Story by Kimberly Gatto
Portraits by Emma Claire Stephens
Codi Harrison tried out more than 25 equines while on a horse-shopping trip in Denmark in early 2015. But it only took a moment for Codi to discover her horse of a lifetime—a stunning liver-chestnut Danish Warmblood by the name of Katholt’s Bossco. “As soon as I sat on him, I knew it was meant to be,” said the Wellington-based dressage professional. “I don’t even think I had trotted off. There was just something about him. Besides his talent, he is just a kind horse, and I could feel it right when I got on. Later I learned I was actually the first person who tried him.”
At that time, Codi was still a young rider and Bossco, as he is known around the barn, was only 8 years old. During the years that followed, the pair formed a strong and winning partnership, which culminated in a team gold medal at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, this past November. And now, the goal of competing at the Olympic Games—a longtime dream for the horse-crazy girl from Wichita, Kansas—appears closer than ever.
Early Years
The younger of two children born to Warner and Renee Harrison, Codi loved horses from her earliest days. “Horses were in my blood from the beginning,” she said. “My cousins owned racehorses. They lived about 40 minutes away from us, and I remember visiting them and petting the horses when I was 2 or 3 years old. My brother, Colby, later began taking lessons and I begged my parents to let me ride.”
Unfortunately, the local stables, Briar Fox Farm in Wichita, had a rule that children couldn’t begin taking lessons until the age of 6. “My grandmother and I kept going to the stable and asking if I could ride, and the barn owners, Tim and Bonnie Griest, would say that I was too young,” Codi said. “But I was so persistent. We just kept going back and asking again and again. Finally, right after my 5th birthday, they agreed to let me start riding.”
Soon she began taking weekly lessons and a lifelong passion ensued. “When I was 7, I got my first horse,” Codi said. “He was an Appendix gelding called Mig. We bought him from a lady at the barn. Unfortunately, he had a bad chip in his knee and was really never sound after we bought him. But I was happy just to walk him around and groom him. I just couldn’t get enough of being around the horses.”
The following year, Mig was retired and Codi became the proud owner of a 9-year-old, 13.2-hand black Quarter pony called Zip Dee Doo Dah. “He was the typical naughty pony,” Codi said. “I think he bucked me off the first time I got on and dumped me at least twice a week after that.” But instead of getting discouraged, Codi became even more determined to ride well. Later, a routine dental examination revealed the likely reason for the pony’s unusual spunky behavior: He was, in fact, only 3 years old, rather than 9.
“Zip taught me how to stay on,” Codi said. “And I just fell in love with the sport. I wanted to be around the horses all the time. I was at the barn every day, begging the farm owners to let me help with chores.” She dabbled in local three-phase events under the tutelage of the Griests and their daughter-in-law, event rider Katie Griest. “I wasn’t that interested in dressage at the time; I just wanted to ride fast and jump,” Codi said. “Besides eventing, we did a little bit of hunters and some small jumper classes. And my friends and I enjoyed riding our ponies bareback all over the farm. It truly was a magical time.”
Answering an Ad
By the time she was 12, Codi had outgrown her pony and began dreaming of her next equine partner. “I decided to look at horse ads online,” Codi said. “I came across an ad for a dressage mare in Texas called Avalon and I just fell in love with her. She was a big-bodied, pretty bay mare. Somehow I convinced my parents to take me to go see her, even though she was hours away. Luckily for me, our cousins lived in Texas, so we went to visit them and stopped to see the horse on the way home. She was an 8-year-old Westphalian and way too much horse for me at that time, but I didn’t care. I loved her on the spot.”
The horse’s owner, Donna Wright, told the Harrisons that she wouldn’t sell them the mare unless they would bring Codi and Avalon—known affectionately as Ava—to Texas for regular lessons at the Wrights’ farm. “We trailered down there once a month for about five years,” Codi said. “It was a six-and-a-half hour drive each way, but my parents did it willingly. I am forever grateful for the way in which they have always supported and believed in me, even when my childhood ideas did not always make the most sense. I think it’s rare to have that kind of support. I would be nowhere without them.”
While Ava was a lot of horse for Codi’s riding level at that time, the young girl learned to ride the mare well. “I had never really liked dressage much,” Codi said, “because my pony would not really go round. But with Ava, I discovered that dressage could really be quite fun. She was trained through Second Level. Unlike Zip, who was pretty green, she had all kinds of buttons that I had to learn to use. That mare truly helped me fall in love with dressage.”
Under the tutelage of Donna Wright in Texas and the Griests back at home, Codi and Ava began successfully moving up the levels at local dressage shows. When Codi was 14, she competed at her first North American Junior/Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC), held at the Kentucky Horse Park. “It was a real awakening for me,” Codi said. “I think it was the first time I saw kids my age with really fancy horses and big-name trainers. But we made it there, and we did it. We came in dead last, but we did it.”
Realizing that she would need more experience to continue to progress in the sport, Codi sold Ava and made the decision to travel to Germany to further her dressage education. “Donna encouraged me to go to Germany and participate in the ‘little bronze’ medal classes they have over there,” Codi said. “I finished my senior year of high school online and graduated at 16. With my parents’ blessing, I flew to Germany to participate in a course at the Landeslehrstätte Equestrian Sport facility in Vechta.”
After completing the course, Codi worked for the next three months at Stall Ramsbrock, a breeding and sales barn in Menslage, Germany. “It was a real culture shock for me to see the quality of horses over there. For the first time in my life, I rode some really fancy, big moving horses. In Kansas, we had some warmbloods, but mostly crosses and Appendixes—even Quarter Horses. Being over there was an invaluable experience for me in learning about the sport,” Codi said. “But I also was very homesick, so I was happy to come home.”
