“This year has been absolutely the best season I’ve had so far,” says professional steer wrestler Tristan Martin. “I’m third in the world with $56,000 won, and coming off a great first WNFR gave me a lot of confidence. We just had our first baby, and knowing I have him to support I guess made me step it up.”
The 26-year-old from Sulphur, Louisiana, has always been spurred on by family to do his best, from the youngest to the oldest. And as the oldest of 54 grandchildren in the Martin family, Tristan has the best chute help, practice buddies, and cheering section just a few miles away from his front door. His uncle, Casey Martin, steer wrestled professionally and made the WNFR five times, quickly making the event stand out to Tristan, who attended each Finals with his family.
Tristan’s dream of walking into the box of the Thomas and Mack Center himself became reality in 2021, an accomplishment that was all the more meaningful for the hard work and sacrifice it took to get there. When Tristan reached September of 2021 and the last few pivotal weeks of the season, his grandmother, Betty Martin, passed away. Tristan had the difficult choice of flying home to attend her funeral and turning out of three rodeos, or staying out to finish the season. “I was 17th or 18th in the world and making the short round at Ellensburg, and I had Sulphur Springs and Walla Walla. I talked to Grandpa and my wife, and we decided Mawmaw’s biggest dream was for me to make the WNFR. I won White Sulphur Springs, Montana, and set an arena record with a 3.2, and I placed at Ellensburg the day of her funeral,” says Tristan, who also won second at Walla Walla, Washington. “Without that, I wouldn’t have made the WNFR.” Tristan flew to Albuquerque for the New Mexico State Fair and Rodeo, then hustled back to Oregon for the Pendleton Round-Up. On an impulse, he called his wife, Josee, and asked if she could get off work early the following day and fly to Pendleton to watch him compete. “She was pregnant, but she flew to Pendleton, and I won the short round and secured my spot for the WNFR. It was all part of the plan—God has a bigger design.”
Tristan and Josee’s first WNFR was no less remarkable, with Josee nine months pregnant and due any day of the rodeo. “First things first, I was more worried about her than anything. We went twice to the doctor while we were there to check and make sure everything was okay,” says Tristan. “But it was maybe a blessing in disguise that we weren’t busy keeping up with everyone. My sponsors were awesome, knowing I couldn’t leave Josee some days but I could do autographs other days. I think that helped me a lot staying focused, not only to do good, but knowing that I had a baby to pay for in a couple of days, so I’d better make some money.” Tristan and Josee also had the support of their family, nearly all of whom made it to Las Vegas for the WNFR by the final days of the rodeo. It took two 30-passenger buses to transport Tristan’s cheering section to the rodeo. Josee attended every performance, as well as the ceremonies. “It wasn’t easy, but there’s nothing like that back number ceremony and watching him in grand entry,” says Josee. “Whether I was nine months pregnant or I had a baby on the hip, I wouldn’t have missed it.” Tristan placed in three rounds and won Round 3, finishing the WNFR fifth in the world standings with $172,827. He and Josee, along with Tristan’s dad, uncle, and younger brother, started the long drive home the very next morning, December 12. With several drivers, they traded off and drove straight through, stopping in Texas to drop several horses off before hurrying the rest of the way home. They made it home at 4:00 PM on December 13, and Tristan and Josee’s son, Boudreaux, was born at the hospital less than three hours later.
Little Boudreaux went to his first rodeo about six weeks later, watching his dad win the 2022 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. “Tristan bought an 18-wheeler semi, and it’s Boudreaux’s truck,” says Josee. “He rides good in that.” She plans to take Boudreaux to Wyoming after the Fourth of July, where her family lives, and meet up with Tristan there to watch him compete. She and Tristan met at the NHSFR in 2014 where she was goat tying and he was steer wrestling, and they reconnected several years later at another rodeo. They got married in November of 2020, and Josee moved from her family’s ranch in Wyoming to put down new roots in Louisiana. “I really fell in love with Tristan’s family, and there’s such a great community here with them. Anywhere, from California to Florida, if you’re with rodeo people, you’re going to feel at home, I think. I miss doing the ranch stuff, but that’s probably the biggest difference—that and we don’t get snowstorms here.”
