Tanner Cochran and Got My Swag On Win Congress Novice Youth 13 and Under Western Pleasure

By: Brittany Bevis

It was quite apropos that 14-year-old Tanner Cochran win the Novice Youth 13 and Under Western Pleasure at the 2013 Quarter Horse Congress, considering the fact that he is a true, blue, novice competitor. Although Cochran is the son of western pleasure trainer, Jeff Cochran, he’s only been showing horses for six months. In fact, the Congress is his sixth horse show, ever.

Today, Cochran showed Got My Swag On, aka “Lola,” to a win in an impressive Novice Youth Western Pleasure class. His talented mare is only three years old.

“I like showing younger horses,” Cochran says. “Western pleasure is the only class I like. I don’t like the other ones. This is all I show in.”

When Cochran isn’t in the show pen, he can be found sprinting down the football field, shooting hoops on the basketball court, or running on the track. We wondered, after all these years of participating in other sports, why start showing horses now?

“I’m not really sure why,” Cochran says. “I just walked down to the barn one day and said, ‘I think I want to start showing horses.’ “

Jeff Cochran adds, “That’s really the truth! I know that sounds far-fetched. [Erin Lieurance] looked at him and said, ‘Maybe you should ride once!’ “

Although he’s been showing horses for a short amount of time, Cochran has done quite well at the six horse shows he has attended. At the 2013 Little Futurity, Cochran rode KM Sweet Slow Bo to a win in Novice Youth Western Pleasure. His first horse show ever was at the Seven-Day Run in Des Moines, Iowa earlier this year.

Congratulations to the Cochran family on this exciting win. It looks like Tanner has a bright future ahead of him in the horse industry. Now that he’s got a little taste of what it’s like to play in the big leagues, we wondered if Cochran plans to make showing at the Congress into a regular occurrence.

“Oh, I’m coming back next year,” he says.

Novice Youth Western Pleasure 13 and Under-

1-Tanner Cochran/Got My Swag On

2-Iza Classy Chassy/Abbey Rawlings

3-A Good and Hot Machine/Cheyenne Ausberger

4-Shock After Sock/Ireland Cofrancesco

5-Hotrod Be Easy/Sydney Bostic

6-A Movin Machine/Kacie Scharf

7-Mac Of All Trades/Anika Henriksen

8-The Krymsun Version/Madolynn Johnson

9-Rubies Blazing Hot/Alayna Dimlich

10-A Good Order/Jessica Mcallister