The Perfect Match: Courtney Stephens & Pistol Packin Mann

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376 – July/August, 2022

By Barbara Aitken Jenkins

Courtney Stephens’s life is all about horses. The Alabama native discovered horses early in life and immediately knew she had found her lifelong love. Her family did not have a horse show background. However, her uncles owned horses. When she was young, she started learning to ride under the guidance of Martha Ann and Max Eisenberg of Triple E Farms.

“It just clicked. Riding felt natural to me,” says Courtney.

Her family realized that riding was a natural gift for Courtney, and they knew that showing horses was something she was meant to do. Courtney spent her early youth and amateur years under the guidance of Scott Tyrrell of Tyrrell Quarter Horses, showing at weekend shows in Alabama and across the southern region at AQHA and PHBA shows in the all-around. She competed in the Showmanship, Horsemanship, Trail, and her favorite classes–Western Riding and Western Pleasure.

In her early amateur years, Courtney began showing her mare, Winsome Krymsun, at the weekend shows. Although the weekend shows were fun, Courtney wanted to show at a higher level.

She knew of the Parrish family—Bret, Candy, and Cody Parrish–as top trainers who frequented the same southern shows as Courtney.

Click here to read the complete article
376 – July/August, 2022