Not only was this terrible horsemanship I can’t imagine what the point is. It’s not like he was a green horse who needed to be taught that when you are in the ring you go around and do your job. He wasn’t spooking or being distracted, he was struggling.
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I am not one to rush to judgement on a tack set up either - I hesitated to share this link, but I figured it was relative to the larger context of the conversation, in that this rider’s horsemanship has been called into question recently on another matter.
I don’t ride anywhere near that level and I don’t show jumpers, so I don’t pretend to understand tack options. But I do know that when the article came out, people far more educated than I were horrified by the pictures, so I filed it away in my brain for top level riders who may be questionable… TBD. And 4 months later, here we are.
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I think it was difficult not to recall the NF photoshoot, because it was so recent, and caused so much controversy. Not to bring the thread far off its original intention, but talking about bitting in general can be very frustrating on social media. Sometimes a poster will ask a question like, “this is an unusual setup, why is the rider using this bit,” which immediately brings about defensive, “how dare someone who does not ride at this level even ask” rather than an answer as to the bit’s purpose.
I did a quick Google of the other riders mentioned in this thread, to specifically look at bits, and Beezie actually seems to ride in relatively conventional setups–I don’t consider a pelham or a flash noseband terribly “out there.” I agree Kent uses more unconventional hardware but he’s such a fluid rider, it’s not something your eye is drawn to when you’re watching him in motion.
When a rider like AK is doing lots of cranking and jerking, combined with other questionable displays of horsemanship, it’s only natural to look much more closely at the bitting setup.
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Thank you for posting - this needs to be a conversation, and FEI should be included.
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I’ve seen plenty of riders pull their horses up after they’ve had a couple of faults, I’ve seen it in eventing as well. A good rider knows their horse and how it’s feeling. It’s beyond comprehension why AK continued the course. When the horse is barely picking his legs up it’s time to call it a day. He might be a rider but he’s no horseman. We’ve seen riders sanctioned /eliminated over barely visible spur marks, and rider’s unsportsmanlike conduct (that one woman who treated her horse like crap after she fell off? cant recall the name) so I really hope there is some sort of investigation - horse welfare, unsportsmanlike conduct etc.
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I’m trying to recall the Michael Morrissey case at WEF several years ago. He was not originally handed a yellow card but was eventually suspended several months later after an online campaign. What I do not remember is was the suspension was USEF or FEI.
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I am trying (and failing) to remember the incident that prompted the FEI to say that, since USEF took no action and the officials at the show didn’t give a yellow card or DQ in that particular instance, then the FEI wouldn’t do anything either. :o
It says that Roy is a co-owner of the horse. Does he have any power to take the horse away? Who actually owns Carollo?
Who is Eye Candy Jumpers anyway??? An old lady with a crush on AK?
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I am really surprised and sad that this has not gotten more attention here. This behavior is NOT a one time “entry mistake” as AK said. There is a pattern. A very sad one. Eye Candy is just as awful as he is. No empathy for the horses. Zero.
I get the feeling that Roy owns a very small part of the horse.
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It’s rare that I chime in on something like this but besides continuing on a clearly exhausted horse, the social media is appalling. Lots of jokes from Eye Candy and zero acknowledgement that a bad decision was made. People screw up and I can handle that; the complete lack of self awareness is disgusting. But I guess I’m just a “hater.”
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I think multiple people own him at least from what I’ve gathered… though could be wrong. I’m assuming someone who owns the majority of him makes the decisions for him?
Also the Eye Candy Instagram feed is :eek:
I think they have tons of money with little hunter/jumper experience… at least from what I’ve gathered.
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To answer @Laurierace and @gottagrey as to what possible reason there could be for this rider to not pull up and call it a day, some online were saying there was a payout to all riders in the class that completed the course.
If that is true, and is in fact the motivating factor behind the decision to continue, then it is all the more disgusting and appalling that the horse was used in the manner that he was. 
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Yikes, the horse isn’t even cantering
Does AK own the horse??
So on the “other” website, someone posted a screen cap of when the horse almost fell at the bottom of the hill. His nose is practically touching the ground between his outstretched front legs and his back legs are almost parallel on the ground below the hocks. It’s a travesty that the judges didn’t ring him out after that. Lots of people failed that horse this past weekend and it wasn’t just his connections.
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According to USEF, Andy Kocher is listed as the owner. FEI lists Andy Kocher as owner since January 1, 2019. Before that Stal Wilten was listed as owner as of July 20,2016.
I’m not sure if it’s still the case, but in all the years I’ve never seen anyone not pull up if it was in the best interest of the horse in the derbies or the big class in September
I retired from eventing, which was my main focus, in 1987, after competing for about 15 years. Both before and after, I showed hunter jumper before I finally segued into dressage. My two best event horses were (1) a 16 hand gelding with an “upside down neck” from poor training before I acquired him. While I rode him in a snaffle most of the time, the first few times I went cross-country with him, I did use a rubber, Mullen mouth Tom Thumb pelham. He was a very strong horse, but I didn’t require anything more thanthat, and that’s in open country,going preliminary. (2) a nearly17 hand gelding. I rode him in a double rein gag snaffle our first few outings, and then a Dr. Bristol, then a Plain snaffle with a running martingale. While I never did GP.jumpers, i did do some 4’6" classes and several 5 or 6 bar competitions to about 5’3" . I’m 5’7", female, and about 140 at the time. I find it hard to believe that an adult male needs all that hardware on a horse. Poor training, poor riding, abuse.
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That’s not the same horse that’s being discussed here, is it? Same rider, but the horse’s name on the screen is different.
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It just shows that Kocher is an overall awful rider.
I’ve seen it at shows, and he’s not one I would ever emulate.
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