story by Ruth Nicolaus
Maci Cox rides a special horse.
The Nebraska Junior High School Rodeo Association member, who competes in the barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, breakaway roping and team roping, rides Pepper, her barrel and roping horse.
Pepper was her grandpa Lee Cox’s horse, and when Lee moved south of Lincoln, Neb., he couldn’t take her with him. So he sold Pepper to the family. “She was his baby,” Maci said. “He wanted to make sure she went to a good home.”
Maci trained Pepper for the barrels. “We’ve come a really long way,” she said. “It means a lot to me to have gotten so far with this horse.” Grandpa Lee sometimes comes to Maci’s rodeos to watch her and his favorite horse, and he was there last fall when Maci won the barrels on her at the North Platte rodeo.
In addition to Pepper, Maci also rides Chex for the poles and goat tying. Chex, who is a sorrel like Pepper, is really calm. “You can put anyone on him and he’ll be fine,” Maci said. Pepper is the “complete opposite. She’s crazy and always wants to run.”
Maci, who lives near North Platte, considers team roping her best event. She heels for Riley Marsh and they get along great. “We work really well together. There’s never anything negative and it’s always fun. I enjoy it a lot.”
An eighth grade student at Hershey Public School, the best part of school is the activities, the sports and her friends. Math is not her friend, however, as she strongly dislikes it.
She plays basketball, runs track and plays volleyball, playing on the school team and a league team. Of these three events, basketball is her favorite.
She’s on her school’s honor roll and just last year, got involved in rodeo queen pageants. Last year, Maci tried out for the Sutherland and Central Nebraska (Pleasanton) junior rodeo queen titles, finishing both contests as runner-up. This year, she’ll run for the Sutherland contest again.
Meeting new people and telling everyone how much she loves rodeo are two of her favorite parts of the job, and public speaking doesn’t bother her. “I get a little nervous now and then but it’s not terrible,” she said.
The family has three dogs, three cats and four horses. The dogs are Lola (a pug), Xena (a white Labrador), and Pippa (a Shih Tzu). The cats, who hate the dogs, are Lucy, Milo and Diana.
Her mom, Jennifer, loves that Maci is highly motivated. ‘She has a lot of drive in everything she does. Everything she does, she wants to do well,” Jennifer said. “It makes me very proud when I watch her on a horse and watch her work a horse.” Her mom also loves her integrity. “She’s very kind, very thoughtful, and honest. She’s very straightforward. Everybody says, if you don’t want to know what Maci is thinking, don’t ask.” But she is soft-hearted, her mom said. “She’s very sensitive.”
When she grows up, Maci would like to be an oncology doctor.
She has a younger sister, Grace, who is ten years old, and her dad is Josh Cox.
