Marty Yates & Family

Marty and His Wife, Loni Kay, Manage Rodeo Careers While Becoming Parents

2023 began as a fairytale year for Texas natives and rodeo athletes Marty and Loni Kay Yates. The couple married January 7 and purchased Loni’s dream barrel horse, Tufferenell, known as Nellie, a beautiful 2015 bay mare by the legendary sire Tres Seis. Loni was ready to hit the rodeo trail with her husband, a then nine-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo tie-down roping qualifier, with the goal to qualify alongside him for her first WNFR — professional rodeo’s richest and most distinguished event. All was going according to plan.

In April, the couple made the 2,000-mile trek to California for the spring rodeo run where Loni won over $13,000 at two of the most prestigious West Coast rodeos: Red Bluff Round-Up, “America’s Largest Three-Day Rodeo,” and the Clovis Rodeo that attracts 550 riders and 50,000 fans, and ranks as the 23rd highest paying professional rodeo. In June, she set the arena record in Weatherford, Texas, with a blazing-fast 16.76 seconds on a standard pattern to become the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Frontier Days Rodeo champion. They were riding on a high and ready for Cowboy Christmas, rodeo’s busiest season that surrounds the July Fourth holiday. Then came some unexpected news; Loni was pregnant and due in November. The couple’s plan would have to change — and soon include their greatest blessing yet.

Miley Grace Yates arrived November 14, 2023. The beautiful, healthy, blue-eyed baby girl stole her parents’ hearts and changed their lives forever. The new parents were already learning what they were willing to sacrifice for their growing family. For the first time in nine years, Marty didn’t make it into the top 15 tie-down ropers to compete at the WNFR. He was too busy concentrating on becoming a dad. He had put his goals on hold to help pregnant Loni and build up his string of horses for the following year. The couple planned to return to the rodeo arena, but things would be different. “It’s changed now with little Miley running around,” Marty explains. “Obviously, I want to be there in the 10th round every year to win a gold buckle. That definitely doesn’t change. It would just be that much sweeter to have Loni and Miley there with me to do it.”

It’s All in The Family

For Marty, there was never really a question of what he was going to do with his life. “I was born into it,” he says of rodeo. “I didn’t know anything besides a rope, a horse and a cow. That’s the way I grew up here in Stephenville.” This city of nearly 21,000 in north-central Texas, 100 miles from Dallas, is nicknamed the “Cowboy Capital of the World” because of the packed rodeo calendar in its epicenter, the Lone Star Arena, along with a multitude of other jackpots and rodeos held just hours from the town. “My entire family has obviously ridden my whole life, so I was just riding around in the arena on a horse, watching what they were doing, and that’s what I wanted to do,” Marty continues. He comes from a long line of champions. His father and uncle, both passed now, were Texas High School Rodeo state champions (as was Marty). His aunt, the legendary J.J. Hampton, is a 17-time Women’s Professional Rodeo Association world champion in breakaway, tie-down, team roping and the all-around. So, it’s just in his blood to be a rodeo star. “I feel very fortunate to have grown up this way,” Marty says. “I was blessed to have some ability, and my family always made sure I had some great horses under me. I’ve been able to make a career out of it, and I feel like I’ve never worked a day in my life just because I’m doing what I love.” The passion he has for the sport shows in a long list of accomplishments. At just 30, Marty has qualified for the WNFR 10 times (his latest trip to the big show in Las Vegas was in 2024), earned over $2 million in the rodeo arena and won countless tie-down championships at such impressive venues as California Rodeo Salinas, the Texas Pro-Rodeo Circuit Finals, Cheyenne Frontier Days, Nevada’s Clark County Fair and Rodeo, Rodeo Austin and many more.

Building A Career With Horses

Loni grew up in Gonzales, about 220 miles south of where Marty did. Gonzales has a population of about 7,000 and is found midway between San Antonio and Houston. Like Marty, she was also introduced to horses and the Western lifestyle at a very young age. “My family comes from agriculture and poultry, and my dad always had some ranch horses around the house,” she says. “From day one, I’ve just always had a passion for them.” Loni competed in all the rodeo events starting in junior high and earned titles in high school and college as a member of the Sam Houston State University Rodeo Team — proving herself as an all-around competitor. She won accolades in pole bending, breakaway roping and barrel racing while also building lifelong friendships with riders who would influence her along the way, including four-time world champion barrel racer Hailey Kinsel and, of course, the man she would eventually marry.

