LINCOLN -- Rodeo embodies each freedom essential to maintaining the American lifestyle envisioned by the founding fathers and because of that the sport has come under attack like never before.
Perpetual celebration of Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, the Right to keep and bare arms, and the Right to Peaceable Assembly sets rodeo apart from any other professional sport.
Teigan Parker, recently crowned Miss Sidney, Ia., who attended the 67th annual Lincoln Rodeo last weekend, experienced that first-hand. Members of an animal rights activist organization known as PETA accosted her, criticizing her participation in rodeo.
"I've had a couple of people from that organization come up to me and give me negative feedback about what I do," Parker said.
Parker, a born-again Christian, came away from those face-to-face confrontations with a resolve to pursue rodeo royalty titles using her position of influence, much like Queen Esther of the Bible, as an advocate.
"That's kind of why I became a [rodeo] queen to put a face with rodeo -- my hope (is) to bring the good side of rodeo back," Parker said.
"With PETA, they kind of put a bad face with rodeo, claiming a lot of false information."
Parker aims to counter-act such claims, expressing insight into the diligent manner in which rodeo stock are handled on a daily basis.
"I would like to put the face back in rodeo where people see that stock contractors care for their horses, bulls and stock better than they care for themselves and [rodeo] contestants do the same," Parker said.
"We need a lot of positivity right now."
According to Sammie Jo Moore, who placed First Runner-up in the 2020 Lincoln Riding Club queen pageant, faith represents the ingredient empowering cowgirls to accomplish beyond human limitations.
"Matthew 19:26 tells us, 'with man this is impossible, but with God everything is possible,' and I know we're going through such hard times right now with all this covid stuff. I know we should be aware of that," Sammie Jo said during the Speech and Modeling competition held Wednesday, Aug. 5, at the Morrow Country Store.
"But right now, I think it's a time that we all need to come together because we need to be more in prayer than ever."
Parker's story resembles that of the Biblical heroine Queen Esther, selected to replace Queen Vashti who refused to promenade at the king's stag party and was deposed in ancient Persia.
Covid-19 restrictions prevented the Sidney, Ia., Championship Rodeo, which carries PRCA sanctioning, from holding a 2020 royalty pageant. Parker, who finished as First Runner-up in 2019 after graduating from Fremont-Mills High School, was crowned as 2020 Sidney rodeo queen by Miss Rodeo Iowa Brittany Gunn on July 30.
Parker's personal "hands-on" management of her horse, Dixie, a 10-year-old quarterhorse she acquired eight years ago, exemplifies the level of care rodeo stock receive from their owners.
Parker, a member of the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Rodeo team, refrains from driving in the daylight to keep her horses cooler and the tires on her vehicle and horse trailer cooler.
"I travel at night usually with my horses," Parker said. "To make it a more comfortable ride for everyone."
Parker went to look at another horse when she discovered Dixie, a horse written off by many others.
"She was this scrawny little thing, but she had this look in her eye that she wanted to be something, not just another horse," Parker said.
Animal activists won't always acknowledge rodeo gives animals others have given up on a new lease on life, and when that happens it often doesn't make the news.
In December JudyGail McNeely, a member of the Lincoln Riding Club, bought a 6-year-old bay whose owner died. The horse drew no bids in the sale barn other than hers, but connected with JudyGail and has since been cleared to run.
"He didn't do the greatest on the track after Delbert passed," JudyGail said. "We rescued him from the sale barn because if nobody else bid on him, he was going to go to the slaughter."
Parker, likewise, heard all sorts of objections. Dixie would never make anything, "She was too little, too off-the-wall to make anything."
Parker refused to be persuaded. She knew Dixie's potential lurked beyond what could be observed despite the mare's getting easily spooked and behaving as if scared of everything, and didn't know anything about rodeo.
"She's the first horse I ever trained from the ground up and she's built a lot of my confidence," Parker said. "She's been my rock just the same as I am hers. She's been my go-to for everything."
Should the PETA people try to ambush her again, Parker prepares herself through her faith. Her favorite Bible verse is Ephesians 6:11, which she paraphrases as "put on the whole armor of God and you can take your stand against the ... schemes [of an adversary]."
Parker's more than ready always to give an answer to every person who asks for a reason she continues to rodeo.
The short answer is, "That horse eats better than I do," Parker said. "She's my top priority, without her I have less going."