LA GRANDE — In Northeast Oregon it’s not unusual to meet up with a bronc rider whose day job has nothing to do with rodeo.

But it is a little rare to meet one named Emily.

Women have long been active in rodeo, though they’re more likely to be seen in events like barrel racing and breakaway roping than in rough stuff like saddle bronc riding.

Little by little, that’s changing. Just ask Emily Hembree, who’s working as a barber in La Grande while looking forward to her second season of ranch saddle bronc riding in Idaho Cowboys Association-sanctioned rodeos.

“I want to be real competitive,” she said. “I want to ride as many practice horses as I can and then hit as many rodeos as I can.”

Hembree’s young — just 22 — but she’s got some long experience with horses. She hails from Willamina, a city of 2,200 that straddles Polk and Yamhill counties, and she grew up on a 20-acre spread in the Yamhill County part of town.

It wasn’t a ranch, exactly, but there was always livestock on the place.

“We had some cattle, and my little herd of horses,” she said.

She’s naturally drawn to sports and activities that involve riding. As a student at Willamina High School, Hembree took part in Oregon High School Equestrian Team programs. She also competed in high school rodeo, in barrel racing and breakaway roping. Beyond that, she’s done her bit as a rodeo ambassador, serving on the Yamhill County Rodeo court in 2019.

‘It’s my adrenaline rush’

After graduation in 2020, Hembree enrolled in beauty and barber school to learn the barber’s trade. With those studies completed, she began thinking about moving to the east side of the state. The main attraction, she said, was the region’s vibrant rodeo scene.

“I rodeo for the Idaho Cowboys Association. I wanted to get out of the west side of the state and get closer to that,” she said.

After some searching, she found and landed a job at the Blue Mountain Barber Shop on Adams Avenue.

The ICA is an association of rodeo competitors from Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. Many of its members are full-time professionals who tour the country and ride and rope in big-time shows. Many more are passionate part-timers who like to compete in smaller, ICA-approved rodeos closer to home.

The Haines Stampede, held each Fourth of July in Baker County, is an ICA rodeo. So is the Grande Ronde Rodeo in La Grande. Last year as a rookie, Hembree rode broncs in both those shows and in seven others. In all nine, she never saw another female bronc rider.

Ranch saddle bronc riding differs from saddle bronc riding mainly in the kind of saddle used. In the ranch event, cowboys (and cowgirls) use the same saddle they would during a day of range riding on a working ranch.

It’s a saddle with a horn, and rules permit the rider to hold on to it — or to a handle called a night latch — during the ride. The other kind of bronc saddle doesn’t have a horn, and during the ride the free hand — the hand not holding the bronc rein — isn’t allowed to touch the horse or the equipment.

Either way, it’s a breath-taking, bone-rattling, teeth-jarring experience, one most people prefer to undergo vicariously, from the safety of the stands. Hembree said she is drawn to it by way of her competitive nature, and a certain craving for excitement.

“It’s my adrenaline rush,” she said.

Last year, Hembree made it to the eight-second buzzer in two of her nine rides. She said she expected her rookie year to be tough, and she’s not at all unhappy with the results.

“I covered two out of the nine, so I’m getting there. I’m learning,” she said.

Finding acceptance

Scores weren’t nearly as important as the experience Hembree gained. She said she learned beyond a certainty that it’s impossible to tell what a rodeo bronc will do once the gate swings open.

“We call broncs ‘rank,’ and some are ranker than others. People like to try to guess what they’re going to do, but they can’t. Horses are their own beings and they’re unpredictable,” she said.

Hembree also learned that just about anything that can go wrong, might. At the Ukiah rodeo, her cinch snapped and she and her saddle went pitching over the horse’s shoulders. She wasn’t badly hurt, but she won’t soon forget how hard she hit the ground.

“I just sucked dirt,” she said.

In other parts of the country, in smaller local rodeos, more women in recent years have been testing themselves in bucking events. Here and there on the internet, there are films of women riding bulls.

In Eastern Oregon, though, nearly all rough stock riding is done by cowboys. Last June, Hembree’s friend Jasmine Miller, of Prineville, was hurt during a ranch bronc ride at the Mountain High Broncs and Bulls rodeo in Joseph. Hembree, who didn’t compete there, said she heard that Miller was out for the rest of the season.

In all the places Hembree rode, the competition was strictly male.

Despite that fact, she’s never felt like an outsider. She said her the cowboys accept her, and cheer her on.

“(The men) have all treated me wonderfully and been very helpful and supportive,” she said. “They want me to succeed, which is nice.”

Hembree said her status as a lone female bronc rider could change this season, because she has a couple of female friends who are thinking about trying their hand at bucking. In the offseason, she’s been giving them some pointers and encouragement.

“They’ve been asking about gear and things,” she said. “Just being there with them will help, because it is a man’s sport, and that can be intimidating.”