At 96 years-old, this former rodeo trick rider still treasures the Days of ’76

DEADWOOD, S.D. – Rosemary Tope Seymour sits in the stands at the Days of ’76 Rodeo now. Eighty-plus years ago, she was performing at it.

The 96-year-old woman, along with her older sister Fidelia Tope Gilger, were trick riders at the rodeo in the 1930s.

The daughters of Herbert and Gertrude (Hall) Tope, the girls, along with brother Bob and sister Emmajean, grew up on the family ranch. Rosemary, the youngest of the four siblings, was on horseback all the time.

At age three, she was already riding, often bareback, alongside Fidelia. Being the youngest child, as the older kids married and moved away, she was her dad’s help. She helped him pick up timber for firewood, do chores, shear sheep, everything that was done around the ranch, and at that time, everything was done with horses.

As a kid, her fondest memories were riding horses into town for the Fourth of July rodeo. She would ride in the parade, and she and her siblings would compete in the horse races, the relay races, and her dad did the chuckwagon race. The chuckwagon race involved the competitor loading a wood stove in the wagon, racing the team and wagon around the track, unloading the wood stove, and starting a fire in it.

It was at a rodeo that her interest in trick riding was piqued. She saw various trick riders, and she wanted to do it, too.

So at home, she tried the tricks, using a ranch horse. Without the right horse and the correct equipment, it was a challenge! Her parents told her not to do the trick riding when she was alone, “but kids will be kids,” she said, and she kept at it.

Rosemary’s ranch horse that doubled for the trick riding was Dolly, a patient mare who put up with her shenanigans. She would try the tail drag, where the rider hangs off the back of the horse, head by the horse’s heels. Dolly wouldn’t run when she hung there, so she would swat her legs to make her run. “I don’t know why she didn’t kick me,” Rosemary said, “but she would lope through the pasture with me bobbing over her rump and hind legs.”

In 1938, the family took at trip to Missouri to visit relatives. Rosemary was eight, and Fidelia was 19. They saw a trick riding saddle for $50 in a shop. Fidelia, who had been teaching, had the cash to buy it.

But Fidelia was busy teaching, so Rosemary used the saddle. “That’s when I really got started trick riding,” she said, “when I wasn’t busy helping dad.”

In 1940, at age 10, Rosemary and her sister performed at the Days of ’76 Rodeo. It was their first contracted rodeo as The Tope Sisters, and they were each paid $50 per day to perform.

“We held Deadwood in high esteem,” she said, “as they gave us our first chance.”

Their family supported them tremendously. Bob offered advice and kept them in broke horses, including Babe, a strawberry roan that was Rosemary’s main trick riding horse, once she and Fidelia began working rodeos regularly. Bob could do many of the tricks, but he stayed home and ranched. The girls practiced daily, with mom and dad, Bob and Emmajean as their audience.

The sisters even showed up in ads filmed to promote the Days of ’76. Ads, in those days, would run in movie theaters prior to the show. “I remember going to the movies and seeing myself on these ads, from time to time,” Seymour said.

She married Melvin Seymour in 1949; Fidelia had her first child that same year. The women were needed on the ranch and with their kids, and their trick riding days were over.

She and Melvin had five children: Bonnie, Sherry, Randy, Rhonda and Shawn (Bonnie and Randy have passed away.) Melvin died in 2004, and Seymour lives in Spearfish.

She hasn’t missed many performances of the Days of ’76. Work in the hayfield sometimes kept her and Melvin from attending, but they’d try to get there for at least one performance.

A year ago, Seymour was still riding. This winter, she broke ribs in a fall in the house, and that has kept her off a horse.

She loved her days as a trick rider. “When I quit, I missed the thrill. It’s a thrill, for sure.

“I enjoyed it thoroughly.”

Seymour will be at the Days of ’76 rodeo this year, back to where her trick riding took root.

This year’s Days of ’76 Rodeo runs through July 25, 2026, starting at 7:00 p.m. each night. Tickets can be purchased online and at the gate.