Bertha Kaepernick Blanchette

In 1904, Bertha Kaepernick, a teenager from Sterling, Colorado, made an exhibition ride at Cheyenne Frontier Days™ when the men refused to compete in the rain thus threatening to cancel the rodeo. The committee was faced with refunding ticket money and agreed to let this youngster ride. And ride she did! The Wyoming Tribune reported that after her ride, the cowboys immediately met the challenge; her daring ride had saved the day. Warren Richardson, the first CFD chairman, remembers the incident as a highlight of 1904. The next year, she is listed on the program as a special event “riding the wild outlaw horse Brimstone.” She was thrown but continued to be a contestant at rodeos for many years.