The Cowboys' Turtle Association: The Birth of Professional Rodeo

The story of the cowboy strike in 1936 at the Boston rodeo is a well-known bit of rodeo history. It is also no secret that the Cowboys' Turtle Association was the forerunner of the Rodeo Cowboys Association and today's Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. But Gail Hughbanks Woerner charts new territory by telling the whole story about how professional rodeo got it's start. From the men and women who were the pioneers to the behind the scenes struggles to keep the dream alive.

Gail Woerner was born and raised on a ranch in northeastern Colorado and worked with cattle and broke horses with her grandfather. She has written several books on the history of rodeo, a children's book on rodeo and numerous articles in various western-related magazines and periodicals including magazines in France, Canada and Australia. She also reviews other writer's books several times a year, and continually answers questions about rodeo from e-mail queries from around the globe.Gail is the Chairman of the Rodeo Clown Reunion which is held at various rodeos across the nation and generally has forty retired laugh-getters, bullfighters and barrelmen attend. They don their familiar make-up and costumes and sign autographs and entertain the fans. She also writes a newsletter to numerous retired rodeo clowns and their widows monthly.