There are a lot of similarities between lawyering and rodeoing, says Katie Woods, an assistant district attorney in Tarrant County, Texas.

“You’re always sizing up your competition. … You want to know what you’re up against to be successful in what you’re doing,” says Woods, who says her rodeo background also helps her in voir dire because she knows how to make a jury like her — “[m]uch like you want a horse to trust you and follow you wherever you want to go,” she says.