LORETTA MANUEL

WPRA Barrel Racer

Inducted 2026

Loretta Manuel, born in Indiana but now calls Texas home, is well known for her accomplishments both aboard barrel horses and all equestrian event horses. Joining the WPRA in 1961, she won her first world championship in 1963 aboard a black horse registered Full of Pep, that she simply called Spade. She qualified for the National Finals Rodeo a total of 9 times (1962-67, 1969-1971), winning the coveted Women’s Professional Rodeo Association World Championship in 1963 and 1967 with a reserve finish in 1965.

At 14 she began her riding career at dude ranches. She partially credits her success in rodeo to her days as a teen performer in Wild West shows starting in 1955 at Henson’s Wild West Rodeo and Black Diamond Wild West with her sister and brother-in-law. In 1956, she started trick riding and Roman riding, including driving a six-horse hitch with the 105 Ranch Rodeo. She transitioned from trick riding to barrel racing shortly after getting Spade as he was fast and agile. She thought he was well suited for the cloverleaf pattern, so she trained him and believes they only hit a barrel twice during his whole career.

During her career, Loretta competed at rodeos from Madison Square Gardens in New York, to San Francisco, to the Expo in Montrel Canada, to just across the border in Mexico, and every rodeo in between. She captured the Rodeo Houston title in 1968, the second year it was held at the Astrodome.

Spade also spent some of his career as a bulldogging (steer wrestling) horse which Loretta believes made him tougher when it came to the barrel race. Spade’s ability to break out of the box made him a sought-after mount for many cowboys. During 1969 she rode the first Appaloosa horse – Geddes-Miss Go-Go, at the National Finals. She also rode I’m A Leo 2 (aka Fred). In 1973, Fred won the AQHA Barrel Racing Horse of the Year award.

Loretta served on the Board of Directors for the GRA, the precursor of the WPRA, from 1970-1972. She retired from rodeo in the 1970s but remained active in the equestrian scene when she began riding at Cloudline Hounds Hunt, a British-style fox hunting group.

World Championships: 2 (1963, 1967 barrel racing)

Born August 19, 1939, in Pulaski County on the farm in Indiana