[1] Nancy Sheppard was born on December 29, 1929, on a ranch in Fort Worth, Texas.
[1] Sheppard was descended from a pioneer family in ranching, who often attended the rodeo with her father as a child.
As a child, Sheppard's mother had shown horses in the Fort Worth Coliseum.
She worked for many well-known stock contractors, such as Harry Knight, Christensen Brothers, Leo Cremer, and Everett Colburn.
[2] After her retirement, she made special appearances performing trick roping in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade as well as for clothing designer Giorgio Armani in Italy.