Mary Walker

Mary Walker (born January 26, 1959) is an American former professional rodeo cowgirl who specialized in barrel racing.

Walker was born in Ennis, Texas, on January 26, 1959.

She grew up riding horses, and started barrel racing as a youth.

According to Walker, she had a positive childhood although her father died when she was 19.

Deciding against attending college, she got a job and worked the rodeos on the weekends.

Byron is the 1981 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) World Steer Wrestling Champion, and qualified for the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) 16 times.

In 1983, she married Byron Walker, who became an elite rodeo performer.

They resided in Ennis but now live in Abilene, Texas.

Walker joined the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) in 1983.

Barrel racing is sanctioned by the WPRA, while other rodeo events are sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboy's Association (PRCA).

The barrel racing events take place at PRCA rodeos, alongside events such as bull riding and tie-down roping.

All of the championship rodeo events are held together (except steer roping which has its own finals event, the National Finals Steer Roping (NFSR)), at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR), which is held every December at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Although 1983 was her first year as a professional barrel racer, she almost qualified for the NFR, missing by only $2,000.

She did well in part because she used her high school rodeo horse, Jet Barb.

After that year, however, she sold her horse and for a number of years her rodeo activity was primarily supporting the rodeo careers of her husband Byron, and later their son, Reagon.

Nevertheless, she still purchased her WPRA card every year, even though Byron was sure she would not use it.

But Walker would say, "You never know."

Walker occasionally competed at the nearby Mesquite Championship Rodeo in her spare time for extra money.

Her husband reached elite levels in rodeo, and her son seem fated to follow.

She lost her only child to a car accident in 2011.

Two months later, Latte, her horse, fell on her during competition and severely injured her.

It was about a year and a half after these incidents that she won her world title.

On April 23, 2011, Reagon and his girlfriend were involved in a car accident, where he died due to his injuries.

Two months later, in a competition in Crosby, Texas, while running around the third barrel, Latte slid and fell on Walker.

The horse was fine, but Walker suffered a shattered pelvis, multiple breaks in her hip, two broken vertebrae, and two broken toes.

She underwent surgery the next day, and the doctors used 8 plates and 11 pins to secure her hip.

"I was four months in a wheelchair, three months in physical therapy. I went from the wheelchair to a walker, then to a crutch, then to a cane."

Walker eventually returned to horse riding, but lost a lot of rodeos until she regained trust in herself and Latte.

Byron would tell her that she was going to win the championship that year, which she eventually did.

She won the Women's Professional Rodeo Association barrel racing world championship in 2012.

Despite several traumatic events in the two preceding years, she persevered.

She also became the oldest woman, at 53, in rodeo to win a world championship in the barrel racing event at the National Finals Rodeo.

She finally qualified and competed at her first NFR in 2012, when she was 53.

Walker was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2013.

He was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2014.

Walker's favorite pastimes include deep sea fishing and mowing the lawn.

She also has a dog, Buster, who goes everywhere with her.

Walker and her husband had one child, their son, Reagon.

Reagon became a professional steer wrestler, with a promising future.

She was later surpassed by Mary Burger in 2016 when Burger won at age 68.