Reba McEntire Looks Like a Total Natural in This Vintage Horseback Riding Photo
Before the Happy's Place became a country superstar, she was a competitive barrel racer at rodeos.
Before Reba McEntire was a country superstar with several Grammy Awards to her name who now stars in NBC’s Happy’s Place and served as a Coach on The Voice, she was competing in barrel racing at rodeos.
Born and raised in Oklahoma, McEntire grew up riding and taking care of horses. In fact, as McEntire shares in her book Not That Fancy, she was just 11 years old the first time she competed at a rodeo. “I was a barrel racer. It’s a sport that requires lots of speed and skill, taking tight turns on horseback in a Cloverleaf pattern around barrels,” she explains. “It can get dangerous, but it’s mostly a lot of fun.”
RELATED: Reba McEntire Stands Confidently On Top of a Horse as a Young Barrel Racer (PHOTO)
While she rode one her father’s roping horses, Old Pelican, for her first rodeo, McEntire eventually competed with her own, who she named Fancy (echoing the name of the Bobby Gentry song McEntire famously covered!).
In 2017, McEntire shared an old photo of herself with Fancy, looking like an absolute natural, and shared the story behind her horse’s name.
Reba McEntire looks like a total natural riding her barrel horse, Fancy
"On my barrel horse, which Delores Smith said was the ugliest horse she'd ever seen. So I named it Fancy just to make it feel better,” McEntire captioned the photo on Instagram, which featured the “I’m a Survivor” singer in jeans, a t-shirt over a buttoned blouse, and burnt orange winter hat over her curly red hair.
It’s no wonder McEntire looks totally in her element on a horse. In a 2022 interview with Cowgirl Magazine, she said “riding is as natural to me as breathing.” She also shared in a touching Facebook post in 2015 that she feels a special connection to the animal. “I miss having horses around. I grew up with them,” she captioned a photo of her petting a horse. “They are the best friend you could ever have.”
McEntire rode barrel horses for many years before her music career really took off. “I finished running barrels at age 21 when I got my recording contract, thanks to Red Steagall,” she shared in an interview with True West Magazine, referring to the musician and actor who’s credited with discovering McEntire. “I was a lot better singer than I was a cowgirl.”
RELATED: Reba McEntire Shared an Amazing Photo from Her Rodeo Barrel Racing Days
Reba McEntire’s years of competing in rodeos prepared her for the music business
In an excerpt from the audio version of Not That Fancy, McEntire shared that barrel racing taught her lessons of determination and resilience that came in handy down the line as she made a name for herself in the music industry.
“I love to win, but not all runs are winners. We all mess up, even the best horses and riders can have an off-day,” she wrote in her book. “But you’re never going to win if you don’t try or if you give up. If you want to get somewhere, you stick with it.”
“Rodeo helped me learn that lesson,” she continued. “The kind of drive I learned on horseback set me up for building a career in music.”
