She grew up with horses.

My daughter Cody is 12 yrs old in this photo. She is 18 now. This horse is a ApHA filly she raised out of her ApHA mare that became chronically lame. Cody wanted to have part of Honey for her riding horse so we bred Honey to our AQHA, PHBA, NFQHA stallion and Rain here is the result.

The interesting thing about all this is mostly that the horse in the photo is two, and the girl is only twelve. This was the first horse Cody trained to ride all by herself. Now do understand that this is not something I would suggest to anyone to do ( green horse + green rider = black and blue) as the old saying goes. Cody by twelve had not only grown up with horses, by this time she had quite a bit of successful horse showing under her belt, and was a truly amazing rider. She could also ride a horse that was bucking like a bronco and never loose her cool, or.. her balance.

Not only that she undeniably has an amazing gift with animals that is hard to explain without seeing it in first hand. She has a calming effect on them that just boggles the mind. She has tamed animals other people could not even get near. Anyway...just know reader that this is/was not the typical kid training a young horse all by herself. Mom was always present and watchful, and there was never once a single sign that any trouble was brewing.

As it turned out Cody got Rain well started under saddle without any fan fare whatsoever.They went together like peanut butter and jelly. Cody in the end decided to sell Rain since she preferred riding a finished horse and spent the next few years enjoying Toby instead. Now as an older young lady she still has a soft spot in her heart for Rain and still talks about finding her and trying to buy her back. I know where the mare is and its not far from us, so mums the word, ok? These days between being a HS senior, learning to drive, her boyfriend, and her trade school hours she's putting in, she doesn't ride the horse's we have here these days. Who knows maybe one day they will be reunited, and she will then have the time to finish what she started.