COMPANION PASS: Josee Martin

My name is Josee Martin, I carry the “companion pass” of my husband, PRCA bulldogger Tristan Martin. But lately we may be better known as “Boudreaux’s parents.” He is our beautiful baby boy, born the day we got home from Tristan’s first NFR in December ’21. Tristan and I’s story starts like so many rodeo love stories do; on a golf-cart circa 2014 in Rock Springs, Wyoming at the high school finals. He was a CAJUN bulldogger from Louisiana and I was as country as country gets as a goat tier from Wyoming, and little did we know then it would (eventually) be a match made in heaven! 

My story however does not start at my relationship with Tristan. I grew up in Fremont Country Wyoming on my family’s ranch, just north of a very small town called Pavillion. “P-ville,” as we locals call it, doesn’t have a stoplight and the closest gas station is 15 miles away, but it is fully equipped with a bar, post office, 3 churches, a K-12 school (Go Cougars!), and most importantly, a rodeo arena. The beginning of my rodeo career consisted of running barrels on either my parents’ dude horses or something my grandpa Lonnie picked up at the sale barn for cheap and was trying to turn around and sell again as a “kids rodeo horse.” Growing up, we had a beef cow/calf operation and raised Corrientes for ropings and local rodeos that we produced during the summer. However, my parents’ main business on the ranch was leasing dude horses to kids camps, dude ranches, and hunting guides/outfitters (I don’t know if “dude ranch” is a well-known term, but this would basically be a camp or ranch where a tourist family would come to in Wyoming to ride horses, go camping, fishing etc.). At one time my parents ran around 1,200 head of dude horses. Yes, you read that right… one thousand two hundred horses, all (mostly) broke to ride and dog gentle enough for inexperienced riders to take for a trail ride in the mountains during their summer vacations. The dude horses and sale barn finds got us through until about JR high, and then my parents started shopping for a little higher end prospect rodeo horses. That’s when we started traveling and taking things more seriously. You could say I caught the rodeo fever. I competed in all the girls’ events through junior high, high school, and college, but I found most of my success in the goat tying. I played other sports too and was always very competitive. I won a couple of state championships hurdling, and even set a couple school records my first two years of high school, but eventually quit to focus on rodeo. I won a state championship in the goat tying and made the HS finals those last two years. I rodeod in college, one year making a top 5 (I think) finish at the CNFR in the goat tying. My focus shifted once I was in nursing school, but I also worked part time as the assistant rodeo coach at Central Wyoming College while I finished up school.

But anyways, back to Tristan.

After high school, we lost touch until the Denver qualifier in 2017. I was sitting in the stands watching the slack and had spotted Tristan a section or two away. I was immediately swooning. I even texted a couple of my friends, “GUESS WHO’S HERE, TRISTAN MARTIN HE’S SO CUTE.” A little while later this man, who I now call my husband, comes strutting up to me and just says, “do you remember me?” with all the confidence in the world. So, naturally, I played it cool, “hmmmm I’m sorry, remind me of your name?” If I could have captured the look on his face at that moment making him explain to me who he was and how he knew me, it was priceless and I guess I held his attention. We started talking back and forth, him being in Louisiana, me being in Wyoming. I couldn’t tell you exactly what transpired, but on New Year’s Eve after a few too many Coors Light and one long phone call with Tristan, I bought a one-way ticket to Louisiana to spend 10 days with this guy, and make the 18-hour drive back to Denver with him and 3 other bulldoggers. To my surprise, it was the best trip of my life. We went to rodeos, I met the whole Martin family (which you should know means 70+ people at Sunday dinner) and I knew this would be my family forever. The rest is history. We made it official during that trip and decided to do the “long-distance thing”.

