Callie duPerier, Galveston, Texas.
Riding résumé: duPerier won the 2015 WPRA barrel racing world championship aboard her 16-year-old Quarter Horse gelding Rare Dillion. duPerier grew up trail riding on her family’s ranch in Medina, Texas, and participating in 4-H. While attending a local playday, she discovered barrel racing and was determined to give it a try. High school and college rodeo led her to make a career of it. Why she rides safe: At the 2014 Tucson Rodeo, duPerier was bucked off her horse Jewel in the practice ring, and although she doesn’t remember the incident, her dad later told her she landed on her head and suffered a severe concussion. “I don’t know why I didn’t start wearing a helmet right after that,” duPerier laments. “But I did start wearing one at the ERA Redmond Rodeo in March. My mom worries so much and reminded me what was at stake. I gave in and wore one for her. But I also did it for my husband, the rest of my family, and for myself.” Fallon fashion: “I texted Fallon Taylor and asked her to bring a helmet for me in Redmond,” duPerier laughs. “She said the one I requested was out of stock, but she’d bring me one that wasn’t too crazy. I was terrified she was going to bring me the mohawk one! Thankfully, she didn’t.” As irony would have it, the first night duPerier wore Taylor’s gift, her horse reared in the alley. She barely avoided slamming her head into a low bar. Helmet advice: “Don’t fall into the false belief that it’s never going to happen to you because you’re in a Western saddle with a horn,” she says. “It can happen to anyone. Jewel was notorious for bucking. I’d keep one hand on the saddle horn just in case, but the day she bucked me off, I think she could feel it when I took my hand off the horn and took advantage of it. I realize now that if I’d had a helmet on that day, I probably would’ve been fine.” All about attitude: “I think a lot of people, especially in the Western industry, don’t wear helmets because they’re worried about what other people are going to think about them,” duPerier says. “I thought I was going to take a lot of flak about it. It hasn’t been that bad, but some people do comment about it. But I don’t care. I’m doing this for me and for my family. If someone says something, I just smile and say, ‘Well, we’ll be safe.’”