“I have been with American since 2020,” said American Hat athlete Josie Conner. “It has been a great experience.”
“I love their hats, and the people at American are amazing,” she added. “You walk into one of their stores, and the atmosphere is unbeatable.”
Iowa, Louisiana cowgirl Josie Conner is nothing short of a superstar in the breakaway roping world. She qualified for her first National Finals Breakaway Roping in 2022 and was the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association Breakaway Rookie of the Year. In 2023, she made her second trip to Las Vegas and finished 13th in the world.
The 20-year-old cowgirl has sat comfortably in the top 15 of the breakaway world standings all year, but she said one rodeo changed her trajectory going into the 2024 NFBR.
“My win in Ellensburg this year I will remember forever,” she said. “The weekend after that win, I jumped to the number one spot in world standings.”
Conner won $11,015 in Ellensburg, WA, placing her at the top of the WPRA breakaway roping world standings.
“The same person had held the number one spot since March,” she said.
Jackie Crawford, who boasts 19 WPRA world titles, has led the standings since her big win at Rodeo Huston earlier this year.
“I think the horse I have been riding this year has a lot to do with my success,” Conner said. “He has been great this year. He has been putting me in the places that I need to be and giving me the opportunities that I needed.”
Conner was referring to her 16-year-old American Quarter Horse Association gelding, Stylish Drifter, whom she affectionately calls Dutch. Before she bought Dutch, Conner said he was being used as a tie-down roping horse.
“I rode Dutch my rookie year and made the finals, but I was not having the success I would have liked,” she said. “I had not transitioned well into pro rodeo yet. They are so much different than the junior ropings I was used to.”
Conner qualified for the National Finals Breakaway Roping in 2022 and 2023. She said that in her rookie year and sophomore season, she had to rodeo until the last week of the season to secure her spot at the finals.
“It has been a lot different this year not having to be on the bubble race,” Conner said.
The “bubble” Conner referred to is when a contestant sits just on the edge of being in the top fifteen-ranked athletes at the end of the pro rodeo season. She is far from being on the bubble rounding out the 2024 regular rodeo season.
“My second year in pro rodeo, I gave Dutch the year off, and Riley Webb roped on him for a while,” she said. “I came back with Dutch this year, and he has been so great for me.
“I think it’s funny how God works in mysterious ways,” Conner added. “I had put him aside for that time in my life, and we came back this year so much better than we ever have been.”
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