[2] At age 10, Josey experienced the loss of a parent when her father died due to a heart attack.
Josey's mother rented her land for oil for 25,000 dollars so that Martha could buy a gelding named CeBe Reed.
After attending a rodeo in her teens, Josey became inspired to compete in the sport and began to work with CeBe Reed as a barrel racing horse.
[7] With the horse Jetonfer Pay, Josey won the Pro Tour Circuit in 1985, went to the NFR again, and was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.
[4][8] In 1999, she was received the Dennis D. High Lifestyle Achievements Award and was chosen as the Women's Sports Foundation AQHA Female Equestrian of the Year.
[10] In 2000, she entered her fifth decade of competition with the horse, Joe B Jammin, and in that year ran the fastest time at the Lone Star Finals.
[8] In 2002, she placed first and second in the NBHA Holiday Classic in Jackson, Mississippi, riding Joe B. Jammin and Sweet Sailin' Six, and 2003 ended with a championship in the Equus America competition in Houston, Texas, as well as a reserve championship in the AQHA World rodeo event in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
She worked out daily in the swimming pool with the help of her husband, and regained enough strength to not only ride again, but also to compete professionally.
[10] Martha Josey has also recorded several videos, written books, and has appeared in magazines such as Western Horseman.