Text Corrine S. Borton Photos Shane Rux, Larry Williams, Ruehle Photographix & Cody Parmenter Showing horses at the very top level takes a lot of hard work, focus and commitment. Now imagine doing it with your husband or wife and three young children. That’s exactly what the Cook family, of Cypress, Texas, is doing and they say they would have it no other way. JR Cook grew up showing Cutting horses and his grandparents still own and show Halter horses. His wife, Melissa, had a long and successful career competing in the American Paint Horse Association as both a Youth and Amateur contender. But in 2008 they stepped back to start a family - which now includes three daughters - Georgia, Isabella and Elizabeth - and to launch their own business, Allstate Signal & Construction, a heavy highway electrical construction company.
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ttt JR Cook and Line Up Behind winning the Amateur Western Pleasure at the 2021 AQHA World Show. On the opposite page, Cole Baker and Calvin take a victory lap after winning the Level 3 Junior Western Pleasure there last year.
JR and Melissa returned to the show world when Georgia was just getting her start competing in all-around youth classes and the couple enlisted the help of Florida trainers Cole and Elizabeth Baker. It wasn’t long before JR got the itch to get back in pen himself and Cole found him the perfect partner in Line Up Behind (Calvin), a 2017 bay gelding by VS Flatline out of Shes Immortal. “He was a big, strong 2-year-old, with amazing natural self-carriage and rhythm,” JR recalled. “When I watched him whether it was in the show pen or practice arena, he just looked like it was easy for him and he could hold that rhythm forever.” By the end of the year, Calvin was purchased from his
