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When Ruth Parton Webster died in October 1978, word of her passing was in a one-paragraph death notice recording when she was born, died, funeral details and the family members who survived her.

But there was more to Webster’s life than that simple obituary. Webster is called the “Mother of Thoroughbred Racing� for her work as both a horse trainer as well as a racer and rodeo star.

Born in Toppenish in 1895, Parton first started racing thoroughbred horses on the Yakama Nation reservation when she was 13, becoming an accomplished rider.

She would eventually race horses in Canada and Mexico, as well as become the first woman licensed to train racing horses.

And if that’s all she did, she’d be quite a remarkable person.

But she did a lot more.

Following in the tradition of Annie Oakley and Lucille Mulhall, Parton also worked the rodeo circuit as a rider. She would do trick riding, such as the Drunken Race in Toppenish, where she won while standing on the horse’s back.

She also traveled the country as a relay racer. Unlike the track-and-field event where a group of runners take turns carrying a baton around the track, a horse relay race involves riders changing mounts quickly several times during the race, akin to how Pony Express riders worked.

With six Canadian fillies as her rides, Parton went on to earn the title “World’s Champion Woman Relay Racer.�

And she also rode bucking broncos, an event that women are getting back into at rodeos.

She retired from racing in 1929 and later married Robert Webster.

She was living in Toppenish at the time of her death 40 years ago. At the time, she was survived by her daughter and three grandchildren.

In 1988, Webster was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas.

A mural commemorating her career was painted in 1992 as part of Toppenish’s mural project. It is on the CenturyLink building on Washington Avenue

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It Happened Here is a weekly history column by ºÚÁϸ£ÀûÉç reporter Donald W. Meyers.