Never Dun Dancin 'Cody' Updated September 23rd 2007 Added 1 new video & 9 new pictures Paint Horse 2007-Summer (You Tube, English version) Download (French version) Music used: mix of Pat Mcgee Band, Yann Tiersen, OST Firefly/Importance of Being Earnest/King Arthur

Sierra Nevada	Videos
Western Pony (4 new)	Miscellenous (3 new)

Trail Rides Scenery (2 new)

The Story I first met Cody in June 2004. I was then starting my 3rd season as a mule packer at Virginia Lakes Pack Outfit in the Sierra Nevada. Cody had been bought by the owner of the packstation only a couple of months ago and was meant to be a 'dude horse' . Since the trails are very tricky in the Sierra all the new horses are assigned a rider for the season so that they might get used to their work. Cody was assigned to me. I must say he was a little rascal and I spent a hellish 3 weeks until I could get him to trust me and felt safe riding the trails on my own with 5 pack mules behind me. Cody's pretty smart and he knew how to pick the best path among the rocks right away. He can also be very silly and spent the whole summer jumping little streams instead of walking through them as an old trail horse would do to save his strength. But that's Cody for you. No need to say he wasn't going to be a dude horse any time soon. My summer drew to a close and I went back home to France intending to come back the following year for my 4th season. And come back I did. The stock spent the winter in a pasture in Nevada and I found Cody as fat as a little piglet when I went to help with the wrangling in early July. He'd been so skinny the previous season that I'd despaired of  fattening him up. But there he was. I even fancy he recognized me, but maybe that's only wishful thinking. I asked if I might have Cody again for the season--I think I must have crossed my fingers and my toes as well. My wish was granted and we went back on the trails together. We picked up where we'd left off the previous year and everything went well. I trained him to come to me when I wistled or called his name. I'd see him eyeing me suspiciously when I would come staggering out of the tack shed with my heavy saddle in my arms. But he was always game. A little too game sometimes to tell the truth, especially on the way back. I often had troubles restraining him while coming down the mountain with my mules behind me. But on the whole he was really good. We went through new country, crossed wooden bridges and went past huge waterfalls. I felt safe every step of the way. I cannot remember exactly how the idea that maybe, just maybe, I might buy him sneaked into my mind. There was an obvious obstacle to any such dream: he was in the United States and I lived in France. That should have been the end of it. Except that it wasn't. Matt, the owner of the packstation, agreed to sell him to me for a very very good price because he knew how much I loved this horse. I'll be forever thankful. But I wouldn't have been able to do anything without the help of my mother who financed Cody's exportation to France with the understanding that I'd pay her back little by little once I had a regular job. So here I am today. Finishing university and getting ready to take my teaching exam. And here is Cody too. Spending his days munching on grass in France. He probably doesn't know that he has flown over the Atlantic.  Un petit cheval du ciel.

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