Martha Josey
Meet Martha Josey, barrel racing legend. WPRA, AQHA & NBHA World Champion, 11 time NFR Finalist, Hall of Famer, and Olympic Gold Medallist! This incredible woman has done it all, and had some amazing stories and advice to tell.
I started out asking Mrs.Josey the same questions as the other women I had interviewed that week, and then moved into some specific questions that were just for her. Martha joked “I was probably about 4 days old.” When I asked how old she was when she first started riding. Her father was one of the first directors of the AQHA, so naturally she started off at a very early age. She continued to ride throughout her life until high school, when she took a break and played other sports. Her senior year of high school, she started thinking about it and revisited barrel racing and she says the rest is history, she’s been doing it ever since.
When asked about her biggest accomplishment, Mrs.Josey says it has been the blessing of being able to do this as long as she has, and the incredible horses that she has had over the years. She says one of her favorite things was being able to go to the Winter Olympics held in Calgary, Alberta when she participated in a barrel racing exhibition as an Olympic special event where she earned a gold medal. Not only is she proud of her accomplishments, but she’s proud of those she has taught at the Josey ranch clinics. This year there are 4 people going to the NFR that have been to the ranch as students. They most definitely do create champions.
I asked Martha who was an inspiration or mentor to her in her career and I was surprised at her answer, until she explained. “My basketball coach. She taught me how to practice perfect. She’d make me do a hundred free throws in a row before I could go home at night.” She talks about how that instilled the mentality in her of how practice makes perfect that she was able to implement in her rodeo life. If you don’t put in the work, you don’t see the results.
If she could change anything about the barrel racing industry, Mrs.Josey said it would be to have better ground. Everyone in the room chuckled at the most cliché barrel racer answer possible, but what she said is something incredibly important. Martha talks about the dangers of bad ground, and how it isn’t right for these amazing athlete’s health to be compromised from lack of care to the conditions. It is an issue that needs more attention and more actions taken to prevent it.
Martha describes the rodeo community as being such a great family. She talks about how she made so many friendships throughout the years and that after all this time she still has those people in her life. I had the privilege of meeting one of them, Pam Randal, who travelled with Martha back in the day. Pam showed me up to the trophy room on the Josey ranch and it practically made my jaw drop. A whole room filled from wall to wall with the accomplishments of Martha and her husband R.E.
The best advice Martha says that she was ever given was by her husband, who told her to never give up. “If you fall, don’t stay down.” Josey says. “And always stay positive, that’s something he’s been great about. You don’t ever need anything negative coming out of your mouth.” Those are words everyone should live by, and you can tell they have definitely been implemented by those working at the ranch. The staff were such positive and uplifting people that I didn’t want to leave once everything was done, and I most definitely can’t wait to go back.
For those of you just getting into barrel racing, Martha had some great advice on what you need to do. “Find a horse that can teach you. Get a safe, gentle horse that you can learn with, and ask people for help or go to a clinic.” She said. Martha stresses the importance of getting a safe and gentle horse for beginners, because more often than not she hears of people who were discouraged from riding due to a horse that threw them off or ran them into a tree. Finding a good horse might be a hard task and a big investment but it pays off in the end.
I asked Martha to describe her clinics and explain what all they do. “They are phenomenal. We’ve got some great instructors here that know what they are doing and it all comes together. It’s lots of motivation, advice, and one on one time.” She explained. The ranch goes through all aspects of owning horses for beginners, on how to feed a horse, groom a horse, train a horse, but most importantly, how to communicate with your horse. The clinics aren’t just for beginners but for many experienced riders as well, because practice makes perfect and you can never stop learning.
My final question for Mrs.Josey was how her and her husband started the ranch and what went into the process. She said after trying out different locations, they decided on Marshall because they fell in love with the place. They opened a school and for their first year, had 33 students. It started with a 2 week school where the students could come and stay with their own horses and learn with them. Martha says it just kept on growing and growing, and they started doing 4 different sessions of 2 weeks throughout the year. Now they have their teams that are able to travel to other states to give clinics when they aren’t holding them at the ranch. Martha says next year will be the 50th anniversary of the first school they ever held, and that they are planning to travel to Brazil to hold a clinic because of the amount of requests they get from students that travel from other countries.
Martha Josey may be one of the most accomplished people in this industry, but it didn’t come easy. She’s had to work for it, as well as work through many hard times of injuries. You can tell how proud she is of what she has created and what she has accomplished, but she’s just as proud of what she continues to do; create champions. “Josey and I started out with just a dream, and everything’s become reality.” Martha said. The atmosphere and over all work ethic that her and R.E have created at the ranch, as well as with the staff, is something I feel everyone needs to experience and strive to create in their own lives. The positivity and helpfulness is overwhelming, you feel like family when you’re visiting.
When I came to the ranch, I first met Alissa Burson who is one of the instructors. After interviewing her and Caitlin Lamb, another instructor, I went with Alissa to go meet Martha. Now I’m not going to lie to you, this woman has been somebody that I personally have looked up to for years and in my mind she’s a legend. So when I sat down in Martha’s living room at a round see-through table filled with belt buckles, I was a little speechless. After meeting Martha, and stuttering through a few first questions, I was put at ease at how sweet and personable she was. To Mrs.Josey, thank you for allowing me into your home and sharing your experiences and advice with me. Not only will I be carrying this advice with me for years to come, but I’m sure many who read this will be as well. Congratulations on everything you have accomplished, and I am so grateful for everything you told me. My best wishes to you, R.E, and all those at the Josey Ranch.
