charmaine james
London
About Charmayne James 2019 www.charmaynejames.com. All rights reserved Web
Design by Frank Turben - Computer HelpCHARMAYNE’S BEGINNINGCharmayne came by her
horsemanship talents naturally. Her dad, who always had an eye for good horses,
worked as a feedlot cowboy before becoming an owner and operator of cattle
feeding, ranching and farming interests in Clayton, New Mexico. Her grandfather
was a cowman and steer roper. Her great-grandfather was a Choctaw Indian Light
Horseman. Her mother was a rodeo queen who also barrel raced and team roped. Her
grandmother was a World War I nurse who returned home and broke horses on the
family’s dude ranch.Charmayne grew up at her dad’s feedlot in Clayton. She took
ballet and piano lessons, but her favorite activity was riding. Attending
schools in Clayton, she was an honor roll student and excelled in art,
basketball and track, but was always anxious to get home from school to
ride.Charmayne learned to ride bareback on an old cowpony called Redbug, and was
always trying to keep up with her older sisters who had begun running barrels.
As a member of 4-H, her projects included steers and horses. At age 10 her horse
Creamer was named Grand Champion Gelding at the Union County Fair. She had
trained Creamer to run barrels and that year won her first All Around Cowgirl
title riding Creamer, a borrowed rope horse, and her sister’s pole bending
horse.Charmayne and Creamer receiving awards for Grand Champion Gelding at the
Union County FairKnowing her horse Creamer was not fast enough to win bigger
barrel races, Charmayne wanted another horse. Her sister’s barrel horse, Bardo
Deck was for sale, so her Dad bought him and turned the high strung former
California race horse over to Charmayne. After a couple months of constant
riding alongside the feedlot cowboys working cattle, chasing antelope across the
vast grasslands, and many trips around the barrels, Charmayne and Bardo were
winning nearly every area barrel race they entered.Late in 1981 Bardo broke his
leg in a tragic accident and had to be euthanized. Charmayne was heartbroken.
That winter she buried herself in school activities while telling her parents
she had to get another horse. In the spring of 1982, after taking Charmayne to
look at horses throughout the 5 State area, her dad, partly out of desperation,
told Charmayne he liked a little bay horse down in the feedyard horse pens that
was for sale. Charmayne countered that she had to have a race horse, but agreed
to try the little bay. Before Charmayne got on him, her Dad told her not to kick
him out at first because he was known to buck. Charmayne got on and after a few
bucks she circled back and put him around the barrels. The two were an instant
match. Charmayne paid $1200 for him with the rodeo winnings she had saved while
riding Bardo. Her Dad said that was way too much money. They named him “Scamper”
because of the way he scampered around the barrels.Scamper had never seen a
barrel, but had an excellent handle on him from all the feedyard riding. In the
spring of 1982, after two weeks of training on barrels, Charmayne and Scamper
won their first barrel race. That summer they won numerous barrel races and
amateur rodeos in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. That fall
Scamper was kicked in the hock by another horse. Their vet recommended turning
him out for six months with a 50-50 chance he would come back sound.In April of
1983, when Scamper was 7, Charmayne began riding him again. At a vet checkup,
after seeing Scamper’s ringbone, splints, and enlarged hock, Charmayne was told
she had better get another horse going because Scamper “was not going to last”.
By that summer she was winning amateur rodeos, sometimes by a full second. After
entering with a WPRA permit, and winning the barrel race at the PRCA Dodge City
Roundup Rodeo, Charmayne told her parents she wanted to start going to
professional rodeos. They told her that was alright with them, but she would
have to pay all her own rodeo expenses. When her dad asked her if she was going
to try to make the National Finals Rodeo, she replied “No, I’m going to win the
NFR”. She purchased her WPRA card later that year and began her professional
rodeo career. This began one of the most amazing rodeo careers in history.In
1994, after winning an unprecedented 10 World Championships, 6 National Finals
Rodeo Championships, and over $1,000,000 in arena winnings, Charmayne retired
Scamper. Her ability to care for Scamper and keep him running at the top of his
game for over 10 years attests to her knowledge and talents. This was a
phenomenal feat for the horse that “was not going to last”.After retiring
Scamper, Charmayne continued to achieve the eluding and difficult accomplishment
of qualifying for the next 6 straight National Finals Rodeos with several
different horses. In 2000 she qualified for the National Finals Rodeo and was
Reserve World Champion with Cruiser, a former race horse she had purchased for
$2,000 at New Mexico’s Clovis Livestock Auction and trained to run barrels. In
2002 she qualified for her 19th consecutive National Finals Rodeo riding
Cruiser, winning her 7th National Finals Rodeo and 11th World Championship
Title.
