Alan Dennis Joseph was born on November 12, 1945, his father said, “we will call him Skip until we figure it out.” The nickname stuck. Ever since, ranchers, outfitter, and rodeo cowboys have come to know the name “Skip” Joseph who passed away on December 30, 2023.
At the age of 10, Skip worked herding cattle and bucking hay bales. He later wrangled horses and ran pack trains in the Benchmark Area and Bob Marshall Wilderness for renowned packer and guide Ronny Mills. In 1963, Skip placed third in the bareback riding at the State High School finals and went to become the 1963 National High School Champion Bareback rider. Skip served as the High School Rodeo district #4 President from 1963-1964. He won the Montana Rodeo Association’s year-end bareback riding titles in 1965, 1966 and 1970.
On October 2, 1970, Skip married Jean Guile and were married for 46 years before she passed away in 2017.
In 1973, Skip retired from rodeo and began a 20-plus year career of training horses, horse shoeing, judging rodeos, horse shows, reining’s, all the while working as a Firefighter for the City of Great Falls. The more horses he trained, the more he became a student of the horse. As Skip’s skills evolved, he started training snaffle bit and working cow horses which led to cutting horses. He became one of the top reining horse trainers in the State of Montana and was the co-founder of the 39-year old Montana Reining Horse Association.
Around 1983, when his kids began to get heavily involved in showing horses and rodeo, Skip became a 4-H leader, serving for more than 25 years. He donated countless hours promoting the horse industry and advancing horsemanship by putting on training clinics and holding private lessons. If anyone had the desire to learn, he would do anything that he could to help.
Skip spent numerous years roping with his son Shane. Together in 2013, they won a World Team Roping Qualifier, which qualified them for the finals in Las Vegas. They would go to Arizona on and off throughout the years for a couple of weeks to rope in the winter. Skip also traveled around with his daughter, Nikole, whether it was for a reining, showing horses, or to a rodeo. When he wasn’t there, they’d always talk on the phone before and after her barrel racing runs. He would always tell her to “think and not to get into a hurry.”
Skip was blessed with a granddaughter in 2008. They became thick as thieves and he was her biggest supporter whether it was in the rodeo arena, at a gymnastics’ meet, or on the Worlds All-Star Cheer mat.
Skip was preceded in death by his wife, Jean; parents, Richard and Bernice Joseph; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Clark and Jean Guile; brother, Sonny; and sisters, Alice, Donna, Maebelle, Elsie and Sandi.
Skip is survived by his son, Shane; daughter, Nikole; granddaughter, Breklyne; sister, Marie; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Brian and Joan Remely; and numerous nephews and nieces.
A celebration of life will take place Saturday, August 16th at 1:00pm and the Montana Expo Park “the fairgrounds” in Great Falls Montana. Condolences for the family may be shared online at www.OConnorFuneralHome.com.
Author: Staff
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