MO N EN M-B PE RR OSH AHL A L LOLFOFA F FA M EM E
Christina Cox by Paul A. Cañada
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n 2016, Christina Cox passed the $500,000 earnings mark and qualified for the NCHA Non-Pro Hall of Fame. Understandably, she was excited about joining her husband, Lloyd Cox, her father, Jody Galyean, and her brothers, Beau and Wesley Galyean, as a Hall of Fame rider. Her grandfather, Kenneth Galyean, is also a Members Hall of Fame inductee. One would think with her family pedigree, Cox felt a tremendous amount of pressure to make the Hall of Fame. However, Cox said she never felt pressured. “No,” she said, “my family’s success doesn’t place any pressure on me when I’m in the pen and showing. The thing that has been most frustrating is people assume I have been cutting my entire life. And maybe, because of their assumptions, I put pressure on myself to be better and to meet other folks’ expectations of me.” Cox was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma, to a performance horse family. Her father trained cutting and pleasure horses, and her mother, Debbie Galyean, trained pleasure horses. Jody and Debbie actually met while showing pleasure horses. As the children grew older, Debbie switched her focus away from training horses and onto raising her family. Like her brothers, Cox grew up riding and showing horses. Some of her strongest memories are of her and her brothers riding and racing in the family’s pastures. She remembered always having a strong passion for cutting, but stopped showing in youth classes before entering middle school. “I began competing in sports and that took me away from showing,” Cox said. “After high school, I went on to college. I didn’t come back to cutting until 2008, after I had graduated from college.” Following college, Wesley asked Cox to work for him. In need of a well-earned break, she agreed. While working for her brother, she bought a horse and began showing again. “I was young, and my brother was going to pay me to go to Las Vegas, Nashville and Fort Worth,” Cox said. “I was like, ‘Yes!’” Not surprising, Cox met her husband through cutting. She began dating Lloyd in early 2008 and moved to Colorado a year later. The couple, who have since relocated to Oklahoma, had their first child, Leighton Cox, in April 2010 and twins in May 2014. Between taking care of the children and the business, Cox still finds time to ride. She goes to the barn nearly every day and helps ride all the horses. “Yes, it gets tiresome sometimes,” she added, “but I love riding the horses and being a part of it, and I love supporting my husband.” 74
Christina Cox and A Little Royal Rey competed in this year’s NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro finals. Hart Photos
While Cox started showing again in 2008, she missed a lot of events in 2010 while pregnant with Leighton. She picked up the reins again in earnest, and 2012 proved to be a banner year for Cox. She rode SDP Twist Of Sue, a 2008 sorrel gelding by Meradas Blue Sue and out of the Dual Rey mare Bingos Nurse, to a win in the NCHA Super Stakes Limited Non-Pro. The team also finished second at three other events in 2012, including the Brazos Bash and Abilene Spectacular. She again missed events in late 2013 and much of 2014 due to the birth of the couple’s twins. Cox credited the horses she has ridden and her family’s support for her success. “I couldn’t do any of this without Lloyd,” she said. “He is my biggest supporter and teaches me how to be a better showman and person. My mom and dad have always been my biggest fans, from kid sports to cutting. I feel blessed when I ride to the herd. I have my husband, both of my brothers and my dad supporting me. Family is what is most important – more important than anything else.” ★
C U T T I NG HOR SE CH AT T ER • J UN E 2017