In news that should inspire absolutely everyone, 11-year-old girl Kortnee Solomon recently made history by competing at the first nationally televised Black rodeo.
A fourth-generation Texas cowgirl, she started her journey at age 5.
At that tender age, she took part in the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, which is the country’s oldest Black-owned rodeo circuit.
Since then, she has taken home several championships and has taken part in the junior breakaway and ladies’ barrel events.
Kortnee devotes a lot to the sport.
On Saturday, June 5, Stephanie Haynes, Kanesha Jackson, and Kortnee Solomon loaded six horses into their trailer and drove it out to Rosenberg, Texas, for the Amazing MLK Rodeo. It was 90 degrees, and a heavy storm had just passed through, turning the ground to piles of mud and slush. Solomon, who had just come from winning a basketball game, is carrying water buckets, which she will fill up and bring to the horses about an hour and a half before the event begins. “When the buckets are full, they’re so heavy that she has to hold on to the fence and drag them along,” photographer Ivan McClellan says.
Ivan McClellan for The Undefeated
She hasn’t just mastered her technique; she also appreciates that it’s about perseverance, dedication, culture, community, and heritage. Along with her mom, she takes care of horses on their Hempstead property.
They groom, train, ride and feed their horses there.
Kortnee’s horse, Tiny, seems to have a mind of her own. If she’s not competing with Kortnee, she prefers to be left alone.
Since the rodeo season lasts from May to September, with at least one event each week, the family is often on the road.
Despite the amount of commitment Kortnee has, her mother still wants her childhood to be normal.
Aside from horses, she also loves dancing, basketball, cheerleading, and gymnastics. With all her interests, her mother doesn’t want her to feel like she’s missing anything as she grows up.
Kortnee is used to being the only girl competitor in rodeo events. However, she never lets this distract her.
Just before a competition, she stays by herself and focuses only on her performance, thinking of what she will do in that particular run.
The cowgirl isn’t the only one in her family in the rodeo circuit, though. Her mother, Kanesha Jackson, is an 11-time invitational champion.
Her father, Cory Solomon, is the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association tie-down roper.
Her grandmother, Stephanie Haynes, is an 18-time invitational champion who even serves on the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo board, and her late grandfather, Sedgwick Haynes, was the general manager of the Rodeo before he passed.
The Bill Pickett Rodeo’s CEO, Valeria Cunningham, is the only Black female rodeo owner. She is proud of the Rodeo getting to a nationally televised channel: CBS.
She is impressed by Kortnee, who is constantly pushing herself and who is ready to try anything.
Kortnee Solomon is an inspiration, and she shows that you’re never too young to be the best. Ride on!
