Cody

My next lease was Cody, the same Cody that was an option for me when I was first on the look out for a horse to lease. He was a 16 year old OTTB and was 16.2hh. The great thing about him was that he did Western as well, but not as well as he did English. Another cool thing was that his stall was right next to Prima's! It was perfect. He was a sensitive and honest horse. He had no tricks and was just very simple to work with. 

 We took many lessons and improved together. He was especially tense and hollow backed, but eventually, with lessons together, he he began to  willingly stretch down in the walk and trot. Cody also took me through my D1/D2 Flat/HM rating. He was a great PC mount! I improved so much when I was with him. We received many compliments from others around the barn. We were great together. Although he became a nervous wreck in situations including crowds or shows, he was still a fun horse.

We entered the Halloween Contest at Garrod, and won the "Cutest Costume" Ribbon :)

For eight months we improved together, bonded, and became a team. But then came the last month of my lease with him. 

The first big spook was quite a shock. The normally calm Cody only had the occasional hiccup at crowds and loud noises. I was just putting on the girth, when he blew up. He was yanking back on his halter and violently jerking his head backwards. His feet shuffled. I tried to calm him, but it did not work. He yanked off his halter, threw his saddle, stepped on my foot then took off to his stall. It was a very scary experience for me. 

After about a week or so, I started to feel a bit more comfortable with him on the ground. He did it again. This time he broke the metal snap on his lead rope, threw his saddle, then bolted off. This time was especially confidence shattering for me. I followed everything his owner told me to. I was confused. I then saw that he did the exact same thing with another leaser. This was not good. 

He continued to do mini spooks when I was handling him on the ground. It was too much. I was getting too afraid of him. My lease with him ended after nine months.