This page is called dreams can come true! (I could also call it the blond who stole my heart! *LOL*) This is my Palomino Quarter Horse, Mister Cody. My lifelong dream of owning a horse was fulfilled on October 17, 2003 when he officially became mine. I rode him for my 6th (second to last) Western lesson and within 5 minutes knew he was perfect for me! I'm not sure of his exact age -- he was between 15-18 years old at the time. He stands at 15.2 hands tall. His name was just Cody when I bought him, but I started calling him Mister Cody because he looks and sometimes acts like the TV horse Mister Ed on the old TV show. I changed his name (although not officially on paper) to Mister Cody the day I got a photo of him sticking his tongue out at me by pure luck!! (I haven't gotten that one uploaded to the site yet, but you can see a drawing of it on the Drawings for Sale page.) His nicknames are Code, Codes, Codybear, and sometimes Nosy. The first several months of horse owning were pretty bumpy, thanks to a poorly fitting saddle that I wasn't aware of. My previous 15+ years of riding couldn't have prepared me for that! We slowly worked through the problems, and within a few months everything was back to normal. The first winter I owned Cody, he was spooking fairly frequently. I think he trusts me more now, because our second winter together he only spooked a couple times. He started having a problem with the stifle joint in his right hind leg the summer of 2004. (It's not a true stifle lock problem -- it just sort of "sticks" every so often.) My farrier recommended putting him on a yucca supplement, which helped for a while. He was put on another supplement when the yucca was no longer available -- can't remember what it was, but it made him a bit hyper. I tried Majesty's Flex Wafers for a while, but by spring 2008 that wasn't enough either. I tried SmartFlex Senior, but he was allergic to something in it. He's now on Senior Flex. He's doing fine with that as far as I can tell. He was moving beautifully while on the double dose -- even better than when I first got him! However, I could still feel his bad stifle joint wanting to "stick". He hasn't been moving as well since he's been on the maintenace dose. I've come to realize that even with a really good supplement, it still puts too much stress on his joints (especially that bad stifle joint) for him to do trot/canter work in the ring -- which unfortunately is where/how I do 99% of my riding. He still walks just fine & is OK for trails. I won't head out alone & feel he needs a more confident rider than me because he tends to get a bit nervous sometimes. He hasn't spooked, but I feel he'd do better with a really confident rider -- because when he gets nervous, I get nervous, and he'd be likely to pick up on that & get worse which could lead to spooking. Sadly, I must now sell him to someone who will use him only for trail riding & get myself another horse that can handle the ring work (plus will also be OK for the occasional trail ride). This is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do... Cody & I have always had a very good working relationship. Not only is he golden in color, but he's worth his weight in gold as well! Click the image below to visit Mister Cody's Gallery.
Click the image below to visit Mister Cody's Gallery.