Tina Leonard: There's the hard way and then there's the hard way

Tina Leonard, author of Last of the Red-Hot Cowboys, shares how her research into rodeo women went …

Tina: I always have to do things the hard way!

Having grown up with cowboys and dated them in our small town, I decided to write a series about a woman who is determined to start her own bullfighting team, and the three talented, stubborn women she hires to kickstart her Big Plan in Hell, Texas.

The thing about writing is that you get to dream the what-if's, but with the starting point of female bullfighters, I quickly realized there isn't a whole lot of material for research. So why did I choose to write about a nearly impossible quest for a woman? I really, really admire strong women who don't like to be told no. Told something's impossible. I admire strong ladies, whether they're in the military or they have five children. Figuring out how women fit in society and what ladders they climb in their own personal dreams leads me to read biographies from Joan of Arc to Florence Nightingale to Eleanor Roosevelt. Would Joan of Arc or Florence Nightingale jump into a ring to protect a cowboy? I believe they would! If you think about it, femalekind is simply turning the page on modern-day bravery led by women. Our sisters have always protected mankind.

This past summer, I attended the Santa Fe rodeo in New Mexico in the guise of research (not to gaze at handsome, strong cowboys or anything), and just being a spectator is hard. I sure don't want to bullfight, though I would if I had to. And those barrels wouldn't look good on me. Rodeo isn't for lightweights.

Of course my heroines weren't lightweights. They weren't afraid of dirt, or injury, or much of anything besides not living up to their dream.

I researched on, and I found an article from 1980 in People magazine about a woman claiming to be America's first bullfighter. A short quote from the article:

By the time she was 20, Robin Sindorf was a beauty contest winner and had plied the pom-pom trade as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader. The 5'8" brunette might well have turned to modeling, but she bypassed the high fashion of Rodeo Drive to become America's first female rodeo clown.

So I wasn't totally cracked — ladies wanted to be bullfighters, too. Here was one who was giving it a shot. I don't know whatever happened to this beauty contestant/Dallas Cowboys cheerleader/rodeo clown, but she wasn't the only lady with the dream. I found a query about girls in bullfighting from an anxious mother, and an old-timer's kindly reply. Here is a snippet from the online board:

Let me put this as bluntly as i can and i tell all the young ones the same thing when they say they want to be a Bullfighter / Barrelman / Clown (yes there are three fields she can do) it can be rough out there, me personally have had four concussions, broken bones (mostly ribs but also many more) two compressed disks in my lower back and a cracked vertebrae in my neck, i watched as my rodeo partner was gored through the thigh by a bull and then tossed around like a rag doll while my other partner and myself attracted the attention of the bull off of him, he has a nice set of scars and a great story to tell but it still bothers him in the mornings … With my 200 pound body i still get thrown around like a dog playing with a beach ball so if that doesnt make her cringe then she should give it a try. when i started out i didnt go to a school to learn, i learned the hard way and i feel it every day. if i had it to do over i wouldnt trade the worst day in front of the bulls for the best day in my life and the one who got me started told me something that i have never forgotten "you dont have time to think, just get in there to get in the way" — 4th generation cowboy/wrangler.......retired pro rodeo bullfighter/ barrelman

So I had my story, and I had some footprints of early heroines to walk in. Truthfully, you're not going to meet many female bullfighters — or any. As the barrelman above illustrates, you'd almost have to be Superwoman to get in a ring with a creature that outweighs you by several hundred pounds. A bull can weigh two to three thousand pounds, so you're staring into the eyes of something that regards you as he would a fly, just something to be dispatched.

Not that that would stop my heroines.

So what field do women conquer next?

As the barrelman said, "Just get in there to get in the way."

I have a feeling that advice will be showing up in one of my future books!

Here's the blurb about Last of the Red-Hot Cowboys:

Ava Buchanan dreams of a career on the rodeo circuit. Winning a spot on a one-of-a-kind team would be her ticket to the life she's always wanted. Ava won't let anyone stand in her way—not even a stubborn cowboy whose slow-molasses smile and red-hot swagger set her senses aflame . . . and whose talents as a trainer could make her a star. Rodeo might be a man's game, but Ava knows the right woman's touch can tame the wildest heart.

Trace Carter believes his mayor's plan to raise the town's profile has disaster written all over it, and he won't allow the Hell's Outlaws Training Center to be dragged into the fiasco. Yet watching Ava's delectable body on horseback proves too much of a temptation, and his fantasies stray to her riding skills outside the arena. Soon Trace is fighting like hell to rein in his unbridled desire for the petite brunette before it becomes a passion hotter than the Texas sun.

Find out more about Tina and her books at www.tinaleonard.com.