Miss Rodeo Texas Blog

The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo starts this week and I could not be more excited! These past few weeks have kept me busy with pre-rodeo events in preparation for this 10 time Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year. Our first event was the Cowgirls Live Forever Style Show and Luncheon. Miss Rodeo Texas Teen, McKenna, and I greeted guests and took pictures along with the Texas Heritage Riders. Afterwards, we went inside for the fashion show. McKenna and I had so

much fun modeling our pageant dresses on the runway and seeing the beautiful Julian Gold clothing that was showcased. Later that night, I attended another fashion show put on by our wonderful modeling coach, Lari Nelson. This event was a Ferrari Fashion Week show also in honor of the upcoming rodeo and one of my favorite local stores, Ranch At The Rim, provided the “rodeo-ready” fashions.

After a day full of fashion, I got up very early the next morning for the annual rodeo kickoff event, the Cowboy Breakfast. Starting at 4:30am, thousands of breakfast tacos are made by volunteers and given to endless lines of people. I loved seeing that many people, despite the chilly and early morning, lined up to participate in such a special event and excited for the rodeo. Thank you to Billy Harris and Jackie Van De Walle for showing me around and making it such a fun morning!

This past weekend, I was honored to ride in the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Western Heritage Parade and Cattle Drive. It was incredible to see the busy streets of downtown San Antonio filled with horses, longhorns, wagons, and even sheep! I got to ride Billy and Brenda Harris’ beautiful palomino horse, Jazz, again. Having carried Miss Rodeo Texas through this parade for the past 9 years, he is the perfect parade horse! As a Texas A&M Aggie, I was excited to ride in front of their Parsons Mounted Cavalry. Whoop! It was a beautiful day with the largest turn out of spectators I have ever seen at a parade. Thank you to Billy, Brenda, and the rest of the Texas Heritage riders for always being so willing to lend a horse and making sure I’m well taken care of.

Later that day, I attended the hide branding party put on before the rodeo by one of our very generous sponsors, Mr. Urbanczyk. I had a great time visiting with some familiar faces, meeting many new people, and I even got to brand a hide for myself! It is such a special keepsake for my year as Miss Rodeo Texas. Thank you Mr. Urbanczyk for the beautiful hide and all that you do for Miss Rodeo Texas, I really appreciate it. After the party, I headed to Bulverde for the First Annual Bulverde Spring Branch Area Chamber of Commerce Rodeo at Tejas Rodeo Company. I loved getting to ride in as well as help with the little mutton busters. Tejas is one of the neatest facilities with dinner, dancing, and much more with their weekly rodeos. Thank you to Becca Roach and Yancey James for always being so helpful and providing me with a horse. Y’all are awesome and I hope to visit again soon!

In addition to these events, I also got to go on school visits with Terry Chandler of the South Texas Cattlewomen, as well as a visit with the Texas Heritage Riders. School visits are so important because they give us an opportunity to teach the younger generation about our Western heritage. Throughout the visits we read books, talked to them about rodeo, had stick horse races, and even let the kids pet horses! I love getting to share my passion for the Western way of life and watch their excitement grow for it too!

Along with school visits, I also got to go with some of the South Texas CattleWomen to a special movie premiere in Austin. We watched an impressive film that promotes the beef industry called True Beef – Exploring Texas Beef From Pasture to Plate.

I highly recommend checking out this informative film, they did a wonderful job producing it! The South Texas Cattlewomen also invited me to a reception at the Briscoe Western Art Museum to welcome the American National CattleWomen to San Antonio forthe National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention. We had a great time touring the museum and visiting with each other. A few days later, I attended the convention and signed autographs at the Knipe Land Company booth. Thank you to John Knipe for inviting me to the event, it was so nice to meet you! Also, I can never thank the South Texas CattleWomen enough for their support and always welcoming me.

Now that all the pre-rodeo events have come and gone, it’s finally time to RODEO! Let’s Rodeo San Antonio!

