Dona Kay Rule is a cowgirl, wife, mother and grandmother and at an age when most rodeo champions decide to retire, Dona decided to jump right in and now 65 year old Dona is among the top barrel racers in the world and has qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR) four times. Dona Kay travels with her horse Valor and Rosie. It’s hard to say who is more famous, Valor, Dona Kay, or Rodeo Rosie, a miniature Australian Shepherd.

I was fortunate to meet Dona at the National Final Rodeo in Vegas where my husband hosted a breakfast for the team they sponsored. I instantly gravitated towards Dona's humility and positive demeanor and invited her to be my guest at Atalanta Diaries to share her inspiring journey and Dona was very gracious.

The year gone by has been Dona’s best rodeo season so far, even though it hasn’t been the easiest. At the 2021 NFR she was struggling with hip pain and soon after setting a new arena record at 13.96 seconds she made the decision to have surgery. Within 7 weeks of a total hip replacement, Dona loaded up her great horse, High Valor, and headed to Canada, won the 2nd at the Calgary stampede and proceeded to lock in the No. 2 position in the WPRA World Standings.

This trio has put smiles on the faces of rodeo fans across North America since she qualified for her first Wrangler NFR in 2019.

Key themes emerging out of our conversation:

• Leadership lessons from horsemanship
• Building trust and team loyalty
• Vulnerability and understanding what’s important
• Being deliberate about preparation and visualizing
• Recognize your calling
• What does success mean to you. It doesn't necessarily have to do with you
• Do it right and do it right when nobody's looking

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