Zandi Alcock
My name is Zandi Alcock and I am an 18 year old show jumper. I have two horses, Favour the Bold and Tack N Togs Callaho Lansink. Bold and I essentially produced each other from the 1.10m to the 1.35m as neither of us had been in those levels. Both of us started as no bodies in the show jumping world but went on to win the 2021 1.30m South African Adult Championships and the Reonet WCQ 1.30m Championship as well as other wins since then. Then, Lansink came around and tipped the world I knew on it’s head! By being the most sensitive horse I’ve ever ridden and having about 100 quirks and 100 different moods, he taught me how to be a real horsewoman. We formed a deep connection from the hours of time I’ve spent in the saddle and on the ground with him and have gone on to achieve many things. I qualified on Lansink to represent South Africa at the 2022 FEI World Jumping Challenge Final. We won the 2022 Junior Open Presidents Cup, the 2022 1.35m Stokkiesdraai WCQ Championship and the Open Junior Victrix Ludorum at the 2022 SA Youth Championships as well as other wins.
As a rider, my focus is not only on my riding but on my bond with my horses, my physical fitness and my mental toughness. I find these three things have been and continue to be crucial to my success.
My goals for this year are to win some championships in the 1.40m with Lansink, to move up to the 1.50m with him as well and to keep Bold going and winning in the 1.30/1.35m. In May, I’m going to the Netherlands to ride and compete for three months so that I can further my skills and experience as a rider to either further my riding career overseas or here in South Africa depending on how my trip to the Netherlands plays out. Whatever happens though, I know my life will be filled with horses, horses and more horses!