Arizona in the Saddle September 2014 Issue | Page 44

Tad Lucas

First Lady of Rodeo
T
By Jim Olson, ©2014, www.TotallyWestern.com

ad Lucas was
known for many
years as “The First
Lady of Rodeo.” She
competed,not only in
the United States, but
in Canada, Mexico,
England and Australia
as well. She was an expert horsewoman
who performed in trick riding, bronc
riding and relay racing. She was bestknown for her “daring and courage” in
the trick riding event.

twenty, she hired on with a Wild West
Show. She became a professional cowgirl.

Born Barbara Inez Barnes on September
1, 1902, at Cody, Nebraska, she was the
youngest of twenty-four children! Her
parents were Lorenzo White Barnes and
Hannah Garthside Barnes. She claimed
her father gave her the nickname
“Tadpole” (later shortened to Tad)
because she never really crawled like
other children as a baby, she just seemed
to slither along. Before long, she moved
from “slithering along,” to riding. She
started a-horseback at such a young
age, that later in life she could never
remember a time when she was not
an equestrienne. 

While in New York City, awaiting
departure, Tad and Buck were married.
Their honeymoon was the voyage to
London. It was also in London that Tad first
debuted as a trick rider, wowing the crowds.

She and her brothers rode colts from
an early age and they often rode calves
just for the fun of it. She participated in
various informal contests and horseback
races against other local ranch children
and Sioux Indian children from the
area. Tad entered her first rodeo at the
Gordon, Nebraska, Fair in 1917. It was
reported she won the girls steer riding
event. She was only fourteen.
Tad had made up her mind to follow
rodeo as a career after seeing her first
one a few years prior. By the time she was
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September 2014

For a couple of years she toured the
United States and Mexico with a group
of Wild West performers and Rodeo
Cowboys. Along the way, she met James
Edward “Buck” Lucas who also worked
for the Wild West Show. The two were
among a group of performers who were
selected for Tex Austin’s Wild West
Troupe to perform in London, England
in June of 1924.

After returning from England, Tad and
Buck built a home near Fort Worth,
Texas. She would live there the rest of her
life, raising two daughters along the way.
From the 1920s through the mid-40s,
Tad competed at just about every major
rodeo across the country.
She won titles at the
Cheyenne Frontier Days
in trick riding as well as
relay racing and bronc
riding. She also won at
rodeos in