That first year, we were living 1,500 miles apart, while both of us were still college rodeoing and I was in nursing school. I will say it was at this point that I stopped focusing so much on my rodeo career. I was so busy with school, and any spare time I had was spent travelling and going to rodeos with Tristan. That summer I hit the road with Tristan after he won the CNFR, and together we traveled the country off and on. I was experiencing all the best parts of being with a rodeo cowboy after living so far apart from each other. We had so much fun together and I didn’t think life could get much better. However, I was young and naïve to the other side of what this life would be like. When people say life with a rodeo cowboy is tough and not for everyone, they mean it. Going into that second year, we were both so young but so in love and we did the long distance, off and on thing that so many people do when they’re trying to make a relationship work. This period of time was full of heartache for both of us. I was in my last year of nursing school in Wyoming and Tristan was on the road in a different town every night, going to bars and living out his dream rodeoing. Lonely nights at home waiting on a phone call or hearing the rowdy beer tent in the background when he finally does call is just the reality for all of us rodeo wives. I wish I could say I handled it gracefully, but I didn’t. It was hard and heartbreaking.  But, after a lot of ups and downs and back and forth, we both grew up and I finally made the move to Sulphur, LA in December of 2019. We got engaged the next May, suffered through 2 major and devastating hurricanes in August and October, and got married on November 21, 2020. Nothing in our relationship has ever been easy, so planning a wedding mid-covid and also during the worst hurricane season to date in a devastated community, was kind of just our style. But, our wedding day was perfect, complete with synchronized keg stands by both bride and groom. 

Fast forward to April ’21, I was confirmed in the Catholic church, with my mother in law Mandy being my sponsor. I grew up Methodist but never had a strong faith or relationship with God. Tristan and his family helped me find that. You walk into a Martin woman’s house or even just talk to one of them, and you can feel God’s love pouring out from them. They emulate everything our blessed Virgin Mary represents as Christians, mothers, and wives. This was one of those gifts you never knew you needed. On my list of “things I want in a husband,” a strong catholic mother wasn’t one of them, but God gives us what we need! The strength and stories of my new family would take up a million more pages, and they’re not mine to tell, but just let me say, I am in very good and inspiring company. All of the nights alone sometimes would leave me reeling and soul searching. As cliché as it may sound, a lot of the time, God was the only one to talk to. Growing my relationship with God and strengthening my prayer life helped me while Tristan was on the road, especially this past year while I spent pretty much my whole pregnancy alone. Looking back now, I am so grateful for that time alone because, again, God always provides and gives us what we need, even if we don’t know we need it yet.

At this point you can probably tell I do not spend much time on the road anymore like I did that first year. Just to give you an idea, Tristan went to 87 rodeos plus jackpots last year. I went to 4, including the NFR. But, you know what they say, “behind every successful cowboy is a wife who works in town.” And, not to toot my own horn, but this couldn’t have been more accurate for us the last couple of years. I have always been very independent, taking a lot of pride in being the one who “takes cares of it.” I worked hard for my nursing degree, and that RN has provided not only me, but now my own family, with so much opportunity and freedom. I will always encourage every woman to have something of their own. We love to support our husbands and boyfriends, but it’s so important as women to always have the option to take care of things ourselves. A relationship is rarely 50/50, and while the end of 2021 was very prosperous for Tristan’s rodeo career, there were many MANY months where my nurse salary was close to the only thing we had to rely on. I have believed in Tristan from day 1, so him pursuing rodeo, chasing that gold buckle, became a group effort. I really believe that for anyone to have success, you can’t back in the box feeling like you have to win. So, I worked my butt off at home to try and eliminate Tristan’s stress about taking care of things at home because I knew one day it would pay off. It wasn’t easy, and people who don’t know rodeo don’t understand. But that’s what makes our relationships with these guys and our lifestyle so unique and special. 

