Unlimited access >

Andrew Kocher - electrical spurs?

https://grandprix.info/fr/41179/Andrew_Kocher_soupconne_davoir_utilise_des_eperons_electriques_en_concours

I’m sorry it’s a French article from Grand Prix magazine who just came out with that, and I couldn’t find anything in English, but I guess we’ll hear about it soon…

Long story short :

Someone reported AK to the FEI and USEF for apparently using electrical spurs - there are many pictures, from different shows and different photographs/magazines, who apparently shows a hand held device, cable running down his legs (inside his pants) - from his right wrist to his ankles…

There are pictures of 2018 :
Flying Dachshund (ex-Fashion V) during a secondary competition in the CSIO 5* - Barcelona,
Ciana in the1,40m of the CSI 5* of Bâle,
Kahlua in the 1,50m rendez-vous - CSI 3* in Wellington,
Blaze of Glory II in the 1,45m of the CSI 5* - Calgary in June 2018
Virginia WZ at the same competition.

There is an investigation.

Are we surprised?

Not me.

1 Like

Who comes up with these things?

2 Likes

Well… there’s a US patent for that… :frowning:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3509693A/en

Good grief! I don’t have a horse that I would want to put those on and not expect to get tossed and then probably trampled. If you need that to make a horse do something you either need to get out of training or find the horse a new job because what it’s doing obviously isn’t working and neither is your training methods.

33 Likes

It was patented in 1967 so has been around for awhile. Funny thing is you could only find the article in French. The patent holder’s last name is French.

Been around way longer than that; http://afflictor.com/2011/07/24/old-…ly-eagle-1900/

Aaaand an American was responsible. :smiley:

4 Likes

Horrible.

3 Likes

The link to the Grand Prix article here is in english. Multiple photos of him holding the device and it running up his arm and down his pants on several horses. How on earth did he get in the show ring so many times with these things!
Others use these in training. Those at the upper levels keep pushing the limits - something has to give.
https://horsesport.com/horse-news/an…-spurs-horses/

5 Likes

I always thought he looked rather frantic in the ring - maybe that’s why (and he is just not a stylish rider as a McLain Ward, Bezzie Madden etc.) researching more now.

My favorite is the video of his old owner “”trying to explain”” what it was but “”not really knowing how it worked”” that got text around a few weeks ago. He so blatantly used them in competition and has been KNOWN to do so and more at home, but you’re going to pretend you don’t know what it is or what was happening?

OK.

19 Likes

It doesn’t change the fact he did it. If so many people know why is this just coming out?

11 Likes

Why couldn’t it have shorted out in the crotch area?

160 Likes

Most of us know he is a pretty abhorrent horseman. What I find troublesome is finding out people who you think you can look up to do some (very) shady things, too. Think Olympic level caught with rocks in boots.

I can’t wait for the day something is actually done about him. What is the point in paying all these fees to the governing bodies who claim to be “for the horse” when they don’t do anything to the abusers. Shameful.

Yet I continue to pay my USEF membership so I can compete. I digress.

52 Likes

I never said he didn’t do it. I said he’s known to do these things if you talk to just about anyone and bring up his name/training. I got the text video of Erica from Eye Candy explaining the electric spur system she “found” after he left earlier this month. Also around the time she was telling everyone she was taking him down and had more than just the electric spurs to do it. I guess my point was she and many of his owners KNOW he does it, and that’s just as gross.

Dont know why it’s JUST coming out. Why did the FEI never penalize him for jumping around an exhausted horse at Spruce? Why does he continue to get away with stuff like this?

30 Likes

“Where knowledge ends, violence begins.” Xenophon Maybe that quote needs to include something about money and ego.

35 Likes

She openly defended him over the disaster at Spruce last year. I don’t buy for a second that she didn’t know what was really going on with him and her horses.

18 Likes

[/QUOTE]She openly defended him over the disaster at Spruce last year. I don’t buy for a second that she didn’t know what was really going on with him and her horses[QUOTE]
. Carollo was not an Eye Candy horse. I must lead a sheltered life as I never even knew electric spurs existed. Hope they nail him to the wall this time.

Carollo was not an Eye Candy horse. I must live in the dark as I never even knew electric spurs existed. I hope they nail him to the wall this time.

10 Likes

I have no words.

2 Likes

Electric spurs…yet another thing I never imagined existed.

9 Likes