When 16-year-old Cody Sturgess laid eyes on a two-year-old bay Thoroughbred filly 10 years ago that was proving too slow for the racetrack, it was love at first sight. Cody loaded her onto a trailer and brought her home to his family’s small farm in Utica, ON. Little did he know that the horse, Imperial Melody (by My Imperial Slew out of Golden Melody), would be a game-changer. A decade later they’d make their four-star debut on the formidable Rolex Kentucky course and be the only Canadian pair to successfully complete the track, finishing 34th of 71 starters.
Cody, 26, was exposed to horses virtually since birth. On his first day home from the hospital, his mother, Susan, took him to the barn while she tended to her purebred Arabians. “I’ve always been around horses and I caught the bug. It was definitely from my mom’s influence, but she never forced anyone to ride,” Cody says. Throughout his life, his most loyal supporter has been his mother, who raised him on her own since he was a toddler.
Cody learned to ride on an Arabian gelding named Stefan. “He was a lunatic, an absolute lunatic, but he taught me to have a good seat. I frequently took flying lessons, rather than riding lessons, on him. He really helped me to develop my seat. He wasn’t dangerous, just scared of his own shadow.”
Cody graduated to a Quarter Horse/Arabian cross named Sunny C and his coach at the time, Erin Howard, encouraged him to try eventing. “The first time I evented with him, we won our first horse trial at Glen Oro. I was hooked.” Sunnyvale Farm, Susan and Cody’s current home in Port Perry, ON, is named for Sunny C and the 18-year-old gelding enjoys semi-retirement on the farm as a schoolie and occasional riding horse for Cody’s mother.
Marvellous Melly
Cody learned about Imperial Melody from event rider and coach, Jason Pascoe, who suggested she might make a good resale project. Soon after buying her, Cody realized he didn’t want to part with her. “I said to Mom, ‘I think this one is special. Do you mind if I keep her?’ ” he recalls. “At that point, I had no idea she’d turn into an upper-level horse. I liked her mind and her willingness.”
“Melly” went on to prove she had an aptitude for eventing and she and Cody enjoyed some success at horse trials. But the turning point came when he started training with Canadian team veteran Jessica Phoenix, who recognized the little 15.3-hand mare’s true potential. “Jessie was the one who really opened my eyes when I went to Florida to watch an international competition with her,” says Cody. “I was in between coaches and not in a great program. When I got with her program, it helped change Melly’s shape, her jump got better, and she started using her body properly. Those were things I didn’t have a great concept of. Then I could start to feel Melly’s power and scope and Jessie said ‘I think you’ve got a four-star horse.’ ”
Last year, he and Imperial Melody finished 11th at Bromont CCI 3*. This year, Cody and Melly were short-listed to the Canadian team and were the highest-ranked Canadians in the Poplar Place CIC3* division in Georgia, finishing seventh with a double-clear cross-country performance.
Also in 2014, Cody made the decision to become a professional rider. He had studied business and marketing at Durham College and for several years operated Dudley’s Tack Shop in Brooklin, ON. He closed the store, although he still operates the business as a mobile service, and also coaches students.
Rolex, and other challenges
Although Rolex Kentucky would present the biggest challenge that either horse or rider had ever faced, Cody says he was wasn’t unnerved by the prospect of competing there. “I wasn’t even nervous, which was strange. I was the most prepared I have been for any show in my life and I was very focused. It was an absolutely fantastic experience and we had a personal best in dressage. On cross-country, Melly was absolutely amazing. She had a slip at 4B and I made the decision to re-present for her safety, but she skipped around the rest of the course and it felt easy and straightforward.”
As gifted as Melly is as a jumper and cross-country horse, she struggles with dressage. “She is not a talented horse on the flat and we’ve had to work insanely hard to get her to move her body properly. She is not a fancy warmblood mover and has to do the movements perfectly to score well.”
In 2009, Cody was diagnosed with juvenvile diabetes, but it hasn’t changed his riding routine or his goal to represent Canada at the Olympics one day. He is the only Canadian equestrian athlete to have a therapeutic-use exemption to wear an insulin pump with continuous glucose monitoring. Insulin is a prohibited substance, but Cody points out that it in no way enhances his performance: “I need it to live!”
Cody’s dream is still to ride in the Olympics, but he takes a practical view. “Honestly, I don’t know what my plans are right now. Melly’s had a few weeks off and I’m going to start her back and see how she feels. She looks great and I’d love to go to Europe in the fall, but it depends on money. We may end up doing a North American CIC three-star in the fall instead
