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Crawford Heads to Women’s Rodeo World Championship with All-Around Title Aspirations – and 7-Month-Old Daughter in Tow

By: Darci Miller

PUEBLO, Colo. – When Jackie Crawford won the all-around title at the inaugural Women’s Rodeo World Championship last year, she was 5-and-a-half months pregnant.

It may seem like an incredible feat – and it undoubtedly is – but the 19-time WPRA champion in breakaway roping, team roping and tie-down roping insists it was no big thing.

Competing while pregnant, that is.

Crawford competed through the 2019 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in early December, when she was 6-and-a half months pregnant.

“I felt fine through (the WRWC), and it never hit me, but after that, I got to thinking, ‘How am I going to make it one more month and still be comfortable?’ And so I cut my saddle horn off,” Crawford said. “That’s the only thing that ever crossed my mind, that if something crazy was to happen and you hit the saddle horn. And so I said, ‘Well, I don’t need a saddle horn, so just take it off.’ So we cut the saddle horn off, and I roped without a saddle horn all the way through the NFR.

“But I never did feel off-balance. I never felt bad. I actually won the NFR. I won the world like that in the PRCA. So it wasn’t anything that I felt hindered me. I was more tired, probably, than anybody else,” she added with a laugh. “But other than that, no. As far as the feeling of roping, it didn’t bother me.”

Crawford says she was struggling to keep her eyes open at the WRWC, even to the point of falling asleep on the arena dirt, holding her horse standing over her, for a good 10 minutes while they unloaded steers.

But she was certainly in peak roping form when she stood atop the Can-Am Cage to be crowned the all-around champion, and she was plenty awake enough to really soak in the achievement she says is “right there at the top” among her biggest accomplishments.

“That’s the first time I’ve gotten to stand on a stage in front of that many people and be crowned the all-around champ of women’s rodeo,” Crawford said. “I was like six months pregnant there, I think, so to have baby on board and be the all-around champ, it was a special moment for me.

“I love being the first of anything. I think that’s cool because no one can ever get that again. And so obviously, I love those titles. But to get it in the all-around? That’s something I’ve always prided myself on. I’ve always wanted to be known for being able to be handy in several events. And so to be the first one to capture that title was just awesome.”

Crawford also hopes to win the second all-around title at this year’s Women’s Rodeo World Championship from Oct. 26-29 at South Point Arena & Equestrian Center in Las Vegas. Fans can catch the action on RidePass on Pluto TV, channel 720 (click here for event times).

The inaugural WRWC event was a significant moment for all of the women competing, as it was one of the biggest stages ever given to women’s rodeo. Breakaway roping in particular is only just beginning to gain a foothold in major rodeos, and Crawford says the opportunity to rope at AT&T Stadium was not lost on the competitors.

“As we’re sitting there in that tunnel at AT&T Stadium, I was thinking to myself, and all the girls were kind of looking around, looking at each other, and it’s like, ‘Can you believe that we are roping right here for this much money?’” Crawford said. “I just remember that kind of in-awe moment of being there before we ever rode into the arena, and just everybody kind of stacked up there and just being like, ‘Holy cow, this is happening.’”

In each of the four disciplines – barrel racing, breakaway roping, and team roping heading and heeling – the winner receives a minimum of $60,000, while the all-around champion wins $20,000. It is the largest annual purse for a women’s rodeo event.

“Vegas is one of those places that has that notoriety, and it has that feel of your NFR or your PBR Finals, things like that,” Crawford said. “So to be the women’s finals out there is going to be, to me, super exciting. It’s going to be kind of fun to have all the girls in one spot out there competing.”

Crawford hopes to again contend for the all-around title but knows she’s not quite all the way back to her old form following the birth of her daughter, Journey, who is now 7 months old. (She also has a son, Creed, who is 4.)

After giving birth in March, Crawford was back on a horse and roping within the week and competing at her first jackpot in two weeks.

“It’s one of those things where your mind is determined, and there’s really not another option. It’s what you do,” Crawford said. “This is what I do day in and day out. It’d be like anybody else going back to work. It’s just what you do, so you figure out a way to get it done. I can say it’s maybe a little harder getting back into shape after a second child, but we did, and we made it work, and we’re still working at it.”

Her initial goal when making her comeback was to have enough points to make it to Rodeo Corpus Christi in early May. Not only did she make it there, she ended up placing second in breakaway roping, which she says really got things rolling again.

Since finishing up her pro-rodeo run during the summer, Crawford has been throwing all her energy into training for the WRWC.

“We’ve anticipated this all year since we’ve known the dates on it,” Crawford said. “As soon as I got home from pro rodeoing for the summer, of course I had been breakaway roping, but I immediately picked up the team ropes, and we went to work at that, and my partners came and stayed and practiced. We’re trying to get all we can in just for this event.”

Throughout it all, Crawford is simply grateful for the opportunity to rope at the WRWC and to see the growth of women’s rodeo.

“I will never forget who was the first people to stick their necks out and say, ‘Here, this is for women’s rodeo,” Crawford said. “(The WCRA and the PBR) were the first to do that, and we will always remember that because that has opened so many doors because they were the ones that were brave enough to do it, and they were the ones who had the foresight to see how much of an impact women could make in the industry.”

And when she heads to Vegas, Crawford will have Creed and little Journey in tow, hoping to make the most of every moment.

“You don’t have to accept this thing that society says, like, ‘Once you have kids, you have to stop doing everything else,’” Crawford said. “To me, kids are going to respect and love being able to see their moms chase their dreams. Show them how to set goals. Show them how to work hard. Show them how to accomplish things and have a love for something. Show them passion. Show them drive. Lead by example.”

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