--- description: In 1955, LIFE featured 15-month-old Jean Anne Evans, who began riding horses, with her mother, at one month of age. title: This May Be the Youngest Cowgirl Ever image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb816da2fe2190c94/6988616aab6d77211c6a5f32/150828-youngest-cowgirl-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [photography](/tag/photography/) ## photography Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This May Be the Youngest Cowgirl Ever  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Sep 25, 2015 12:00 PM CUT  Caption from LIFE. Jean Anne Evans kisses the horse she first rode on, her mother's horse Bryan. Child's size 3 boots are specially made for her in Austin. Caption from LIFE. Jean Anne Evans kisses the horse she first rode on, her mother's horse Bryan. Child's size 3 boots are specially made for her in Austin.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Sep 25, 2015 12:00 PM CUT Living in the YouTube era, it’s never entirely surprising to see a 5-year-old piano prodigy or a breakdancing toddler go viral—impressive as their talents may be. Half a century ago, those baby Einsteins got their 15 minutes of fame in a more old-fashioned medium: the back pages of LIFE magazine. Fifteen-month-old Jean Anne Evans was one such child. The Texan toddler was born into a family of ranchers and horseback riders, and first straddled a saddle (with her mother in tow) at the tender age of one month. When LIFE photographer Alan Grant visited her family’s farm near Fort Davis, he found her holding her own atop her 25-year-old horse, Toy Boy. Despite her prowess, LIFE wrote, she occasionally “betrays her years by dropping off to sleep suddenly in mid-roundup.” Thankfully, her mother’s saddle made for just the place to take a nap. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk "undefined")_._  Caption from LIFE. Jean Anne Evans kisses the horse she first rode on, her mother's horse Bryan. Child's size 3 boots are specially made for her in Austin. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  15-month-old Jean Anne Evans with her horse. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Hoisted up by her mother, Jean Anne rides her own 25-year-old horse Toy Boy. Both old horse and small saddle used to belong to Jean Anne's father. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  15-month-old Jean Anne Evans gets some help from her mother on horseback. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  15-month-old Jean Anne Evans with her horse. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  15-month-old Jean Anne Evans with her horse. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  15-month-old Jean Anne Evans with her horse. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Driving in, Jean Anne goes along as parents get part of family's 1,000-head herd to water lot. Mother and father always ride close beside child. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Tuckered out, cowgirl sleeps with pillow on pommel of mother's saddle. She has fallen only once, when her horse shied while she was wide awake. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4015064/youngest-cowgirl-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4015064/youngest-cowgirl-photos/"},"headline":"This May Be the Youngest Cowgirl Ever","datePublished":"2015-09-25T12:00:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:47:04.737Z","description":"Jean Anne Evans began riding horses when she was one month old","url":"https://time.com/4015064/youngest-cowgirl-photos/","keywords":["photography","Newsfeed","Children","animals","LIFE Magazine","1955","allan grant"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb816da2fe2190c94/6988616aab6d77211c6a5f32/150828-youngest-cowgirl-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb816da2fe2190c94/6988616aab6d77211c6a5f32/150828-youngest-cowgirl-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Youngest Cowgirl in 1955","caption":"The Youngest Cowgirl in 1955","creditText":"Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/photography/","name":"photography"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4015064/youngest-cowgirl-photos/","name":"This May Be the Youngest Cowgirl Ever"}}]}] ```