CODY STARK: ALL THE LUCK
Cody grew up in northern Utah on the Idaho border, one of five kids in a Rodeo family. As a teenager, he went to work for a reining horse trainer and ended up moving from Utah to work with him in Delta, Colorado to work with him.
When he first rode a reining horse, the trainer told him,”Just run the horse down there and say WHOA.” Cody did just that. The horse stopped, but Cody kept going. He flew over the horse and landed on his head. He says, “I won’t do that again.” he hasn’t done that particular thing again but has had some other wrecks – in fact, the other day he got kicked in the stomach by a fresh horse. It broke his phone and bent his belt buckle but luckily did not get hurt. Cody says he hasn’t been hurt in a long, long time. He told me, says “With knowledge comes less danger – you just don’t put yourself in those situations anymore.” (Plus, his helper Manuel breaks the babies and he’s fearless. . . )
A few years after Cody moved to Delta, he Cody met his future wife Kelsey, now an oncology nurse, when she came for a training session. They married and moved around following the Reining– they moved to Oklahoma for two years to work with renowned trainer and Cody’s mentor, Craig Schmersal, then worked a year training a horse in Kansas.
Four years ago, Eventually they moved back to the North Fork and started building their training facility right here in Hotchkiss up Leroux Creek, out on Redlands Mesa Road. They started with an arena and a tack-shed covered in a tarp. Now there are two big barns, a fenced arena with a small covered grandstand and twenty horses in their care. Two years ago, their neighbor Manuel Ramos, from a racehorse-training family himself, started working with Cody. Together they work with 15-18 horses every day and travel to competitions one week a month. Cody says he couldn’t do it all without Manuel and so relies heavily on his old friends Brandon Brant and Sean Johnson, talking to them just about every day to hash over training problems and “sometimes talk about things we shouldn’t be talkin’ about."
Today, the barn Cody provides training, lessons, and sales; and specializes in two-year-old Futurity Prospects and three-year-old Futurity horses. "Futurity" means the quality of being in or of the future. In horse training, it futurity refers to working and competing with young horses who come from outstanding blood lines. Reining horse Futurity's are for 3 year olds; Derbies are for 4,5,6 year olds; Maturity's are for horses 7 and up. So, futurity kind of means that In effect, you're demonstrating your horse's future potential by showing his excellence in his youth.
While Cody’s clients come from all over, and about half are from here in the North Fork Valley. Some ride themselves; some just love the sport and want Cody to train and show their horses.
It sounds like Cody loves all the parts of his work. He enjoys showing. He’s naturally competitive and appreciates getting nervous and riding in the show pen. But, he has to admits that his favorite thing is the babies. He loves to take the babies and make them show horses. He says they start out not knowing anything—they want to run, buck, and act like, well…, babies. But a month into it, they get better. And the next day they get even better, and you start to find their talent. The best Satisfaction is when the babies they start to understand things.
His greatest horsing achievement so far is being a Cody was a NRHA Futurity Finalist in 2015 and. This year his goal, this year, is to make futurity finals with two horses In Oklahoma in November. And his long-term goal is dream would be to be a million-dollar rider – to win over $1,0000,000 in NRHA competition.
But While horses have been his life, his greatest joy is his family. His boys are 4 and 7. Cody and Kelsey don’t push the boys towards riding but are pleased that both are interested. Besides wrestling and baseball and soccer, Gus will be competing in his first reining event this summer – an event that is smartly titled “Short Stirrup.” They boys love to be outside and that’s all that matters to Cody.
Cody says it would be nice for more people to understand reining. Whether you’re a cowboy, roper, or barrel racer, a foundation in reining is going to help your horse no matter what you’re doing. He has customers who bring their horses for training not because they want to compete—they just want the horses to be better in their daily work. His customer Christy Burch says “It’s a sport, a discipline. It’s the most fun thing I’ve ever done and the hardest thing I’ve ever done. You can go out one day and have a great run and the next day go into the show pen and have a terrible run.”
Although his business is thriving, and he has a wait list, Cody has his eye on the future. He wants to start a youth program next year for 7-8-year-olds because “the horsemanship part is easier if you start early.” And . . . in the future when managing 20 head gets is too much, he thinks maybe it’d may just be fun to take folks out for trail rides – anything outside with a horse will be fine.