I started out asking Mrs.Josey the same questions as the other women I had interviewed that week, and then moved into some specific questions that were just for her. Martha joked “I was probably about 4 days old.” When I asked how old she was when she first started riding. Her father was one of the first directors of the AQHA, so naturally she started off at a very early age. She continued to ride throughout her life until high school, when she took a break and played other sports. Her senior year of high school, she started thinking about it and revisited barrel racing and she says the rest is history, she’s been doing it ever since.
When asked about her biggest accomplishment, Mrs.Josey says it has been the blessing of being able to do this as long as she has, and the incredible horses that she has had over the years. She says one of her favorite things was being able to go to the Winter Olympics held in Calgary, Alberta when she participated in a barrel racing exhibition as an Olympic special event where she earned a gold medal. Not only is she proud of her accomplishments, but she’s proud of those she has taught at the Josey ranch clinics. This year there are 4 people going to the NFR that have been to the ranch as students. They most definitely do create champions.
I asked Martha who was an inspiration or mentor to her in her career and I was surprised at her answer, until she explained. “My basketball coach. She taught me how to practice perfect. She’d make me do a hundred free throws in a row before I could go home at night.” She talks about how that instilled the mentality in her of how practice makes perfect that she was able to implement in her rodeo life. If you don’t put in the work, you don’t see the results.
If she could change anything about the barrel racing industry, Mrs.Josey said it would be to have better ground. Everyone in the room chuckled at the most cliché barrel racer answer possible, but what she said is something incredibly important. Martha talks about the dangers of bad ground, and how it isn’t right for these amazing athlete’s health to be compromised from lack of care to the conditions. It is an issue that needs more attention and more actions taken to prevent it.
Martha describes the rodeo community as being such a great family. She talks about how she made so many friendships throughout the years and that after all this time she still has those people in her life. I had the privilege of meeting one of them, Pam Randal, who travelled with Martha back in the day. Pam showed me up to the trophy room on the Josey ranch and it practically made my jaw drop. A whole room filled from wall to wall with the accomplishments of Martha and her husband R.E.
The best advice Martha says that she was ever given was by her husband, who told her to never give up. “If you fall, don’t stay down.” Josey says. “And always stay positive, that’s something he’s been great about. You don’t ever need anything negative coming out of your mouth.” Those are words everyone should live by, and you can tell they have definitely been implemented by those working at the ranch. The staff were such positive and uplifting people that I didn’t want to leave once everything was done, and I most definitely can’t wait to go back.
For those of you just getting into barrel racing, Martha had some great advice on what you need to do. “Find a horse that can teach you. Get a safe, gentle horse that you can learn with, and ask people for help or go to a clinic.” She said. Martha stresses the importance of getting a safe and gentle horse for beginners, because more often than not she hears of people who were discouraged from riding due to a horse that threw them off or ran them into a tree. Finding a good horse might be a hard task and a big investment but it pays off in the end.
I asked Martha to describe her clinics and explain what all they do. “They are phenomenal. We’ve got some great instructors here that know what they are doing and it all comes together. It’s lots of motivation, advice, and one on one time.” She explained. The ranch goes through all aspects of owning horses for beginners, on how to feed a horse, groom a horse, train a horse, but most importantly, how to communicate with your horse. The clinics aren’t just for beginners but for many experienced riders as well, because practice makes perfect and you can never stop learning.
My final question for Mrs.Josey was how her and her husband started the ranch and what went into the process. She said after trying out different locations, they decided on Marshall because they fell in love with the place. They opened a school and for their first year, had 33 students. It started with a 2 week school where the students could come and stay with their own horses and learn with them. Martha says it just kept on growing and growing, and they started doing 4 different sessions of 2 weeks throughout the year. Now they have their teams that are able to travel to other states to give clinics when they aren’t holding them at the ranch. Martha says next year will be the 50th anniversary of the first school they ever held, and that they are planning to travel to Brazil to hold a clinic because of the amount of requests they get from students that travel from other countries.
Martha Josey may be one of the most accomplished people in this industry, but it didn’t come easy. She’s had to work for it, as well as work through many hard times of injuries. You can tell how proud she is of what she has created and what she has accomplished, but she’s just as proud of what she continues to do; create champions. “Josey and I started out with just a dream, and everything’s become reality.” Martha said. The atmosphere and over all work ethic that her and R.E have created at the ranch, as well as with the staff, is something I feel everyone needs to experience and strive to create in their own lives. The positivity and helpfulness is overwhelming, you feel like family when you’re visiting.
When I came to the ranch, I first met Alissa Burson who is one of the instructors. After interviewing her and Caitlin Lamb, another instructor, I went with Alissa to go meet Martha. Now I’m not going to lie to you, this woman has been somebody that I personally have looked up to for years and in my mind she’s a legend. So when I sat down in Martha’s living room at a round see-through table filled with belt buckles, I was a little speechless. After meeting Martha, and stuttering through a few first questions, I was put at ease at how sweet and personable she was. To Mrs.Josey, thank you for allowing me into your home and sharing your experiences and advice with me. Not only will I be carrying this advice with me for years to come, but I’m sure many who read this will be as well. Congratulations on everything you have accomplished, and I am so grateful for everything you told me. My best wishes to you, R.E, and all those at the Josey Ranch.
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