (nee Marlow) Mills.[1][2] She had two brothers who became rodeo champions, and two sisters who also performed in the rodeo.[1][2][3]
Anna Lee began riding at a young age.[4] She won her first pony race at age 6 in an amateur competition in Montrose, and was participating in flat and relay races by age 12.[2][4] She raced at amateur tracks in Colorado and Wyoming.[5]
In 1939, at age 18, she received her professional license from the Agua Caliente Racetrack in Baja California, Mexico, becoming the first U.S. woman to receive a jockey's license.[3][5][6] Aldred said in a 2003 interview that the racetrack officials had tried to deny her application, but could not find a written rule that only men could race horses.[7]
Career
editGod forbid I should go to any heaven where there are no horses.
–Anna Lee Aldred[1]
She lost her first professional race by a nose, but went on to win "scores" of other races at state and county fairs.[3] During her racing career, she weighed 100 pounds (45 kg).[3] But by 1945, having grown too tall at 5' 5" and weighing in at 118 pounds (54 kg), she retired from horse racing.[2][3]
She opened a riding school in California, and then embarked on a five-year career as a trick rider in rodeos.[5] She taught herself trick-riding skills at night in empty arenas.[8] Among her tricks were "standing atop the saddle of a horse bolting down the arena"[3] and "hanging by her foot from the side of a running horse".[5]
She quit her professional career upon marrying in 1950,[7] but continued riding until she was 80.[2] She served as a "pony boy", leading the racehorses out to the track of the Montrose Fairgrounds before races, and also appeared in rodeo ceremonies.[5]
After breaking her hip at age 80,[2] she entered a nursing home in Montrose. There she slept under a horse blanket.[3]
Awards and honors
editAldred was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1983[4] and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004.[2] She was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Plateau Horseman's Hall of Fame in 2018.[9]
Personal life
editIn 1950, she married Wayne Aldred, a cattleman, in Raton, New Mexico.[1] The couple adopted a son and a daughter; their daughter was killed in a motorcycle accident while in her early teens.[8] She and her husband divorced after 35 years of marriage.[8]
Aldred died in a Montrose nursing home on June 12, 2006, at the age of 85.[6][8]
Her 1939 racing license, in the form of a small wooden badge, and her blue and white racing silks, are exhibited at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas.[3][5]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Anna Lee Aldred". Montrose Press. June 16, 2006. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Anna Lee Aldred". Colorado Women's Hall of Fame. 2018. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Martin, Claire (July 4, 2006). "Anna Lee Aldred, 85, Jockey Pioneer". The Denver Post. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
- ^ a b c Hall of Fame: Anna Lee Aldred, National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, archived from the original on October 5, 2006
- ^ a b c d e f "Anna Lee Aldred, 85, Hall of Fame Cowgirl, Dies". The New York Times. Associated Press. July 5, 2006. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
- ^ a b Simon 2007, p. 37.
- ^ a b Rothman, Lily (April 19, 2016). "See Photos of the First American Woman to Be a Licensed Jockey". Time. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
- ^ a b c d "West Slope Obituaries". The Fence Post. August 7, 2006. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
- ^ Silbernagel, Bob (August 9, 2018). "Annual Fundraiser and Induction set for September 28". Colorado Plateau Horseman's Hall of Fame. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
Sources
edit- Simon, Mark (2007). The Original Thoroughbred Times Racing Almanac. i-5 Publishing. ISBN 978-1-933958-38-5.
Further reading
edit- Waisman, Charlotte S.; Tietjen, Jill S. (2013). Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780062041463.