Unlike her husband, Loni’s career path with horses wasn’t as straightforward. “I had two phenomenal barrel horses when I was in college, and my parents (Rick and Kelly Lester) told me I could try to rodeo and make the finals. But, I had to finish college first, and I respected that,” she says. Unfortunately, both mares suffered career-ending injuries before she could go on the road with them. The animal science major, who minored in equine nutrition, found a way to keep going. “I decided that I believed in mare power so much that I was going to start my own breeding program with them,” she says. And that’s how Loni’s career as a breeder was born — literally — from her two powerhouse mares: A Dash of Champagne and Mercy N Grace.

Jack Daniels is out of one of the mares that started Loni’s breeding program: Mercy N Grace. She suffered a career-ending injury before Loni was able to rodeo with her full-time.

Jack Daniels is out of one of the mares that started Loni’s breeding program: Mercy N Grace. She suffered a career-ending injury before Loni was able to rodeo with her full-time.

The first foal that Loni raised, Mercy Shes Fabulous, is a 2016 sorrel mare out of Mercy N Grace and by Frenchmans Fabulous, a top barrel horse sire with over $6 million in progeny earnings. This quick-footed filly sealed Loni’s love for raising and training barrel horses. She brought up the mare, known as Grace, with the goal of entering the Juvenile race at the Barrel Futurities of America World Championship held each November. The Juvenile race is a unique opportunity for trainers to run 3-year-olds before they are eligible to enter the futurities as 4- and 5-year-olds. It takes a special horse to handle the pressure of competing at such a young age, and Loni believed Grace was ready to shine. “That was the first futurity I ever went to, and in the second round she ran the fastest time of the whole Juvenile,” she recalls. “Right then, I just knew when I came out of the arena that I just loved breeding, training and making barrel horses.” With a solid run in the first round combined with her super-fast second run, Loni and Grace finished second in the Juvenile average behind leading futurity horse trainer Hallie Hanssen’s Jesswatchmestreak, which brought home over $10,000 in earnings. This huge win for Loni gave her confidence in her program and showed the world what her horses were capable of.

While Loni has had a fair share of disappointment since then, she remains upbeat about the future. Her next rising star is Mercyhes A Hottie, out of Mercy N Grace and by Frenchman R Hot. Although the gentle giant she calls Jack Daniels got a late start due to Loni’s pregnancy, the 2019 sorrel gelding is showing a lot of talent with just a few runs. She also has three potential gems out of A Dash of Champagne, by top-tier sires Frenchmans Fabulous, Tres Seis and Blazin Jetolena, that are all showing promise. She is playing the long game to mold some tough futurity hopefuls that will hopefully develop into rodeo mainstays. “It’s so neat to watch them grow from a tiny foal to running down the alley,” she says. “After running their moms, it’s very intriguing to me to see how each one grows up.” With her goals slightly realigned thanks to her practical husband, Loni is set on taking her young horses to the next level. “Raising horses is a lot of hard work,” she says. “But when it all comes together and you make a good horse, and you see where that bloodline is going, it makes it all worth it.”

Making Each Other Better

The couple is a balanced pair. Marty is the calm and quiet introvert, while Loni is the outgoing one who has never met a stranger. “We’re an odd couple,” she jokes. “He’s the more responsible one, and I’m the one who loves everyone and wants to have fun every day.” Together, these opposites make an incredible team in and out of the arena. “Her spirit is definitely one of the things that will keep you wanting to do something,” Marty says. They recognize each other’s strengths and push each other to do better. “She has a love for horses like you can’t even understand,” he continues. “She lives and breathes trying to make horses better, she just loves them so much.”

While he admires her passion, she also values his realistic points of view. “He keeps me in line,” Loni offers. “He’s helped me realize that if I want to have a breeding program, I need to make it worth it by breeding to the best of the best and putting them in the right hands when I sell them.” Marty explains: “She’s got more talent than she even knows, especially the love for horses that she brings into the game.” She’s teaching him a side of the business that he’s never been a part of. “She’s been awesome for me to be able to tie to the breeding end of it,” he says. “I’ve always had horses, but I never was part of the breeding game.” Now, he gets to see both facets of the business. Previously, he was always the one buying the finished horse, but now he can see the time and effort that goes into raising and training the next great one. It’s come full circle. “It’s been really cool to tag along with her and start our lives together,” he concludes.