Cody grew up in northern Utah on the Idaho border, one of five kids in a Rodeo family. As a teenager, he went to work for a reining horse trainer and ended up moving from Utah to work with him in Delta, Colorado to work with him.
When he first rode a reining horse, the trainer told him,”Just run the horse down there and say WHOA.” Cody did just that. The horse stopped, but Cody kept going. He flew over the horse and landed on his head. He says, “I won’t do that again.” he hasn’t done that particular thing again but has had some other wrecks – in fact, the other day he got kicked in the stomach by a fresh horse. It broke his phone and bent his belt buckle but luckily did not get hurt. Cody says he hasn’t been hurt in a long, long time. He told me, says “With knowledge comes less danger – you just don’t put yourself in those situations anymore.” (Plus, his helper Manuel breaks the babies and he’s fearless. . . )
A few years after Cody moved to Delta, he Cody met his future wife Kelsey, now an oncology nurse, when she came for a training session. They married and moved around following the Reining– they moved to Oklahoma for two years to work with renowned trainer and Cody’s mentor, Craig Schmersal, then worked a year training a horse in Kansas.
Four years ago, Eventually they moved back to the North Fork and started building their training facility right here in Hotchkiss up Leroux Creek, out on Redlands Mesa Road. They started with an arena and a tack-shed covered in a tarp. Now there are two big barns, a fenced arena with a small covered grandstand and twenty horses in their care. Two years ago, their neighbor Manuel Ramos, from a racehorse-training family himself, started working with Cody. Together they work with 15-18 horses every day and travel to competitions one week a month. Cody says he couldn’t do it all without Manuel and so relies heavily on his old friends Brandon Brant and Sean Johnson, talking to them just about every day to hash over training problems and “sometimes talk about things we shouldn’t be talkin’ about."
Today, the barn Cody provides training, lessons, and sales; and specializes in two-year-old Futurity Prospects and three-year-old Futurity horses. "Futurity" means the quality of being in or of the future. In horse training, it futurity refers to working and competing with young horses who come from outstanding blood lines. Reining horse Futurity's are for 3 year olds; Derbies are for 4,5,6 year olds; Maturity's are for horses 7 and up. So, futurity kind of means that In effect, you're demonstrating your horse's future potential by showing his excellence in his youth.
While Cody’s clients come from all over, and about half are from here in the North Fork Valley. Some ride themselves; some just love the sport and want Cody to train and show their horses.
It sounds like Cody loves all the parts of his work. He enjoys showing. He’s naturally competitive and appreciates getting nervous and riding in the show pen. But, he has to admits that his favorite thing is the babies. He loves to take the babies and make them show horses. He says they start out not knowing anything—they want to run, buck, and act like, well…, babies. But a month into it, they get better. And the next day they get even better, and you start to find their talent. The best Satisfaction is when the babies they start to understand things.
His greatest horsing achievement so far is being a Cody was a NRHA Futurity Finalist in 2015 and. This year his goal, this year, is to make futurity finals with two horses In Oklahoma in November. And his long-term goal is dream would be to be a million-dollar rider – to win over $1,0000,000 in NRHA competition.
But While horses have been his life, his greatest joy is his family. His boys are 4 and 7. Cody and Kelsey don’t push the boys towards riding but are pleased that both are interested. Besides wrestling and baseball and soccer, Gus will be competing in his first reining event this summer – an event that is smartly titled “Short Stirrup.” They boys love to be outside and that’s all that matters to Cody.
Cody says it would be nice for more people to understand reining. Whether you’re a cowboy, roper, or barrel racer, a foundation in reining is going to help your horse no matter what you’re doing. He has customers who bring their horses for training not because they want to compete—they just want the horses to be better in their daily work. His customer Christy Burch says “It’s a sport, a discipline. It’s the most fun thing I’ve ever done and the hardest thing I’ve ever done. You can go out one day and have a great run and the next day go into the show pen and have a terrible run.”
Although his business is thriving, and he has a wait list, Cody has his eye on the future. He wants to start a youth program next year for 7-8-year-olds because “the horsemanship part is easier if you start early.” And . . . in the future when managing 20 head gets is too much, he thinks maybe it’d may just be fun to take folks out for trail rides – anything outside with a horse will be fine.