"A dream doesn't become reality through magic, it takessweat, determination andhard work," a quote by ColinPowell, reminiscent of the story of Georgia cowgirl, Lauren Pringle and her husband Cody. Lauren was born and raisedin Newnan, Georgia, with her parents and four siblings; Bailey, Will, Mercer and Gunter. All homeschooled, Lauren is 8 years older than her sister Bailey, and there is another 9-year spread between Bailey and their youngest brother, Gunter.After 17 years in Newnan, her parents moved the family to a farm they purchased 30-minutes away in Hogansville. Although her parents didn't rodeo, they were happy to buy Lauren a pony when she was young, and when Lauren wanted to try barrel racing as a junior in high school, her dad bought her a 19-year-old barrel horse named Crow, and a barrel saddle, 2 weeks before her first rodeo. Lauren's senior year in GHSRA, she met he husband,saddlebronc rider, Cody Pringle. Cody left to join the Clarendon College rodeo team in Texas in 2008, and he and Lauren married in 2009 when he returned. A year later, Cody bought a big sorrel horse named Red for Lauren to run barrels on, but they sold him in 2012, when Lauren had their son, Canyon. Canyon who they say is a professional jumpy connoisseur, loves to go tothe rodeos. "He rates the bouncy houses, we'll pull up to a rodeo, and he'll say, ‘I like this rodeo, they have good bouncies!'"
When Lauren's heart was set on barrel racing again, Cody bought her a big, grulla, 6-year-old mare, Jackie, from Quebec, Canada, sight unseen. "She was pretty blown up when we got her, she wouldn't go near the arena. She reared up and busted my face the first time I took her to a race, it kind of crushed my spirit, and I stopped barrel racing for a while." Cody never stopped believing in Lauren or her dreams and was determined to do whatever he could to find the right horse for her to succeed. She has gotten Jackie going like she wants her now.And Cody has since bought her a little sorrel mare named Bee, and a giant sorrel horse named Slick purchased from Michelle Lummus.In 2015, he bought back the horse Red they had sold, and Red now resides in their pasture. "I am extremely blessed to have a husband that supports me and wants me to do better than I even want to do."
The horse they bought from Michelle Lummus ended up not being the right fit for her, and she traded him for a dark bay horse named Maverick that she calls her "2019 hopeful." But, the connection made with Michelle was a turning point in Lauren's life. "Michelle took me in, took everything I'd learned about barrel racing, threw it out the window and started over. She taught me to believe in myself, at nearly 30-years-old, I realized I'd never believed in myself. I pretty much owe it all to her."
Although barrel racing is Lauren's only event, she doesn't consider herself a barrel race person. She loves rodeos, feels she and her horses ride their best at rodeos, and enjoys going to them with Cody, who still competes as a saddle bronc rider. They went to the SPRA finals in 2015 to watch a friend competing, and as they stood in the coliseum Cody said to Lauren, "We need to join next year, and I want to win here, so after buying their MSRA card in 2016, he won the Saddlbronc Champion title his rookie year.
Lauren and Cody own two discountstores, Deals 4 Dollars, in Newnan and Lagrange. Lauren just recently started a new venture, opening a car lot called Wheels 4 Dollars in LaGrange in the same lot as their discount store. "The Lord has blessed us with anything we could have ever wanted. Our main goal in life is to be in ministry, so we feel the harder we work and the more successful we are, the more people we can help. The stores and the car lot are just stepping stones to doing what we really want to do."