A Well-Deserved Retirement: RL Cocoas Version
Lindsey Stevenson and RL Cocoas Version
By: Brittany Bevis
There comes a time in the life of every competition horse when a decision must be made about his/her future. Many a beloved, aged show mare will graduate to the broodmare band to help raise the next generation, but what about our trusty geldings?
During the span of a 20-year show career, a horse will undoubtedly change hands numerous times. But where should he end up, in the end? One special AQHA gelding is celebrating his retirement in 2016 in part thanks to a sweet pact made between his current and former owners.
When looking at the master record for RL Cocoas Version, a number of familiar names show up on his exhibitor list: Sandy Stevenson, Lindsey Stevenson, Barbara Williams, Katie Jo Jones, Abbey Sefchik, Lori Augsburger. “Coco” is a 20-year-old gelding by Good Version and out of Miss Cocoa Rocket who’s competed in almost every discipline and every age division over the years amassing over 3,400 points during his lifetime. Now, he will be spending the remainder of his days enjoying retirement with Lindsey Stevenson, following his final appearance at the 2015 Quarter Horse Congress with Abbey Sefchik.
“The Sefchik family was kind enough to retire and return Coco to me mostly due to Abbey getting ready to start college but also due to his age,” Lindsey says. “I definitely plan to keep Coco on a light riding schedule. He just isn’t the kind of horse that would enjoy just sitting around. He loves his job. My boyfriend has been learning to ride on him some, but as far as hard-core showing, that chapter is now closed. Coco’s retirement plan is pretty easy: continue riding, lots of turnout time, as many peppermint as he wants, and just being all around spoiled.”
Lindsey and Coco
Lindsey and Coco were a team for four years. During that time, they claimed an Amateur All Around High Point title in 2010 along with High Point titles in Showmanship and Equitation. They were also named the Reserve All-Around Champions in 2009 and have received multiple Congress and World Show Top Tens including a third place finish in Amateur Trail in 2009. Following his career with Lindsey, Coco competed in the Select division with Lindsey’s mother, Sandy.
“When Congress time came around, Mom convinced me to show Coco one more time in Amateur Trail. We ended up Reserve by the loss of a tiebreaker. Not a bad way to go out! After that, I sold him to Abbey Sefchik, who had a wonderful youth career with him.”
“Coco changed everything for me. From the first moment I got on him at the Congress and did one lead change, I knew he was my perfect partner, my best friend. As strange as people will think it is to say, he’s the love of my life.”
Abbey and Coco
In the same way, Coco had a similar effect on Abbey. “I owned Coco for four years before we decided to retire him,” she says. “Coco is truly a once-in-a-lifetime horse.” Looking back over the past four years, Abbey is hard-pressed to pick one memorable moment to share. Some of her favorite memories were made at the 2014 AQHA Youth World Show.
“My draw number was 141, which was Lindsey’s number she always used with Coco,” Abbey says. “We thought that could be some type of luck, but the night before, during practice, that wasn’t the case. We were awake past 3 am doing the pattern. When it comes to Trail, you have to let Coco do his thing and not get in his way. That night, I was definitely getting in his way. After much patience, I finally figured it out. The next day, before the prelims, I couldn’t help but think of all of the mess ups from the night before. I just realized I had to trust Coco, because he had done this way more than I had. Of course, Coco was great and we ended up making it to the finals. That was definitely one of my favorite things about him. He always knew his job, especially at the big shows.”
Besides his dependable nature and sweet, can-do spirit, both ladies praise Coco’s charming personality. “Coco has a personality like no other horse I’ve ever owned,” Abbey says. “He would wait after every class for his mints, and you could tell he wasn’t happy until he had them!”
“Coco’s retirement is bittersweet, but I’m so happy that he’s back with Lindsey. I couldn’t have imagined owning a better horse, and his retirement is very much deserved! The memories I’ve made showing Coco for the last four years are ones that I will never forget.”
