Elizabeth Salazar
The Paw Print
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) has a new fan favorite and her name is Fallon Taylor. Taylor recently won the world title in barrel racing at the 2014 National Finals Rodeo (NFR). Taylor is 32 years old and has captivated the rodeo community with her quirky personality.
It is not unusual to see Taylor in tie-dye or fluorescent colors while she is at a rodeo, but 2014 was not the first time Fallon Taylor pursued professional barrel racing. She was involved in professional barrel racing 15 years ago, and she qualified for the NFR for the first time when she was thirteen years old.
It wasn’t long after that she left to pursue an acting career where she appeared on Two and a Half Men as one of Charlie Sheen’s girlfriends along with commercial work.
Taylor’s luck did not last for long after that because in 2009 she was bucked off of a horse and her C-2 vertebrae was broken (an injury that leaves most people paralyzed). Taylor walked out of the hospital three days later and was told that she would never be able to ride horses or rodeo again, but a year later she was back in the saddle and working on getting back into the barrel racing circuit. She has made it known to her fans that her accident is what urged her to get back into professional barrel racing.
Taylor has already placed at National Western Stock Show and Fort Worth Stock Show and she has won numerous buckles around the country this year. The horse that Fallon Taylor is riding, Babyflo, is the daughter of two of the horses that Taylor rode when she was a teenager in the professional barrel racing circuit.
Taylor has captured the fascination of the audience at every rodeo she attends, and she makes time to meet all her fans, whether she is at rodeos or on the road.
Taylor has also opened her own clothing line that includes western clothing and everyday attire; however, her clothing line is not the only thing she has launched this year. Taylor has also launched a safety line that includes custom designed helmets.
Aside from the fashion statements that she has made this year, she has also brought helmet safety into professional rodeo. During round four of the National Finals Rodeo Taylor debuted her helmet while she ran her race. Now she rides with a helmet in the hope that she can end the stigma against helmets in all the riding disciplines and allow safety to follow fashion. Taylor has made it a goal to ensure that the safety options of a rider don’t get ridiculed or laughed at.
She has shown young women that as long as you dream and work hard at what you want to do, you will get to live out your dream, even if there is a bump in the road. Fallon Taylor has come back to the rodeo circuit in full force and is the woman to beat in 2015.
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