Daredevil women were defying gravity in the rodeo arena long before anyone did it in the Land of Oz. The National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame in Fort Worth will showcase some of rodeo’s most intrepid women in a new photography exhibition opening as part of its expanded museum on November 7.

“Gravity Defied: Trick Riders of the Cowgirl” will feature archival photographs of Cowgirl Hall of Fame honorees who helped shape trick and fancy riding, an extreme sport that demands strength, balance, and a willingness to take serious risks on horseback.

The exhibition is the second announced for the museum’s reopening, following “Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo,” a display of costumes from the country star’s Las Vegas residency. Both exhibitions will debut when the museum opens its new 16,000-square-foot expansion.

Trick and fancy riding gained popularity in the United States through Wild West shows, where women became key figures in developing the sport, a release notes. They refined existing techniques, invented new tricks, and helped introduce audiences to the high-flying discipline long before “extreme sports” became a familiar term.

Faye Blackstone executing one of her three invented tricks, the Flyaway, in the 1940s or '50s.Photo courtesy of National Cowgirl Museum

The new exhibition draws from the museum’s archives to spotlight the athleticism and ingenuity of the women behind the performances, including rodeo stars who rose to fame during the sport’s competitive heyday and those who kept the tradition alive in later decades, the release says.

Among the photographs is a 1949 image of Cowgirl Hall of Fame honoree Faye Blesing performing a Hippodrome Stand at the Santa Rosa Round-Up in Vernon, Texas.

Another shows Faye Blackstone executing the Flyaway, one of three tricks she invented. Rodeo legend Tad Lucas appears in a 1948 photograph taken at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, performing a trick dubbed the "suicide drag."

Tad Lucas, executing the "suicide drag" at the FWSSR in 1948.Photo courtesy of James Cathey

Diana Vela, the museum’s associate executive director of exhibits and education, curated the exhibition using photographs and oral histories from the museum’s collection.

“I am in awe of these women, all Honorees, whose athleticism often goes unnoticed,” Vela says in the release. “The risk is clear, the difficulty is clear, and yet you can feel the sheer joy emanating from these photographs in their broad smiles and wind-whipped hair.”

Vela says the photographs capture only a moment of performances that took years of practice, creativity, and courage to master. At the heart of the new exhibition are the women themselves, she says.

“I think most revealing was reading their oral histories held in our archives when they talk about learning to trick ride or inventing tricks,” Vela says. “The one moment captured on film belies a multitude of stories behind it.”

The Cowgirl Museum closed to the public October 19 to prepare for the reopening of its $19 million expansion. The 16,000-square-foot addition includes a new entrance facing Dickies Arena, additional galleries, an event space accommodating up to 250 people, and the new Cowgirl Carousel.

The expansion will create more space to explore the accomplishments and influence of women of the West through exhibitions and other visitor experiences, the museum says.

The museum will reopen November 7, with a members-only preview at 10 am and public admission beginning at 12 noon.