Alex Ingram- Miss Rodeo Texas 2014

My first appearance of 2015 brought me to Waco for the Ram Texas Circuit Finals Rodeo. The circuit finals involve the top 12 contestants in each event competing not only for the champion Texas Circuit title, but also for a chance to qualify for the Ram National Circuit Finals Rodeo held in Kissimmee, Florida this year. It was such an exciting rodeo to watch since so many of our sport’s best athletes claim Texas as their circuit! That Saturday morning, I got to be a part of their annual Rustics and Rhinestones Ladies Luncheon and Style Show. Several contestants, people involved with the rodeo, and I modeled different styles for those that attended the fashion show. It was great to spend time with such a fun group of people! Thank you to Vicki Hobbs for inviting me and coordinating the event.

The next weekend, I stayed in San Antonio for our Miss Rodeo Texas clinic. We had a very good turnout as girls came to learn from different parts of Texas, New Mexico, California and Idaho! I love that we have these clinics because they help girls learn what it takes to compete in a rodeo queen pageant and how to be a respectable titleholder. We go over horsemanship, modeling, speeches, answering questions,

have mock interviews, and answer any questions girls may have about competing. I attended these clinics while I was preparingto compete for Miss Rodeo Texas and I think everything I learned there helped me get to where I am today. Thank you to Marjorie Murphy, Devin Sisk, and Rosanna Pace for all of the hard work they do to put together such an informative seminar. Also, I really enjoyed getting to spend time with some of the new state titleholders, we had so much fun together! On their last night in Texas, I took Miss Rodeo California, Miss Rodeo Idaho, and Miss Caldwell Night Rodeo to the Riverwalk and the Alamo so they could get a little taste of Texas and the culture of San Antonio. They are such a sweet group of girls and I hope to see them again soon!

This past week, we spent a lot of time on the road as Miss Rodeo Texas Teen, McKenna Greene, Marjorie Murphy, and I traveled from San Antonio to Fort Worth and on to Austin. Our first trip took us to Fort Worth for the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame inductions. I was SO excited to be a part of this year’s event since they were honoring such influential people that I have admired since I was young. This year’s inductees were Larry Mahan, Leon Coffee, Chris Cox, and Johnny Trotter. Clay Walker was also honored and received the Rick Smith Spirit of Texas Award. It was amazing for McKenna and I to be in the company of not only these honorees, but so many other influential and iconic people of our industry in the audience. Congratulations to the 2015 inductees on their well-deserved honor.

From Fort Worth, we drove to Austin for the Miss Rodeo Austin pageant. McKenna and I were the 2013 Miss Rodeo Austin and Miss Rodeo Austin Princess so we were looking forward to visiting our Rodeo Austin family again. We enjoyed watching the twelve contestants compete in the horsemanship, speeches, and impromptu question portions of the pageant. It was a tough competition with so many incredible girls that I am lucky to have personally gotten to know over the years. Congratulations to Chloe Costello, the 2015 Miss Rodeo Austin, and Destinee Brown, the 2015 Miss Rodeo Austin Princess, on their accomplishments. You are in for an amazing year ahead and I can’t wait to visit Rodeo Austin again in March!

2015 is off to a GREAT start and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has in store!

Blessings always,
Alex Ingram – Miss Rodeo Texas 2014

Now that I have a break after competing at the Miss Rodeo America pageant and before the New Year rodeos start, I realized I have a lot of blogging to catch up on! So I’m sorry that it’s going to get a little lengthy. In the month leading up to my trip to Las Vegas, I spent my time traveling, attending different events, and using any free time I had to prepare for the pageant. One trip was to Fort Worth for the National Cowgirl Hall Of Fame inductions. Marjorie Murphy and Frances Bendele made the road trip up there with me and I just love traveling with them! They fill every trip with laughter and fun memories so I always enjoy my time spent with them and can’t thank them enough for all that they do for me. Once we got there, we met up with Miss Rodeo Texas Teen, McKenna Greene, who I’m always excited to see! We saw many other familiar faces there like a few of our judges from the Miss Rodeo Texas pageant this year, members of the Miss Rodeo America organization, and several icons of the Western industry. This year’s inductees included Frances Kavanaugh, May Owen, Shirley Lucas Jauregui, Sue Cunningham, and Jean Cates. Congratulations to these inspirational women on their effort towards helping shape the American West and receiving such an honor! That night, we attended the “Catwalk in Cowtown” at the Texas Cowboy Hall Of Fame. McKenna and I were asked to model jackets at this benefit for DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). This fundraiser consisted of denim jackets supplied by Wrangler that were custom decorated by different celebrities like Jewel, Nolan Ryan, Red Steagall, and Gypsy Soule among many others. We had a fun time at this event and overall, a great trip to Fort Worth.

