Jorden Halvorsen is a four-time female bull riding world champion, and after you hear how she got her start, you’ll see her path to the arena was anything but straight. Originally from Youngsville, North Carolina, her first love was actually horseback riding. She took part in English show-jumping competitions and participated in hunter-jumper events, where clearing obstacles is the main challenge. She was also an avid figure skater, but neither of these sports took her anywhere near the rodeo.
Instead, fate came and found her.
One day, when she was working for a horse trainer, a bull rider was there as well. Halvorsen said, “He had mentioned to us that we wanted to try riding the bull. It was only going to be a one-time thing… But after that first ride, I was hooked.” At the time, she was 17, and her lifetime passion had just been ignited. It started off as something like a dare, and now her name is known across the country and the world as one of bull riding’s best athletes.
A Lonely, Dusty Road
Enjoying riding bulls is one thing, but putting together a whole career in the rodeo is quite another. There are very few inroads or paths to follow to go from newbie to pro. While the men’s circuit is quite robust, the women had much less of an on-ramp to the sport. The infrastructure just didn’t exist. Halvorsen had to create the path and walk it at the same time, essentially.
Each weekend, she would drive from North Carolina to Texas. There, she would spend her own money to compete while she built a name for herself. Recognition was still years away. This was the grinding part of her career, where she took part in a sport that gave little back to her. In between, she kept up her skills while working on her family’s farm. Eventually, she made her mark at competitions and became a member of the Women’s Professional Bull Riders and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Associations.
And it wasn’t just women that she rode with.
At the PBR Team Series Combine at the Sports Performance Center in Colorado Springs in 2022, Halvorsen was the only woman competing alongside 50 men. However, she showed that she had the ability to compete alongside anyone and could ride quite well. She wasn’t there just to make a statement. She wanted the same respect as anyone else, and she earned it. She recalls, “I didn’t want them to think that I’m just some girl who thinks she can ride in the PBR. I just like riding bulls. That’s just me. I’m really passionate about all aspects of rodeo.”
As she built her reputation through events like this, she also had to make the same sacrifices that any bull rider does. For Halvorsen, this came in the form of a serious injury.
The Real Cost of Bull Riding
In March 2020, Halvorsen fell off her bull while riding at a Tennessee rodeo. It stomped her torso while it bucked, and she wound up with a grade 5 liver laceration. She was sent straight to the hospital and could have died from the injury. Fortunately, the doctors there were able to get her stable, and her story didn’t end there.
The accident galvanized her perspective. She took it as a sign to come back stronger and to get back on the bull. Like Christine GZ, a rally car racer featured in another episode of the Team Ignition Show, the high cost of a dangerous sport is worth it to her. People often don’t set aside their lifelong passion, even if it comes with high risk.
Jorden’s commitment would be tested again in 2024. She was competing in Brownwood, Texas, in the run-up to the Elite Lady Bull Riders finale. This time, a bull stepped on her leg, tearing her calf and breaking her fibula and tibia. This also led to the need for knee surgery.
The injuries were accumulating, but Halvorsen has refused to give up. It mirrors what it takes to succeed in the sport itself: a refusal to let go, no matter how hard the bucking gets.
Building a League
In 2023, women’s bull riding was facing a downturn. The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association was no longer running events, and Jorden saw an opportunity while others were selling their stake in a fading sport. She decided to launch a women’s riders league herself. Thus, Elite Lady Bull Riders (ELBR) was established in 2023.
Jorden and her teams quickly recruited over a dozen riders from a variety of backgrounds and ages. The riders came from the U.S., Brazil and Mexico. They competed in novice or pro divisions at rodeos, and what started as a way to keep the sport alive rapidly grew to become something serious. It may well turn out to be another impressive part of Halvorsen’s legacy.
In 2024, Halvorsen competed in 21 rodeos. She won or placed in more than half of them, giving her enough points to win the ELBR season championship. She built the league, she ran it, she competed in it, and she won it. She did all of this while working a full-time job to make ends meet.
Despite her success, Halvorsen explains, “I have to have a full-time job to support myself so I can continue to ride bulls. There’s just not enough money to just ride bulls on the weekend. At this point, it really isn’t about the money. It is about the love of the sport.”
Behind the Arena Gates
The bull riding lifestyle is nowhere near as glamorous as it might appear on Instagram. Halvorsen reports that the training is hard and requires rough practice workouts for women just like it does for men.
Halvorsen finds strength in her faith. A Bible verse she often quotes is “Philippians 4:13: ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.'” Prayer is part of the pre-ride ritual and helps to steady her nerves before the gate opens.
Her story of perseverance has gone well beyond the rodeo world. She was featured in Freeform’s documentary series Not Her First Rodeo. In this series, cameras follow the Elite Lady Bull Riders as they navigate the world of professional bull riding. “It feels really good,” she said. “I’ve worked really hard at this for a long time, and I’m glad people are finally going to see my life through a different lens.”
Riding On
As of this writing, Halvorsen is still competing while leading Elite Lady Bull Riders. She isn’t really defined, however, by the accolades or the cameras following her. Many fans can see that Jorden Halvorsen is someone who gets knocked down and out, and comes back again with renewed strength and commitment.
She does so without a frightened mindset. Instead, unpredictability is part of the fun in bull riding. Halvorsen says that “every bull does something different,” and this continually draws her in. The sport offers no guarantees or safety nets, but that has never been a reason for her to stop.
Instead, for Halvorsen, it’s always the reason to start.
Join Jorden on the Team Ignition Show
In this episode of the Team Ignition Show, Selema Masekela travels to Texas to meet Jorden Halvorsen, a four-time world champion bull rider and founder of the Elite Lady Bull Riders, a community built to prove that women belong in one of the most dangerous sports on dirt. After putting Selema through a series of drills designed to build the balance, grip, and mental toughness bull riding demands, Jorden throws him straight into the deep end, getting him up on a real bull for the very first time. Then, Selema takes his ringside seat at the Beaumont Rodeo to watch Jorden and her Elite Lady Bull Riders take on animals that weigh up to 2,000 pounds and answer to no one.
