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Year Inducted: 2004
Home State: NE
“Do it with style and a smile” was the motto of Connie Griffith, one of the world’s greatest trick riders.
Connie fell in love with animals, especially horses, at an early age. Her father gave her a Shetland pony when she was only 4 years old. As a child she rode her horses, Toby and Nix, nearly every day. She joined a horse club and began competing in rodeos.
On her twelfth birthday, Connie received her first trick riding saddle from her father along with the promise of trick riding lessons with the famous Dick Griffith. At just 95 pounds, petite Connie had all the attributes of a great trick rider: agility, grace, strength and courage. Dick praised her as “a natural.”
During high school Connie was selected as the Nebraska High School Rodeo Queen, and was valedictorian.
She continued trick riding lessons from Dick during her years as a student at Colorado State University. Soon, Connie and Dick fell in love and were married. Connie became a featured performer at every major rodeo and horse exhibition across North America and joined Dick as an instructor at their premiere trick riding school. Over the years she taught some of the most famous female trick riders and trained more than 100 trick horses.
One of Connie’s favorite tricks was the Ted Elder Suicide Drag. She hung behind the horse with her head completely disappearing between the horse’s hind legs while her pointed toes danced in the arena dirt. Connie was one of a handful of women to incorporate this trick into her performance. Another of her marquee tricks was the “under the belly,” performing this trick more times than any other rider.
She also went on to excel as one of the best Roman Riders ever. She perfected stepping from one horse to another, cross stepping, complete pirouettes, switching teams, and jumping both in tandem and through walls of fire.
Introducing trick riding to the Las Vegas Strip, Connie and her son Tad performed at the Excalibar Hotel for 8 years. Connie performed for 6 straight years in more than 6,000 consecutive shows, many times with injuries including broken bones.
“It takes a certain amount of nerve, but most people have more of that than they know,” said Connie, describing the attributes of a trick rider. “Desire is really more than half the battle. Some people have plenty of natural ability, but without desire they won’t go far.”
Tragically, Connie died much too young at the age of 56 while trick riding at a rodeo. She embodied passion and precision in her riding, and will be remembered for the sheer grace and joy she brought to the arena.
