You may remember Angelina Jolie doing it in the movie Tomb Raider.  Or, you might have seen the Queen doing it in her younger years.  But, chances are, you've never seen it done quite like this.  

We're talking about the unique practice of riding sidesaddle, only doing it in a race.    

The Calgary Stampede announced today (June 20) that sidesaddle racing will make its debut over two nights of the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth in 2018 and a Didsbury area woman will be part of the action.  

Michelle Rose is a riding instructor for dressage, hunter-jumper, and eventing.  Rose teachers her students to ride sidesaddle because she feels it makes them more adaptable.

The eight women who'll compete during the two nights of racing will wear historically correct wardrobes and use sidesaddles that, in some cases, date back multiple generations.

The women and their horses will race full speed around the track in a fierce competition, and finish directly in front of the Grandstand.  

According to Lee McLean from Longview who has been riding sidesaddle since the age of eight and taught five of the eight participants in the races how to ride sidesaddle, women have ridden sidesaddle for nearly 600 years.  She says it gave women independence and opportunities they wouldn't have otherwise had.

Kynan Vine, the Manager of Western Events for the Calgary Stampede says, "We're looking forward to celebrating a very traditional style of riding in a very high-adrenaline way."

Sidesaddle racing will run July 7th and 8th immediately following the chuckwagon races. 

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