The Devon Horse Show’s Leading Jumper Rider is unique

 

By Nancy Jaffer
June 5, 2018

He’s a character. He’s been a clown (literally). And now he’s a champion.

Andy Kocher, a native of Pennsylvania who grew up attending the Devon Horse Show as a spectator (“I never showed”), rode into the Dixon Oval last weekend to receive the Leading Open Jumper Rider sash as members of the U.S. Olympic and 2014 World Equestrian Games Teams remained on the sidelines along with severa other short-listed competitors for this September’s WEG.

“For me, it’s a little weird. I never thought I’d be leading rider at Devon. It’s my favorite show,” said Andy, a scrappy guy who makes the most of whatever horse happens to come his way and calls things as he sees them. You’ll always get a laugh out of a conversation with him.

He only started showing at Devon two years ago; it took him a while to get into the ring there. “I’m 35 now, so it’s been a long time,” said Andy, who won the second jumper class of the show on MKO Equestrian LLC’s Zantos II. Andy was wearing a riding jacket lacking a top button that was held together with a blanket pin, the same one he had worn when he won the first class of the 2017 show. He’s focused on the game, not how he looks. That’s an afterthought—if it’s a thought at all.

Zantos, 15, was out for a year with a tendon injury. “I nursed him back and turned him out for awhile,” said Andy, whose patience paid off.

The horse is a cribber, but Andy doesn’t hold that against him.

“I don’t think cribbing is a problem,” the rider explained. “He rips his stall doors down but I don’t care. He’s done so much for me, it wouldn’t matter what he does. I wouldn’t sell him–and I sell a lot of horses.”

Previously ridden by Great Britain’s John and Robert Whitaker, Zantos came to Andy through his British friend Paul McTeer. Andy calls him, “the most colorful man you’ve ever met in your life. He would be the most for me, and I’ve met a lot of weird people.”

He has two horses in Europe, where he prepared for his first Longines World Cup finals last spring.

“I couldn’t afford to fly all the horses home,” explained Andy, pointed out that in Europe, “It’s cheaper to show, I meet a lot of new people.”

Of Zantos, Andy said, “We bought him cheap because he’s a runway. He has one gear and if it goes well, he wins. Every time he jumps clear, he’s won a class. But he can get out of hand a lot, too. That’s a problem. He has a lot of classes that don’t go so smooth.”

At Devon, though, Andy pointed out, “He was going to be hard to beat. Someone was going to have to do something ridiculous to get him, y’know?”

Another of his victories came in the 7-year-old jumpers with La Luciole, a mare he rides for a new owner, Erica Hatfield.

“I don’t have many owners. Most of the owners are me,” said Andy, who is number 101 on the world ranking list.

He wasn’t sure how the horse would go in her show ring debut with him. “I was hoping like, `Please jump these jumps’.”

He clinched his Leading Rider title with a victory on Kahlua in the $70,000 Idle Dice Stake on closing night.

“She’s a machine,” Andy said.

“She won two ranking classes in Kentucky and a ranking class in Wellington. Her first grand prix was the World Cup qualifier in Vegas (in January). I jumped her in a 3-star in Wellington and then a 5-star in Miami then New York (the Masters on Long Island). I really threw her to the wolves. She has lots of personality. She has her own way of doing things. Over time, I’ve gotten her to be more agreeable when I need her to be.”

Kahlua also tied for the show’s Open Jumper Championship with Mattias Tromp’s mount, Eyecatcher.

All the recognition in the Dixon Oval was a dream come true for Andy, who at one time would have been happy simply to compete in the grand prix at Devon.

“Now, I’ve gotten to where I want to win a lot of classes,” he said. “You always want to do more.”