Trick Saddle used by Rodeo Star Bernice Dean
date: label: date made
content: ca 1946
name: label: user
content: Dean, Bernice
label: maker
content: Dean, Frank
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Woman's white leather trick riding saddle with red and green trim used by Bernice Dean, well known and accomplished "Wild West" rodeo and trick rider. Long thin pommel and double "handle" at back. Frank Dean handmade this trick saddle for his wife after he could not find a saddle maker without a two year backlog. He had made saddles previously but never a trick saddle. The cut-outs were his design as he knew Bernice loved flowers.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Frank and Bernice Dean toured the rodeo circuit for 45 years beginning in the 1930s. They performed all over the world in wild west shows, rodeos, motion pictures, circuses, vaudeville and night clubs until Bernice's death in 1980 and Frank's passing in 1985. They were featured in the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and were both Guinness World Record holders. According to Frank, Bernice was "the most versatile of all the Cowgirls." She was proficient at shooting, rope spinning, trick riding, whip popping, horse training and showing, juggling and balancing on a rolling globe, knife throwing, roman riding, bronc riding and relay riding.
topic: label: name of sport
content: Rodeo
label: level of sport
content: Professional
label: web subject
content: Sports
label: web subject
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Frank Dean
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1984.0088.15
label: accession number
content: 1984.0088
label: catalog number
content: 1984.0088.15
objectType: label: Object Name
content: saddle
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: felt (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rope (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 28 1/2 in; 72.39 cm