Upon her return to the U.S., Codi spent the following year as a working student for Donna Wright. “Donna really helped me to develop my seat,” Codi said. “She was tough; I’d be lying if I said there were no tears. But she really shaped my riding and my lifestyle in general, teaching me healthier eating and fitness habits, for which I am forever grateful.”
Wellington Bound
At this point, Codi began leasing Poetry In Motion, aka Poet, a 19-year-old Hanoverian gelding. “Poet was a schoolmaster and very sweet,” Codi said. “He taught me a lot.” The pair competed in the NAJYRC in 2013; Codi was pleased with their performance. “We finished 14th, so not super high in the standings, but we weren’t dead last, so that was an improvement.”
After the year-long lease on Poet ended, Codi decided to further her classroom education by studying at a local community 
college. “I have always been interested in biomechanics, so kinesiology was my backup career plan,” Codi said. “While I was in school, I taught some lessons and just rode whatever I could. Over the summer, a client who had a horse in dressage training in Wellington convinced me to go to Florida. In Wellington I met Philesha Chandler—who was also from Wichita—and she mentioned that she needed a working student for the next several months. I ended up moving down there and working for Philesha, and I found that I absolutely loved being in Wellington.”
When the position with Philesha came to a close, Codi began reaching out to other top trainers to inquire as to whether they would be in need of a working student. One such trainer was Danish Olympian Lars Petersen, who operates Legacy Farms Dressage alongside his wife, the American-born Melissa Taylor. “I sent out a bunch of emails to trainers, and Lars actually answered. I met him at Global for an interview and it went great. I ended up working for him and Melissa for the next five years. I started out as a groom and then began riding some of the horses that were quirky—the ones that people didn’t really want to ride. Eventually I worked my way up to assistant trainer. It was an incredible experience.
“I decided that I wanted to try NAYRC again, but I knew I would need a new partner,” Codi continued. “As it turned out, Melissa was going on a horse shopping trip to Denmark and invited me to come along. That is where we found Bossco. Melissa could tell that I loved him right away. She had to tell me to stop smiling so much if we wanted to negotiate the price with the seller.”
A Winning Partnership
After bringing Bossco home to the U.S., Codi began developing her partnership with the gelding, though she admits it was not always easy. “We did NAJYRC twice and did OK, but not great individually, though we were part of a bronze medal-winning team in 2016,” Codi said. “But we just kept going, and I am so thankful that Lars made me do a lot of the training myself. I wanted him to get on Boscco to teach him piaffe or passage, but Lars felt it was important that I do it myself. I feel like I may have taken him backwards before we moved forward, but we eventually got there. And he turned out to be a much better Grand Prix horse than Young Riders’ or small tour horse.”
Codi’s hard work with Bossco soon began to pay off. In 2018, the pair won the USEF Young Adult Brentina Cup National Championship at the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions. The following year, Codi returned home to Kansas. “I kept Bossco at a barn in Wichita and did a lot of hacking with him,” she said. “The goal was to give him a bit of a break. But I found that I really missed being in Wellington. We went back to Wellington at the end of 2019, but Bossco was soon out of commission with a small suspensory tear. While I rehabbed him, I started building my own business. I took on naughty horses, rehab horses—you name it—and really started developing a nice client base.”
By the summer of 2020, Bossco was back in action, and the pair made their senior Grand Prix CDI debut the following year. Codi and Bosco’s performance at the 2021 Stillpoint Farm FEI Dressage Nations Cup CDIO3* helped lead the U.S. dressage U25 team to a second-place finish in FEI CDIO-U25 Nations Cup. The pair also placed second in the FEI Grand Prix 16-25 Test and third in the FEI Intermediate II Test.
Since then, Codi and Bossco have continued their winning ways, with their sights firmly set on the future. “I think 2023 was our best year to date. We got short listed for the Pan Ams, which was surreal,” Codi said. “I hadn’t even let myself think about making the team when we were first short-listed, and then to be a part of the gold-medal-winning team was just incredible. Being a part of that team was the most educational, fun and inspiring experience of my life.”
Looking back, Codi is grateful for everything that got her to where she is today. “My parents didn’t have hundreds of thousands to spend on horses. I was lucky enough that they’ve been able to support me along in the way and invested in my passion,” she said. “But a lot of things happened through being at the right place at the right time. Talent can open doors; hard work will burst through them; but a little bit of luck can also go a long way.”
As Bossco is now 16 years old, Codi is savoring every moment with him, with high hopes for 2024. “I will keep him going as long as he wants to, then he will step down,” Codi said. “But I would love to make a Nations Cup team or a World Cup qualifier with him. Of course, the Olympics is the ultimate goal for any athlete. Going to the Pan Ams really inspired me to do more. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens this year.”
Regardless of what the future may hold, Codi is enjoying every moment with her special partner. “Bossco is like a big dog; he loves all treats—bananas, cupcakes, coffee, you name it. He’s just an amazing animal. I love all horses, but I simply adore him. He is truly a horse of a lifetime,” Codi said. “From the beginning, he gave me so much confidence, even when I was learning. I was not always the best rider, but he always gave me his all. I wish everyone could learn from a horse like Bossco.”
Follow Codi on Instagram @codiharrison
Photos by Emma Claire Stephens, emmaclaire.com and follow on Instagram @emmaclairestephens