Quality Care and Nutrition

While Marty helps Loni focus on her breeding program, she has shown him how much the meticulous details matter. “My wife is super big on care and nutrition,” he says. “She’s helped me so much with the recovery of these horses. They give us their heart and soul, and it’s on us to be able to do the most we can to help them.” Loni responds: “If we can’t eat McDonald’s every day and expect to be in the best health, then it has to be the same with our horses. They need the right nutrition to stay at the top of their game too.” Horses need to be in exceptional shape to perform in the arena, and they also have to endure life on the road traveling across the nation. “You think it’s hard to keep your truck running when you put 100,000 miles on it in a year; these horses are just as difficult,” jokes Marty. “It’s very important that we keep these horses on their A-game by taking care of their joints, their gut health, their feet and keeping their minds right.” Marty’s schedule each year over the Independence Day holiday tests his horses’ endurance with a new rodeo every day over five to six days, driving an average of 10-12 hours between locations. “You see what your horse is really made of when you pull them off the trailer and ask them to compete. That’s why we try to feed them the best products. That’s why we choose Platinum,” he says.

Ironically, the couple found Platinum Performance® before they found each other, by way of their veterinarians. “Dr. Tommy Hays (of Elgin Veterinary Hospital near Austin, Texas) got me started on Platinum,” Loni states. “He has done several surgeries for me, and after every single one, he recommended Platinum Performance® Equine with Osteon® for the best aftercare. This protocol gave me so much hope that every one of those horses would come back in tip-top shape if I did my job of therapy and rehab at home.” Marty continues: “When Loni came around, she had always fed Platinum, and truthfully I didn’t realize it, but Dr. Marty Tanner already had me feeding Platinum too.” The two Martys share a special bond, more than a simple veterinarian-to-client relationship, so it’s no surprise Yates wasn’t in tune with the supplements he was feeding. “Dr. Tanner is like a father to me; we talk to each other about a lot more than just vet work,” he says. “I wouldn’t trust anybody else under my horse; Marty Tanner is just unbelievable. He could probably tell me to feed my horse anything, and I would do it.” Luckily, Dr. Tanner hadn’t recommended just anything, he had recommended Platinum Performance® Equine and Osteon® for Yates’ special horse, Buster. “I rode Buster for most of my career, and if it wasn’t for Dr. Tanner, I probably would’ve only gotten to ride him at two or three WNFRs, and I ended up riding him at six,” says Marty. “Dr. Tanner’s just been a blessing for me. I’m glad to have him as my friend.”

With Buster now retired and Loni’s horse herd added to the mix, the couple feeds Platinum Performance® Equine by the drum. “We have about 20 to 30 horses in our string on Platinum Performance®,” states Marty. “I feel like it’s been unbelievable just to be able to give it to each and every horse to keep them performing to the best of their abilities.” While joint health is always a top concern for performance horses, the couple has also become attuned to the importance of equine digestive health and its impact to the whole horse. “It’s not just about their joints. It’s about their gut health too, and what we put into them that matters,” Marty says. For advanced digestive support, the couple feeds Platinum Balance™ daily and adds Platinum Gastric Support to their horses’ diets while traveling to support healthy levels of gastric acid. “When you take a horse from Texas to Nevada in December, it’s completely different,” explains Marty. “Those gut products help my horses get through a very stressful 10 days, and they are then able to relax and come down off of all that pressure when we get home. It’s awesome to have a product to trust like that.”

“Miley gives us another reason to want to be great and set an example for her.”
— Marty Yates
10-Time WNFR Qualifier in Tie-Down Roping says of his daughter

It’s All for Miley

Although the young couple has shifted priorities with Miley in tow, their overarching goals are stronger than ever. “Miley gives us another reason to want to be great and set an example for her,” Marty says. For Loni, learning to be patient with her goals has been a challenge, but she has emerged from her pregnancy stronger and more grounded in her focus. “Since I’ve had Miley, it’s helped me sit back and pick one thing to focus on,” she says. “My goal of making the (WNFR) hasn’t changed. I’ve just shifted a little. I’m putting my daughter and my family first, then my career. When the time is right, I’ll get to Vegas, but right now my husband has helped me realize that I have a lot of great prospects and a breeding program that could be really great if I just put the time behind it.”

With Loni’s plan to concentrate on her young horses, Marty is excited to continue rodeoing and share his adventures with his family. “I’ve always just rodeoed alone and had my success for me, but now it’s a family deal,” he says. “It’s going to be really cool to teach them the ropes. I look forward to being back in Vegas this year, and hopefully Loni can get the finals made one day too, and then little Miley can see that through her mom’s eyes as well.” With their goals and dreams as high and wide as the Texas sky, it’s easy to forget that Marty and Loni are already winners. They have their biggest-little fan cheering for them from the fence, sweet-smiling Miley Grace Yates.