When I found out I was pregnant in April of 2021, my mindset was exactly the same going into that summer and him leaving again, but it was scarier. I was emotional and hormonal, I was dreading him leaving and wanted to experience the whole pregnancy together. But we made a little wager. We realized I was due sometime in the middle of December, AKA NFR time. At this point in the year, there was no way to tell if he would make the NFR or not, but I made a deal with him. IF he made the finals, I would make it to all 10 rounds, no matter how pregnant, and I would even paint my belly for one round. Tristan took the wager very seriously. But, August and September were really hard and exciting for our family. Tristan’s grandma spent around 6 weeks in the hospital and eventually passed away, all while Tristan was gone. He was on that top 15 bubble and had to make the tough decision to stay out on the road and miss her services, which were the same day as the Ellensburg short round, but we all knew she would’ve kicked his butt if he came home and missed the rodeo. Come Pendleton time and Tristan was high call to come back to the short round and he hadn’t seen me or any of his family for close to 2 months, including through the loss of his grandma. I thought I was having déjà vu when he called me that Thursday night and said, “I need you to be here. I bought you a plane ticket for tomorrow, you leave at 4 as soon as you get off work.” Mind you, I was almost 30 weeks pregnant and Oregon is on the opposite side of the country. But I made the trip. Yes, this is a theme in our relationship. We ate pizza in a Holliday Inn the night before and had pancakes at a Denny’s the next morning. I brought with me a handkerchief from Mawmaw Betty’s funeral that had a smudge of her makeup on it and gave it to Tristan before he rode. Tristan won the short round, the average, and secured his spot in the top 15 to make his first NFR. It was the most special weekend I think that we’ve ever had together. Obviously celebrating his win, but also finally having the chance to grieve our loss together. Distance definitely makes the heart grow fonder, but sometimes you just need your person, and I love being that person for him. 

We headed out for Vegas fully stocked up with the best I could do for Vegas-worthy maternity outfits. I was 37 weeks pregnant when we left. Other people couldn’t believe I was going. Again, people who don’t rodeo don’t understand. My response was that the NFR was like the Super Bowl of rodeo and I wasn’t going to miss it, nor was Tristan going to risk missing his first baby being born. So off we went, and it was the most rewarding experience to see Tristan get his first back number and ride in the grand entry that first time. It brings tears to my eyes again just thinking about it. Tristan held me to our wager, and I showed up to round #7 with a giant 104 painted on my 39 week pregnant belly. Tristan rode every night with Mawmaw’s handkerchief in his pocket. Overall, he had a great finals, including a round win and a good finish in the average and moved up quite a bit in the world standings. I was so proud of how he performed at his first finals. Me being pregnant kind of quarantined me to our hotel room, and Tristan being focused and wanting to separate himself from the partying, actually provided us with an unexpected bonding experience. We really leaned on each other those ten days, and it showed us again what this whole marriage thing is about. The day after round ten, Tristan drove us 30 hours straight through to get home. Boudreaux David Martin was born December 13 at 6:34 pm, just three hours after we got home from Vegas. Despite a pretty severe hemorrhage and scare during the c-section, it was the best day of both of our lives. I did not know love until I held my little cowboy for the first time. Tristan was exhausted, I was exhausted, but it was like we had achieved everything we ever wanted all within 2 weeks, and Boudreaux was the most perfect addition to end 2021.

As we have settled into our new lives as parents, boy have things changed! As I said before, marriage is not always 50/50, and I knew those long days working would pay off one day. Tristan was blessed with a successful NFR and so far, he has had a really good winter which has allowed me to cut back on my work hours to only work 2 days a month and travel to the rodeos with him and baby Boudreaux. Being able to take this time to raise my baby and make these memories with my family is the absolute best gift he could have ever given me. 

I’ve been asked many times about the differences between Louisiana and Wyoming but I always say rodeo people are the same everywhere, and I’m so thankful for all of the rodeo people I have had the opportunity to meet. Rodeo has carried my love for a long time. First as being a competitor myself, and then eventually bringing me my husband, it has been the vessel for all of my most special memories with my family. This life is unconventional, but I would not have it any other way. I look forward to carrying Tristan’s “companion pass” for as long as God lets him compete

Thanks for hearing my story, God bless.