Rodeo stars give barrel-racing lessons

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Mar 13, 2000 by CARL KAMINSKI Capital-Journal

By CARL KAMINSKI

The Capital-Journal

A couple of rodeo legends were in town this weekend giving lessons to beginning and experienced barrel racers.

For the 14th straight year, Martha Josey and her husband, R.E. Josey, conducted the Josey Barrel Racing Clinic at the Livestock Arena.

Martha Josey is among the world's best known barrel racers. She is the only woman to have qualified for the National Finals Rodeo in four decades, riding in her first national championship in 1968 and most recently in 1998. She said she hopes to qualify in a fifth decade.

"I've got 10 years to do it," she said.

Also, Martha won a gold medal at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

R.E. Josey has won three calf roping national championships on three different horses.

Carol Tenpenny, who hosts and organizes the yearly Topeka clinics, said she first brought the Joseys up from their ranch in Marshall, Texas, 22 years ago.

Tenpenny, a barrel racer herself, attended clinics put on by the Joseys in Kansas City in 1976 and 1977. At the time, a barrel-racing association she was involved with was looking for a fund-raiser, and she asked the Joseys to do it.

The clinic, now no longer a fund-raiser, became a yearly event in Hutchinson and moved to Topeka after the arena was built.

She said the Joseys were excellent teachers.

"R.E. is the only person I know who can tell you you've done everything wrong, and you still feel good about it," Tenpenny said.

Martha Josey said the clinic is a good course for beginners and for veteran racers.

"It's a really good reminder and refresher each year," said Penny Deboer, who has been competing in amateur and open rodeos for several years. She said she has been attending the Joseys' clinics every year since the early 1980s.

Not everyone at the clinic, however, was a seasoned veteran.

Samantha Tenpenny, 8, Carol Tenpenny's niece, was attending her first Josey clinic.

She said she had been riding and competing since she was 3 1/2 and had picked up a thing or two at the clinic.

"I learned it's good to do lots and lots of circles," she said.

In addition to giving the yearly Topeka clinic, the Joseys host seven clinics at the ranch in Texas each year. They also host the Josey Jr. World Championship Barrel Race, May 5-7, where they award four college scholarships and the Josey Reunion Round-Up, May 12-14, which is open to the more than 40,000 people who have attended the Joseys' clinics.