“Further consequences” for speaking out against persistent, sustained animal abuse and cruelty? I’m still shocked that it was a complaint via a French equestrian magazine that lead to effective action by the FEI. The FEI not USEF. Where were you guys, America?
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I’m curious how that will work. I’m sure the owners will want their money back, but I have no idea what the legal implications are. Can they sue him to get the money back if they’re complicit in the crime by hiring him? A bit like a bank robber suing his getaway driver for crashing their car, eh?
Any lawyers about who can tell me how that works?
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Lots of interesting things in the decision. Was it well known that he was charged in 2002 for theft of two ponies and a goat? (and that the goat was smothered)
ETA and his legal defence was bafflingly and seemingly incompetent. Late filings etc and he didn’t provide any witnesses not even a character one
The charges for the goat will get him a Safesport ban. Delicious.
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Probably a closer analogy is USPS (as title sponsor) suing Lance Armstrong for fraud.
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I just read it here : https://horsesport.com/horse-news/open-secret-kocher-electric-spurs-emerges-detailed-fei-decision/amp/?fbclid=IwAR10iRLaB3wvbLBfwe9c0GMQaPU8vjXDXtVJqk6MUNw2c8TnwKpoamDgwlg
He should be ban for life!
What a disgusting person.
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After reading all that 10 years sounds light.
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Interesting how much the complete lack of remorse played into their decision.
I wonder if he truly believed that anyone would believe it was just clicker training with “disposable” clickers that he was this desperate not to lose: “Kocher argued it was a clicker trainer, and he attached it to a cord to avoid losing it.”
The part about the goat is very sad, but not surprising given the shameless abuse of horses.
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So does this mean the ban will be enforced by USEF as well?
Yes. USEF is the national federation. He is shown on the USEF site as banned from 10/28/2020-10/27/2030.
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I always thought he was a piece of shit but after reading the report, he is even worse than could be imagined. My heart goes out to every horse he abused and I hope in 10 years he is just a bad memory to this sport. How could he be so cruel and heartless to such wonderful animals?
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Besides the electric spurs and allegedly smothering a goat, don’t forget he also came under controversy in 2019 at Spruce Meadows. After winning the Queen Elizabeth II Cup the day before, he forced his horse to continue even though he had 28 faults in the Sun Life Financial Derby. A caring horseman would have retired on course. He also made fun about how tired his horse was on social media. https://horsesport.com/hors…/fei-examining-kocher-conduct/
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FYI I know of at least one top top top Gold medal dressage winning rider who uses electrical spurs. They are around and this is now the 3rd person said to use them that I’ve heard. So the assumption I make is that more folks than that use them and it’s just a matter of being caught.
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Not that is should matter from a horse welfare perspective but do they use them at shows? I’ve heard lots of chatter of out of bounds things done at home (wrapping, electric jumps of some sort etc etc) but they don’t do that at shows.
I hope that those who spoke out against this abuse will not suffer consequence. There are people who would condemn the witnesses for not maintaining confidence from inside the workplace. Happens in all walks if life. I applaud their bravery
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Andy Kocher. Can’t get his horses to go without shocking them, can’t get them to stop without some cray cray duct taped bridle contraption. And to think. Just a half generation ago, people were riding absolute fireball horses in nothing more than a plain snaffle to stop & short spurs to go.
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Andy was not well thought of by the who’s who of those circles. Nor the non who’s who.
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Sorry to burst your bubble but de Leyer abused his horses and taught his children and students to do the same. It’s not quite the fairy tale story we’ve been sold.
10 years seems very light for Kocher, now. The goat killing is VERY disturbing. And I’m baffled by everyone who saw this and didn’t report it, especially the owner who told him not to use the electric spurs on THEIR horses but didn’t take it any further. Like, your moral compass doesn’t extend past your own animals? I can’t understand it.
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Thanks for this! [don’t know how to quote anymore but I meant most recent Horse Sport article posted by alibi_18!]
First off - the goat smothering is chilling. What?!?
As for the rest of it… The lack of remorse, the lack of even attempting to examine evidence or refute claims is damning. Clearly he is guilty.
But, these paragraphs stand out to me, in particular:
“Kocher’s aim, it was alleged, was to change unwanted behaviour. The device had several purposes. One so-called benefit was to provide an immediate acceleration in between obstacles or within an A-B or A-B-C combination, or to prevent a nervous horse from stopping, whether at a particular obstacle, throughout the course or to force a tired horse to continue at a certain pace.”
“A freelance groom who met Kocher in June 2019 said that horses that were usually calm showed very high levels of stress when Kocher rode them, rearing, shivering and bolting.”
Anyone who has seen Kocher ride can attest that on a good day his style does not imbue his mount with confidence. His horses are not just “nervous”, they seem downright terrified and frenetic.
I was so appalled by his ride the first time I watched him in person that I gasped, covered my eyes and shouted out expletives and more (and was chastised by a fellow rider in the rider’s tent)… but it is true. He is rough, crooked, and all over the place. I was shocked he made it over the fences, even more shocked that he made his way out of combinations, and I was relieved when it was all over.
Given what a terrible human he appears to be, and what an inconsistent, untalented, uneducated and unsympathetic rider he clearly is… it is no wonder that he resorted to electric spurs: he couldn’t get results without abusing horses and cheating. The fact is, he couldn’t put in a confidence-building, sympathetic ride if his life depended on it.
I also find it interesting that an owner was a whistleblower… were there more owners than the one who fawned on social media despite push back?
Long story short: those horses are saints and I sure hope he didn’t fry the brains of every last one of them. And I hope nobody does business with him moving forward. He belongs in jail.
ETA: the only claim he refuted was that he used electrified spurs to begin with… didn’t address anything else or offer evidence to the contrary.
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[https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/behind-the-stall-door-with-le-conte]
In this COTH article (Behind the Stall Door with Le Conte) he brags about the bit he made out of a piece of rebar (oh so clever!) because he could not get the horse to turn left. Yet if you watch videos of Kristen Vanderveen competently riding Le Conte you see that is quite false. He’s an unschooled passenger.
I dread the upcoming defense trolls. If you search our forum it sounds like he had quite the fan club.
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