The Chicks n Chaps Story

A rodeo clinic for women to benefit Tough Enough to Wear Pink of Montana.

Chicks n Chaps™ began in Missoula, Montana in the Spring of 2008. Shannone Hart (whose Mother was undergoing chemotherapy and a double mastectomy at the time) was introduced to Kyle Stensrud, Chairman of the Missoula Stampede. Kyle was on the board of the local Tough Enough to Wear Pink committee and had gone through breast cancer with his wife. The introduction of these 2 people would prove to be monumental when it came to raising money and awareness for breast cancer.

A few short weeks after meeting Kyle, Shannone attended a women's football clinic for the local University of Montana Grizzly Football team. She immediately called Kyle afterwards and said, "You guys should do this with the rodeo! The women loved it! Get some cowboys to teach women about the sport of rodeo and raise money for breast cancer at the same time. Call it something fun, like "Chicks n Chaps™".

Little did Shannone know that Kyle would elect HER to get the first event going! She and Staci Flynn organized the party and Kyle rounded up the volunteer cowboys. They pulled off their first event in just 3 short months with 170 women, most of which had never attended a rodeo before, and raised $20,000 for Tough Enough to Wear Pink!

It is a “fun” raiser designed to teach “chicks” about the seven events of professional rodeo: saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling, and barrel racing.

Don’t know anything about roping and riding, ladies? No worries! Cowboys are there for personal one-on-one instruction!

100% of the proceeds from all Chicks n Chaps™ events goes straight to Tough Enough to Wear Pink and the fight against breast cancer.