Jeana Day
WPRA Barrel Racing — Inducted 2024

By Ann Bleiker

Jeana Day of Woodward, Oklahoma, etched her name in the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) history books winning the barrel racing world title in 1974. A six-time NFR qualifier, she also finished as reserve world champion four times (1970-73) prior to capturing the world title. She accomplished all of this aboard a horse called Poco Excuse, a horse that was an unlikely WPRA World Champion – he was small, just 1,000 pounds, and not expected to have much speed with only cow horse breeding.

In fact, Poco Excuse was bought by her father, Gene, for $300 from her uncle because he bucked with him. After bucking with her father as well, Jeana, at the age of 12, took the reins training him to run barrels. He was her best friend and her once-in-a-lifetime horse. His outstanding heart took him and his jockey to new heights and even led to the formation of one of the WPRA’s most coveted awards – the Horse with the Most Heart Award, given at the NFR each year.

Day also spent 11 years on the WPRA Board of Directors during a pivotal time in the history of the Association when they took a stand for equal money in the barrel racing. She served two different terms (1975-1979 and 1986-1991).

She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Southwestern Oklahoma State University with a math degree and until her retirement in 2023 was teaching high school math in Fargo, Oklahoma.

World Championships: 1 world title – 1974 Barrel Racing

Born October 24, 1954, in Woodward, Oklahoma

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