Anna Lee Aldred

Aldred died in a Montrose nursing home on June 12, 2006 at the age of 85.

Aldred was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004. She was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Plateau Horseman's Hall of Fame in 2018.

She quit her professional career upon marrying in 1950, but continued riding until she was 80. She served as a "pony boy", leading the racehorses out to the track of the Montrose Fairgrounds before races, and also appeared in rodeo ceremonies.

In 1950, she married Wayne Aldred, a cattleman, in Raton, New Mexico. The couple adopted a son and a daughter; their daughter was killed in a motorcycle accident while in her early teens. She and her husband divorced after 35 years of marriage.

She lost her first professional race by a nose, but went on to win "scores" of other races at state and county fairs. During her racing career, she weighed 100 pounds (45 kg). But by 1945, having grown too tall at 5' 5" and weighing in at 118 pounds (54 kg), she retired from horse racing.

In 1939, at age 18, she received her professional license from the Agua Caliente Racetrack in Baja California, Mexico, becoming the first U.S. woman to receive a jockey's license. Aldred said in a 2003 interview that the racetrack officials had tried to deny her application, but could not find a written rule that only men could race horses.

Her 1939 racing license, in the form of a small wooden badge, and her blue and white racing silks, are exhibited at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas.

Anna Lee Aldred (April 19, 1921 – June 12, 2006) was an American jockey and trick rider in rodeos. She was the first woman in the United States to receive a jockey's license. She pursued her professional horse racing career from 1939 to 1945, winning many races at state and county fairs. She then pursued a second career as a trick rider from 1945 to 1950. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004.

Anna Lee Mills was born in Montrose, Colorado, on April 19, 1921. Her father, Tom P. Mills, was a horse trainer and racer, and raised horses together with her mother, Dottie (nee Marlow) Mills. She had two brothers who became rodeo champions, and two sisters who also performed in the rodeo.