![Dakota Watts has big dreams in bullriding. Dakota Watts has big dreams in bullriding.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ingYyB85ps4jmG9t8mfsHP/78a3c41b-f4f3-4851-9e97-a7f26416d707.jpg/r338_113_2320_1431_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Growing up on a farm in Western Australia's wheatbelt, Dakota Watts always dreamed of being a cowgirl.
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Now she is not only a cowgirl but somewhat of a trailblazing one.
In the male-dominated sport of steer riding Watts is showing that she can match it with them.
Last year the Pumphreys Bridge teenager became the first female to win a national steer riding title when she won the Australian Bushmen's Campdraft and Rodeo Association high point title for the 11-under-14's.
She followed that up by finishing runner-up for the recent season, which culminated with last week's National Finals.
Not an event that girls traditionally take up - although there are more females getting into poddy/steer riding - Watts was hooked from the moment she jumped on her first poddy.
"A friend had this bucking drum that you train for bull riding on and I hopped on that one night, and he was like I think you're a natural, and he asked me if I wanted to hop on a steer," she said.
She didn't know girls were allowed to compete, but he informed that they could and entered her in the next rodeo.
About 10 at the time, she only lasted three seconds.
"Still it was so much fun," she said.
"I went to the next rodeo and had a go again."
![Watts (right) was runner-up for the combined 2021-22 season in the 11-U14 steer ride. Watts (right) was runner-up for the combined 2021-22 season in the 11-U14 steer ride.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ingYyB85ps4jmG9t8mfsHP/76b13a3a-bbc6-46d3-a567-8e2fd64ba877.JPG/r896_170_3665_1962_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"Just the adrenalin hooks you straight away."
Just over a year later she would win her first buckle.
"I remember falling off and I didn't actually know I'd ridden the time," Watts recalled.
"So we just went home that night after the rodeo and then we got a phone call while we were driving home and they said Dakota got a buckle."
The now 15-year-old said she has always been a bit of a tomboy.
"I just enjoy doing the stuff that the boys do," she said.
Even still, steer riding is taking that to another level.
A sport that requires a lot of bravery, Watts admits she used to get "super nervous" to the point where she would feel like throwing up.
Then an old cowboy told her she should use her nerves to her advantage.
"Don't waste them, use them to go out and ride hard," he told her.
"Now I don't think about my bull rides or anything until I'm in the shoot and about to nod my head."
That's when the nerves kick in, but the adrenalin soon takes over.
Unlike many of her peers, rodeo isn't in her blood.
She is the first member of her family to get involved in the sport. Her younger brother Riley and sister Alexis have since followed her into it.
Both also competed at the recent National Finals, Riley in the 8-U11 steer ride and Alexis the 11-U14 barrel race.
Dakota has since branched out into barrel racing and breakaway roping, and qualified for the finals in the steer ride and barrel race.
It was her second time competing in the finals after making the trip across in 2020.
"Last time I bucked off both my steers and my barrels wasn't the best either," she said.
"This time I rode two out of my three steers and my barrels were a lot better."
She is eagerly counting down until her 16th birthday so she can start competing in novice bullriding events.
Beyond that she is hoping rules will change and dreams of being the first female to ride in an open competition. Presently females aren't permitted to do that.
She also has ambitions of one day heading over to the US.
"I'd love to go over there and have a go," she said.