Kid Cody

I usually write about the "wild" animals around the WD Ranch, but today I want to feature one of our horses, Kid Cody, or Cody for short. He is the one I have ridden most frequently this year, and he and I are becoming a good team.

Cody is our youngest, tallest, and darkest horse. He was born in Oregon in the barn where we boarded Bueno, and where we were taking riding lessons. His mom was Dan's lesson horse, so we joke that Dan was already given cues to him before he was born. Cody is playful, and still looks like a colt although he is 8 years old now, but his best attribute is his temperament. He is laid back to the point of being lazy, always good humoured and very sociable. There is not a horse that goes by, or a horse trailer on the road that does not get greeted with a whinny. He gets along with any horse, never challenging the pecking order. He would just as soon get along with everybody, animal or human. He always touches noses with the dogs when they come to the arena fence, and he always comes to the gate when we are in the vicinity.

There are some things we do need to work on however. He is not the easiest horse to load into a trailer after the wind slammed the door shut on him once when he was about to be led out, and he does like to have "fun". He may be a bit lazy, but he does have moves. I have seen his hooves well above his head when he plays out with Buggsy and Bueno in the arena. This is spectacular to watch, but not so spectacular when you are on his back. Recently we trotted back to the barn after Bueno and Dan, and Cody decided that this was just jolly; he lowered his head and started bucking. Thankfully he did listen to me and came to his senses, but I think we have some loping exercises in the round pen in our future. That is what I like about having horses: there is always something to work and improve on.