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///////// 2021 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
OAL GETTERS By Abigail Boatwright • Photos by Primo Morales
Open Bridle, Limited Open Bridle QUAILS DUN REMEDY & CODY PATTERSON FOR CHRISTOPHER BETHUNE
Reined Cow Horse News: What was your most memorable NRCHA show moment in 2021? Cody Patterson: The whole year was fun, really. There were some shows where I got him shown the best I ever have. But I just think keeping him going and being consistent, to the point where he started getting the recognition he deserves, it just made the whole show season fun. He’s a big dun stud horse, he’s pretty hard to miss, but it was cool to be with a horse that people constantly ask you about, because he’s a good horse.
The 2021 Open Bridle and Limited Open Bridle horse, Quails Dun Remedy (Very Smart Remedy x Quails Dun Holly x Quails Dun Berry), was originally trained to be a rope horse. After Christopher Bethune purchased the 2014 dun stallion as a 5-year-old in 2019, Cody Patterson of Glen Rose, Texas, started him on cow horse. Soon after, Patterson and “Reno” hit the show pen for the 2021 season and shot to the top of the leaderboard. That shifted the plan for the stallion toward going down the road for the national title. “We made it a point to go to as many shows as we could to keep that top spot,” Patterson said. “He’s just extremely consistent. We didn’t win at every horse show, but there was only maybe twice all year where I didn’t get a check on him.” Having proved his mettle at show after show this year, Patterson says Reno will most likely be entered in fewer, but bigger, NRCHA shows during the 2022 season. “I feel like he’s the reason I have everything else I have now,” Patterson said. “He’s the one you could call ‘gas money,’ because he can take you anywhere and get you in there.”
74 MARCH/APRIL 2022 | REINED COW HORSE NEWS
RCHN: What was the biggest challenge you faced during the show season? CP: I’d had the horse maybe a year before, so just figuring him out was a challenge. He’s a big, strong horse, and allowed me to really learn how to go show and how to be confident enough to mark big scores on him. You really must learn how to trust your horse. You’re not going to safety up and win everything. RCHN: What is your horse’s most special physical talent? CP: He’s a huge stopper, and he’s just strong. Everything he does looks pretty. He just makes you want to watch him.
