Joleigh Galloway has a knack for learning new things quickly and then turning around to teach someone else and pass that knowledge on. A high school junior from Liberty, SC, Joleigh competes in breakaway roping, barrel racing, goat tying, pole bending, and team roping. In addition, she does leatherwork under her business Diamond G Leatherworks.
Joleigh has been around rodeo for many years. She was running barrels on a leadline at 2 years old and sat on a whole bunch of horses before then. Her dad is a long-time pickup man with several different rodeo associations and also judges some. Before she was born, he traveled on the team roping circuit as well. With her dad’s fine teaching, Joleigh began competing in the Foothills Youth Rodeo Association at around three years old and has been an active competitor ever since.
Now that she has a few years under her belt, she’s honed her mental game and her practice routine for optimal success. She’s a big believer in physical fitness and in developing your craft, seeking out top clinicians to learn from and train under.
Joleigh attends clinics frequently, such as Chelsea Novosad’s Rodeo University clinics.
After attending three Rodeo University clinics, she had the opportunity to start instructing beginners at some of the most recent Rodeo University clinics. Chelsea remains her breakaway coach and is a big mentor in Joleigh’s life.
While Joleigh enjoys the roping events, her favorite event is goat tying, and Stacey Martin of Next Level Goat Tying is her goat tying coach. Similar to her strong breakaway roping foundation and development, she has also had the opportunity to help pass her knowledge forward with Stacey’s local clinics.
To round out her focus on excelling in every event, Joleigh does a workout class with Carly Green of Carly Green Performance Enhancement. Carly is a rodeo focused performance enhancement coach with her own background in goat tying. Her students include several collegiate level teams like Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Rodeo Team and Frank Phillips Rodeo Team as well as the PBR team the Carolina Cowboys.
Joleigh’s dedication to her craft wouldn’t be possible without her horsepower. Her four legged partners work as hard as she does, and you can find Joleigh on either Corona or Cojo. Cojo is her mount for team roping, breakaway roping, and goat tying, and Corona is her barrel horse. Corona and Joleigh share a special bond. When Corona came to live with Joleigh, she was a horse that would buck anybody off and didn’t like many folks. Now, she takes care of Joleigh and in addition to excelling at barrels has learned to be a goat tying backup horse and a pole bending horse. Thanks to her homeschool schedule, Joleigh gets to spend a good bit of time with her horses. She generally puts them on the hot walker in the morning while she does her schoolwork.
She then goes to do leatherwork at Cooper’s Custom Leather where she works helping build Mike Green custom barrel saddles. The owner of the shop, Cooper Hughes has been a great mentor to her. With all she has learned, she now makes belts, halters, breast collars, bouquet holders, and even custom rope can tops. She has a special interest in Louis Vuitton symbols and card suits in her designs. Joleigh is often sporting her tack while riding.
She ties goats every night and if it is raining you can find her inside working on drills with her goat tying dummy. While she doesn’t practice many dismounts, her daily workout and routine designed by Carly Green have made a huge difference in her physical performance. She also ropes the breakaway dummy daily and will go rope calves weekly.
Sometimes she and her dad just go play with colts at the practice pen, switching ends and team roping together. Having that fun and appreciation for the game relates to her larger mental strategy. Joleigh used to let other people affect her mindset, but now she stays around folks who lift each other up, and in particular enjoys her friend Kinsley Brown as her companion at rodeos. Aside from the encouragement of her friends, she tries to visualize every run and how she will react based on what happens. Cojo is a big Hancock bred horse, so she likes to get out of the box strong and push the calf to the right.
With the breakaway roping she enjoys using a Striker or a Pink Caddy,
but with the goat tying there is only one thing she will tie with: a Lyle’s 2 Strand String.
When she is at the rodeos, she is generally entered in so many events it stays pretty busy, but outside the arena she also tries to support the wider rodeo community through fundraiser efforts when tragedy strikes.
As Joleigh looks to the future, she plans to compete in college rodeo and hopes to make the finals her first year. She wants to build a career too, and plans to first get a cosmetology degree to be able to work and have a source of income to pay her way through school. Once in college she hopes to get a general business degree and then possibly go into equine chiropractic or dental work.
Joleigh is especially grateful for her sponsors and coaches who make it all possible, including:
Dac Vitamins and Minerals, Elite Equine Express, LLC, Made Nu Construction, Rafter Bar C Cattle Company, Premium Services, Outlaw Veterinary Clinic, Outlaw Barrel Horses, Chapman Farrier Services, Ryan & Jessica Crowe, Chelsea Novosad with Rode University, Carly Green with Carly Green Performance Enhancement, Clayton & Shelly Kerr, Cacti Photography, Stacey Martin with Next Level Goat Tying, Langston Construction, Rogers Feed, Green Knoll Land and Cattle, and Providence Farms.
You can check out Joleigh’s leatherwork on her Facebook page: Diamond G Leather Work.
