Teenager Najiah Knight wants to be the first woman at bull riding's top level. It's an uphill dream
Najiah Knight drops her 100-pound frame onto a snorting 1,300-pound bull and adjusts her ropes, warming the sticky rosin. Music blares across the arena, but Najiah can hear only her dad, in the chute with her, and her mom, cheering from the stands. She nods to indicate she’s ready, and a cowboy pulls the door of the chute.
The gate swings open, and Najiah — a 17-year-old gladiator entering a ring where men rule — begins her dance with the bull.
Najiah, a high school junior from small-town Oregon, is on a yearslong quest to become the first woman to compete at the top level of the Professional Bull Riders tour. She can’t join until next year, when she’s 18, and even then, she’ll have to prove she’s good enough to qualify. There’s fierce competition: Only about 30 of the best riders from around the world reach the top. It takes time, travel, money and, perhaps most of all, guts. The sport is undeniably dangerous, with riders frequently injured and even killed.
None of that
