Meet the Australian woman who became a star of the US rodeo circuit

Emily Collits begins her process in the haze behind the chute. There’s as much horsemanship needed here as when she’s holding her five foot three body to the ranch saddle and gripping the reins of a bucking bronc in the arena. Amid the noise and commotion, she pats the horse and puts on its halter gently and calmly. The saddle comes next, pulling up the cinches just as she likes. Two horses to go before her ride, she tightens the saddle. And when the arena is clear and the chute boss gives the okay, Emily takes a deep breath.

“I step over and get my arse in the saddle. The chute is the worst place — surrounded by steel,” she explains. “I take my rein in my left hand. I wait for the horse to be looking and give the big nod.” She launches out the gate, all reflexes at this stage. “It’s so fast. It’s so foreign,” Emily says. Her motto is “get in, get on, get out.”

It’s a formula and belief that’s held the 26-year-old in good stead over the past three years. In 2022, with only a handful of rides and two wins in Australia, Emily was one of two Australian women to receive an invitation to compete on the world-renowned American rodeo circuit. Emily seized the opportunity, embarking on a journey spanning nine events across four states, taking home two firsts and one third place.

“I was way out of my depth. I’d barely done any training, so I had a sink-or-swim moment,” recalls Emily. “I sampled a lot of soil in the States,” she says with a smile, “but it didn’t faze me, and I just kept going with it.”

Emily’s passion is for the increasingly popular rodeo event of ranch bronc riding. “This type of riding is meant to be the same experience as when your horse goes to town on you in the paddock,” explains Emily. Unlike professional saddle bronc riders, ranch bronc riders use their everyday working saddles in competitions, and they can grasp a rope or night latch with their free hand.

Emily describes the difference: “People say the saddle bronc is like a boxing match: it’s got style. But the ranch bronc is like a street fight. The horse can pull anything out of the bag — sometimes they’ll spin, sometimes buck out straight.” Ranch riders must be willing to jump on any horse and ride without hesitation. “You can’t just be sitting there. You’ve got to fight to be in the saddle and fight to stay in the game.”

It’s an eight-second game and one of the roughest and most dangerous events on the rodeo circuit. “I used to black out from the adrenaline,” says Emily. “I’m more ‘there’ now, but I still don’t hear the buzzer. I wait for a pickup man to come up next to me when I’ve made time.

“Generally I get off and I look like I’ve been hit by a truck,” she says. Last year, after several placings across the US summer circuit, Emily “got slammed pretty hard” and was on crutches and in a cold pool for hours the day before the US Women’s Ranch Bronc Championships finals in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. But it was an experience she refused to miss. “In the chute, you could see grandstands behind you and in front of you on the other side of the arena,” she recalls. “The energy from a crowd that big feels electric.” Emily won the 2023 finals, finding out after she had returned to Australia that she had taken the win with a fractured femur.

Emily had grown up doing “all the English riding under the sun” on the outskirts of Brisbane. Still, she traded her jodhpurs and helmet for jeans and a cowboy hat after driving sleighs and carriages in Banff, Canada, and watching her first rodeo at the Calgary Stampede. She took a six-month internship in Kentucky, learning from renowned Australian-born horse trainer and entertainer Dan James. “I learned a lot about training and liberty riding and more of the show and entertainment side of horsemanship,” says Emily.

Returning home to Australia, Emily worked as a stockhand in the Gulf and at Longreach. “That was a hell of an experience, as I hadn’t worked with cattle before,” Emily says. “But I didn’t like it when I didn’t get a shot at certain work because I was a five foot three female.” When Emily discovered a female bronc riding school in Emerald in 2021, she knew she would have to give it a go. “It was like a stubborn streak in me, where I thought, ‘I’ll show you what girls can do,’” she says with a laugh. She won her first jackpot rodeo that night.

Emily’s skill on horseback has led to work in entertainment outside the arena. Rooftop Express Productions showman Dave Manchon snapped Emily up for shows, including the Ekka and the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. “Dave needed someone to drive chariots in his show, and not many people around can do that,” Emily smiles

“I’ve helped him out ever since. At the Ekka last year, I brought out the palominos and worked behind the scenes with the longhorns and horses.”

Emily’s injury has caused her to drop down the competition leaderboard, but she’s not ready to hang up her spurs just yet. “Even if I don’t qualify for the Australian team, I’m going to go back over and try for the American team. I qualified for both teams last year, so I know it’s possible.”

As Emily trains to get back into competition, she’s also working on the long game for the sport, getting sponsorship for riders and competitions and better recognition in Australia. “I always want to be involved in some way, shape or form. I know bronc riding is not something you can do forever,” says Emily.

Emily knows first hand the challenges women face, particularly in Australia, as they try to buck the trend and compete in rough stock competitions. Two-time world champion American Allysa Spierings joined Emily to run schools in Victoria last year. Both Emily and Allysa are directors of the Women’s Ranch Bronc Championships. With founders Daryl and Michelle McElroy from Texas and another two directors from Canada and Europe, they’re working to help female athletes compete as ranch bronc riders and break into the male-dominated sport. “It’s a sport in its infancy, and everyone is learning as they go, so we are doing our best to give the girls a solid start on appropriate animals to get their confidence up,” explains Emily.

To Emily, ranch bronc riding is more than just a sport. It’s an ever-expanding network of like-minded, wild-spirited women. “I have rodeo families in Australia and the US. They are like sisters to me, and we’re there for each other no matter what side of the world we’re on,” says Emily.

Equine vet nurse Ellie Durrant, 24, joined Emily’s growing rodeo family after attending a women’s ranch bronc riding school in February 2023. “The best advice Em has given me is just to get in and give it my all,” Ellie says. “I admire her dedication to the sport and commitment to growing it in Australia.” 

Emily is leading by example: “I want to show the up-and-comers that steel sharpens steel,” Emily says. “I’m proud that I’ve helped teach almost all of the girls that are now competing with me in Australia. I’ve almost taught them too well because they can beat me now. They may be my biggest competition, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be my family.

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