I attended other events including the San Antonio Go Rodeo Roundup which is a large fundraiser for the S.A.L.E. Scholarship Fund. They have live and silent auctions, dancing, and music by Clay Walker (one of my favorite singers) and Johnny Lee who invited me on stage with him for a whole song! Unfortunately, as hard as he tried, he couldn’t get me to sing (which was actually pretty fortunate for the audience’s ears ;)) I can’t wait for the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo to start in February! A few days later, McKenna and I were in a fashion show for one of our wonderful sponsors, Dolores Unique Designs. We loved modeling her beautiful mohair designs at the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association event in Kerrville and thank her for her continued support!

I was excited to join Billy and Brenda Harris when they invited me to ride horses with them and the Texas Heritage Riders at a parade in Devine. They ride gorgeous palomino horses with some of the most extravagant tack! I got to ride their wonderful horse, Jazz. He has carried so many Miss Rodeo Texas queens that he’s a professional by now 🙂 After the parade, Billy and Brenda took me to the Devine Fall Festival where we ate, danced with the Sawahe Indian Dancers, and they even introduced me on stage to talk about my year and upcoming trip to Las Vegas. I had an amazing time visiting Devine while getting to know the Harris’. Thank y’all for spending time with me and for always being such big supporters of the Miss Rodeo Texas  organization. I appreciate y’all!

My last trip before Vegas was to Goliad for their PBR event. The weekend started off with a
Calcutta the night before the PBR to raise money by “auctioning off” bull riders. It was a good time getting to know everyone I would be working with that weekend and seeing the community’s excitement for bull riding. The next day started off with autograph signings at local sponsors and then it was off to the arena for some bull riding! The pickup men generously let me use one of their horses to ride in on and be introduced before the performance began. During the performance, I got to help with the mutton bustin’ and hand out awards throughout the night. Afterwards, there was a large Watusi that people could sit on and have their picture taken with. I could not pass up on this opportunity! A little girl in line wasn’t sure she wanted to ride until we offered for her to ride with me. I was so happy that she decided to get on with me and have our picture taken together. Thank you to everyone on the committee as well as Gary and Lana Jarzombek for being so hospitable and making sure I was well taken care of during my stay in Goliad. I loved spending time with your family!

Finally, it was time to head to the Miss Rodeo America pageant! My mom and stepdad left the day after Thanksgiving to drive my pageant wardrobe from New Braunfels all the way to Las Vegas. And let me tell you, they had a FULL car. They are really just the best supporters ever and I can never thank them enough for everything they do to help me. I love y’all!! Marjorie, Linda Ebest, Pat Bowen, and I flew together to Las Vegas. I really enjoyed visiting and spending time with them before the pageant week started, I couldn’t ask for a better support system. The pageant itself was everything I imagined it would be and more! We got to model in such a fun fashion show, visit Cowboy Christmas, and even attend the first performance of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo which was one of my very favorite parts of the trip! I was so blessed that all of the other events went smoothly too; I drew good horses that could perform what I asked of them, all of my studying paid off when it came to the test and other questions asked throughout the week, and my favorite part was the interviews. I always love getting to know the judges and visit with them on a more personal level. I also had an amazing roommate, Brandy Mortensen, Miss Rodeo Utah. She was always so sweet and helpful and I am thankful to have spent the week with someone like her. I genuinely enjoyed myself at the pageant and was lucky to compete with such talented, funny, wonderful girls this year. I just loved them and I hope that I get to see them more in the future. I was so honored to win the Photogenic award as well as place third runner up. To even be able to place in the top 5 in such a tough competition of 32 girls was unbelievable and I am so grateful for that opportunity. Thank you all for your continued support throughout the year, it means a lot to me. I am so incredibly blessed to be in this position and still have six months filled with rodeos ahead of me. I hope to see you all down the road!

Blessings always,

Alex Ingram – Miss Rodeo Texas 2014