Miss Rodeo USA to ride at Cape event

For most beauty queens, the most important part of the job is to look pretty and smile. Nobody cares if Miss America can ride a horse. They do if you're Miss Rodeo USA.

Georgianne Abdo, crowned Miss Rodeo USA just two weeks ago in Oklahoma City, Okla., has been riding since age 9.

She started with the hunter jumper style before switching to Tennessee walking horses, trail and endurance riding.

She will ride in the grand entry tonight and twice on Saturday in the International Professional Rodeo Association Rodeo at the Show Me Center.

The 23-year-old Abdo grew up a city girl in Tulsa, Okla. Her father is Lebanese, her mother grew up in Arkansas. Nobody else in her family rode horses.

She became interested in rodeo pageants when a friend won Miss Rodeo Oklahoma in 1999. Competing helped her get over her shyness.

"Job interviews are no problem now," she says. "It broke me out of my shell."

She hopes she can be a role model for other girls and young women wanting to do the same.

She has won five other Oklahoma queen titles. She has competed for rodeo queen titles instead of entering other pageants because of her longtime interest in horses. "It fits my personality," she says.

Abdo finished fourth in the 2000 Miss Rodeo USA pageant and was second runner-up last year. Those experiences helped her win this year. "I knew what to expect," she said.

During the recent pageant, the 13 contestants from all over the United States were quizzed on their knowledge of current events, rodeo, the IPRA and horsemanship.

They drew a horse to ride they had never seen before and were required to perform some reining patterns.

Miss Rodeo USA's job is to promote International Professional Rodeo Association rodeos and the sponsors of those rodeos.

Appearances were scheduled for her in Sikeston, Mo., and Perryville, Mo., Thursday. Signing autographs and meeting people are the responsibilities she enjoys the most.

She is excited about all the traveling she'll do, including trips to New York and Canada, places she has never been. But, she says, "I'm going to miss my family a lot."

Abdo graduated from Oral Robert University with a degree in graphic design. In her spare time she does kick boxing and takes black and white photographs.

She does not have a boyfriend.

"Not even close," she said.

But cowboys are her kind of guys. "I like the work ethic," she said.

Abdo doesn't know what she'll do after her year as Miss Rodeo USA but expects many new opportunities will present themselves during this year of promoting rodeo.

She plans to start competing in barrel racing once the year is over.

"I won't want to just give up rodeo," she says.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182