Vale’s Rodeo Queen, Cami Cullen, has used her platform to inspire others and share her personal journey to rodeo royalty.
She wraps up her term as queen this week as the Vale 4th of July Rodeo is underway. The coronation of a new queen is set for Friday, July 5, during the evening rodeo show.
The 19-year-old Parma, Idaho, native said that growing up, she never envisioned becoming a rodeo queen.
As a youngster, Cullen said she became terrified of horses after getting kicked by one when she was 11. But then her brother married into a family who rode horses, and her sister-in-law introduced her to the rodeo world. By the time she was 16, she began training and breaking horses herself, and in 2022, she was crowned the first queen of Parma’s Inferno Bull Riding competition.
Cullen said that same year she got her horse -– Goose, a mare – just a few months before a rodeo. In a “time crunch,” she said she trained and broke her to get her “rodeo ready.” Today she makes her appearances with Goose, who she affectionately calls her “partner in crime.”
Cullen said going through that experience of being injured, getting back into riding horses and ultimately competing in rodeos and training Goose was “like a breath of fresh air.”
Cullen said the theme of her reign as queen, which began with her selection last July, has been overcoming hardships, gaining self-acceptance and setting an example for others in rodeo.
“That’s what the whole program is about,” she said. “It’s about uplifting the youth and showing them that this is something that they can do.”
Cullen recalled one of her appearances at a neighboring county rodeo early in her tenure. She said a young rodeo queen from another county was struggling with anxiety before the introduction in which rodeo royalty are expected to ride into the arena in a full sprint while waving to the crowd. Instead of leaving her behind, Cullen trotted alongside her and helped her get through it.
After the introduction, the young girl thanked her for getting through her first rodeo and told her that her grandmother would have been proud of her.
According to Cullen, that young girl said her grandma always told her that if “you’re not scared, you’re not doing it right.”
That experience, Cullen said, was her “aha moment” in finding a theme for her queening platform: “the not-so-perfect rodeo queen.”
Cullen said rodeo queens are expected to have the perfect hair, makeup, shirt and horse. But, she said, that’s not what being a rodeo queen is about.
People don’t remember rodeo queens for being flawless, Cullen said. They remember them for being themselves, she said.
“You’re not supposed to tell us, perfect,” Cullen said. “You’re a rodeo queen. You’re doing your job.”
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