Former Lampasan to be inducted into Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame

Former Lampasas resident DeLois Hinson Senez is shown riding Henry at Baton Rouge, La., in 1986.

DeLois Lucille Hinson Senez, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Bill Hinson of Lampasas, will be inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in ceremonies April 11-12 at Belton.

Mrs. Senez was born in Copperas Cove and married Cleon R. "Tooty" Senez, a horseman, bareback rider and bull rider, in 1964.

They have two children: a daughter, Tanya Wallace, who competed in rodeos and ran barrels, and a son, Bryan Senez, who rode bulls and was Louisiana Rodeo Association Rookie of the Year in 1983.

The Senezes two grandchildren also have competed: granddaughter Dawn Loustalot Hedrick, in American Quarter Horse Association barrels, stakes and poles, and their late grandson, Cody Senez, who rode bulls and roped steers.

Ms. Hedrick won the 1998 AQHA nationals in the stake race on her grandmother's horse, Fleets Edition.

The Hinsons moved to Lampasas when Mrs. Senez was 5. She started helping her father pen cattle, goats and sheep around Texas as soon as she could ride a horse, and started running barrels in Bell County and surrounding counties at 8 years old with her sister, Donna Faye. They shared Donna Faye's horse, Shorty.

In 1953, Mrs. Senez joined the Girls' Rodeo Association in Dallas and continued to compete in Texas until she moved to Louisiana. She also developed a love of racing and went on to ride quarter horse races for the next 27 years.

Mrs. Senez became the first licensed female jockey in the state of Texas, and on Jan. 15, 1970, at Hill Top Downs in Normangee, Texas, she won her first race out.

She was later chosen to double the part of a female jockey in the 1976 movie "Casey's Shadow" with Walter Matthau, Robert Weber, Alexis Smith and Susan Myers.

The Senezes moved to Louisiana in 1966 and still operate out of Walker, La., where Mrs. Senez teaches youths of all ages to ride and trains horses and continues to run barrels.

Mrs. Senez has raised bobcats for the past six years and border collies for 15 years, as well as Welsh Corgies.

She has won at least 15 saddles during her lifetime of competition and numerous buckles. She joins her sisters, Eula Thomas, Billie McBride (four-time world champion and past president of the GRA) and Donna Faye Hanks, as well as Eula's husband, the late Orvil Thomas, in the Hall of Fame.