Wanda Bush

The severe droughts of the 1950’s put the Alvin Harper family in the horse business. The Harper children, Wanda and A.C., worked along with their father in training and showing horses. Wanda joined the fledgling Girls Rodeo Association, now the Womens Professional Rodeo Association, the year she graduated from high school and proudly carries card #14 to this day. It was Wanda who spotted the “finest mare ever” at a rodeo in Post. The purchase of Dee Gee was the pivotal deal in setting up the Harper family in the quarter horse business. Wanda’s barrel racing and roping career spanned five decades and earned her 32 world championships. She competed as recently as 1992, taking the reserve championship at the Old Fort Days Futurity in Fort Smith, Arkansas, just a year after undergoing major back surgery. Among Wanda’s honors are inclusion in the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. She was also the 1989 Coca-Cola Woman of the Year and the 1998 Pioneer Woman of the Year. A great source of pride for both Wanda and Stanley is their daughter Shanna, who has continued the family relationship with horses, winning the AQHA Jr. World Cutting in 1972 as a 12-year old.