Like Josee, Tristan was involved in rodeo from a young age—although her family wasn’t known for showing up with a freezer plugged into the horse trailer, packed with meat to feed a large family through a week of finals. “I roped a lot in junior high and high school, and I played sports up until I was in sixth grade. My dad said I could play sports or do rodeo because of the financial burden. Obviously, I chose rodeo, and I’m so glad that I did,” says Tristan, who is the oldest of his six sisters and one brother. Their parents are Stoney and Mandy Martin. Tristan is the second generation in his family to rodeo, although the family legacy really begins with his great-grandfather, Preston Martin, who owned a feed store and helped supply Tristan’s dad and uncles with horses to train and ride. “If I hadn’t seen the success my uncle Casey had, I probably would’ve stuck with team roping or tie-down roping, but bulldogging is like nothing else. Once I started jumping off a horse and seeing success in it, I didn’t want to touch a rope.”
Tristan’s accomplishments in high school rodeo frequently put him at the top of the leaderboard—and on top of the world. He won steer wrestling his senior year, 2014, both at state finals and the NHSFR, as well as the IFYR. “I thought it was easy, and that the next year I would made the WNFR. Little did I know, it takes a lot more than thinking you’re going to be there,” Tristan recalls. He joined the McNeese State University rodeo team in 2015, but found he wasn’t meeting his school or rodeo goals. “2017 was when I made up my mind that I was either going to give rodeo 100 percent and be the best I could be, or I was going to take a different path in life. Since 2017, I’ve done nothing but try to make the WNFR every day. In 2018, I won the College Finals and ended up top 30 in the World.” Tristan also completed his college goals, graduating from East Mississippi Community College with degrees in fine arts and applied science of marketing.
An integral part of Tristan’s newfound purpose was the mentorship of his uncle Casey and another professional steer wrestler, Bray Armes. Tristan moved to Texas in 2015 and lived with Bray for about six months. “Bray helped me grow up and get out of the college partying deal, and he was a great mentor to me. He and my uncle Casey are always God first, and both very spiritual men. They taught me how to be a man and take care of my business.”
Fitness also became a top priority for Tristan in 2017. Several of his uncles committed to going to the gym with him at 4:30 each morning for six months. “I went from weighing 160 pounds soaking wet to 215 pounds. It was really a game changer for me, not only being bigger and stronger, but the mental aspect of being bigger and stronger too. When I’m in the gym and I feel ready to compete, that eases my mind a little bit. Even if I mess up, I won’t say, ‘If I’d been in shape, I wouldn’t have done that.’”
Practice is a widespread family affair at the Martin’s arena located on Tristan’s grandparents’ property. “Most of my aunts and uncles live on the same family land, and me and Josee live three miles down the road through the woods on the same land.” Some of Tristan’s younger cousins compete in rodeo and practice in the arena with him. “I’ve never had trouble trying to find someone to help me practice or open the gate, and if I do, I find the first car coming down the driveway. There’s always someone around,” says Tristan. “There are six little cousins in junior high rodeo or younger, and that’s who I practice with, and the boys love it. They’ll have all the steers ready, including mine. They push me as much as I push them, and they make me want to do better. One day, I hope they are that for my son.”
Tristan is traveling with fellow steer wrestlers Hunter Cure, Tanner Brunner, and Ryan Nettle this summer. Hunter is leading the steer wrestling standings currently. “At the end of the day, we’re not trying to beat each other, we’re trying to beat the steers. Because we’ve traveled together before, we know how to help each other or push each other. I love rodeoing with Hunter.” Also on the road with Tristan are his two horses. FedX, who carried him through the second half of the 2021 season and into the WNFR, belongs to Amy Craig and Kate Stayton. He is also hauling his own horse, Rez, to expose him to more rodeos this summer.
Before the summer run started, Tristan and his uncle Casey hosted the Martin Family Bulldogging School in May. They had 29 kids attend, 6 of them Tristan’s cousins, who also pitched in with coaching. The family also helped host the Betty Martin Memorial Pro Rodeo in May, an LRCA benefit rodeo in memory of Tristan’s grandmother.
There aren’t many rodeos on Tristan’s summer run that he hasn’t been to before, and he’s especially looking forward to Deadwood, South Dakota, which is close to Josee’s family, as well as Pendleton and St. Paul, Oregon. “Most importantly, taking care of my family is my main goal,” he finishes. “But as far as rodeo, my main goal is to win the WNFR and the gold buckle.”
