“The Cowgirl Rides Away is one woman’s journey to find herself after every gauge, every tool—” Wait, that makes me sound like a mechanic. My name is JESSALYN STRATTON. I’m the only female World Saddle Bronc Champion in PRA history. Rodeo is an unforgiving sport, and living in a man’s world makes you tough-as-nails, makes you forget how to be a woman. Then, if you’re lucky, someone special comes along and reminds you why you’re glad to be one. And make no mistake, ZACK BOUDREAUX was special. An old-fashioned man who believed in love and loyalty and wanted someone who felt the same, old-fashioned enough to wish for a virgin. I qualified on all fronts. And maybe the internet wasn’t a bad place for a woman who’d never had a real relationship to stick her toe in the water. An artist who also came from a large ranching family, Zack also felt like the odd man out among his siblings, and his emails were the only bright spots in my life as I struggled through rehab. He was a deep thinker and I found it easy to open up to him, sharing things I’d never told a living soul, not even my best friend. Eventually, Zack issued an open invitation for me to visit, wanting to discover if we had something beyond our emails and eventually, I said yes.