his last two years as a junior at Judy Richter’s Coker Farm in Bedford, New York.
Under Judy’s tutelage Andre
won the 1985 USET Finals and was a member of the U.S. bronze medal show jumping team at the 1991 Pan American Games in Cuba with Judy’s Grand Prix horse Gaelic. Andre and Gaelic competed together for four successful years, with Gaelic being ranked as high as number three in the nation and 26th in the world. Since that time he has ridden and trained many top hunters and jump- ers. Today he continues to ride and train as well as coaching many top riders. Andre credits his time at Coker
Farm with giving him his start as a professional. “While I was there I was exposed to a higher level of riding and teaching. After my junior years were done I started working there part time—summers and vaca- tions—and then came on full-time in 1987,” he says. By 1994 Andre and Michael were
Victoria Colvin, a.k.a. Tori, riding Patrick to her win of the 2014 ASPCA Alfred B. Maclay Equita- tion Finals held during the National Horse Show in Lexington, Kentucky. Tori was coach Andre Dignelli’s fifth Maclay winner.
USET Finals. In 2014 he had at least 15 students at any one time vying to place in the equitation finals. He also coach- es many students in the Junior Hunter and Junior Jumper divisions. He explains his thoughts on the importance of equita- tion and why he likes teaching the finer points of riding. “I think the equitation division is our foundation; it gives ev- erybody what they need to be successful in hunters and jumpers. That division taught me how to ride and opened up some doors of opportunity for me as a young profes- sional. So, I think it was ingrained in me that that division was very important and I’ve carried that on through my 25 years of coaching. Doing well in equitation finals opens doors for many kids to find careers in this sport. I like the challenge of teaching someone to do well and I thoroughly enjoy the big events, because that is a reflection of how well I am doing my job and how well the kids are doing their jobs.” When Andre was six years old his brother Michael, who is
nine years his senior, talked their parents into purchasing a small horse farm in northern Westchester County, New York. Early on Michael taught Andre to ride, and then Andre rode with a few professionals in the area and eventually spent
20 January/February 2015
ready to start their own business called Heritage Farm, named in hon- or of their family connection. They began by renting stalls at Coker Farm eventually purchasing a farm
of their own in Katonah, New York, where Andre had ridden at the beginning of his junior years with Bobby and Peggy Cariddi when it was called Primrose Farm. Heritage Farm, located about an hour north of New
York City, comprises 40 acres and has 100 stalls, as well as large indoor and outdoor arenas, small and large Grand Prix fields and a house where Michael and his family live. The farm has hunter, jumper and equitation clients and a large staff including assistant trainer Patricia Griffith, whom Andre coached to a second place finish in the USET Finals– East in 1998. “Buying Heritage Farm was the best thing we ever did, because we have control of our own destiny. We have a state-of-the-art facility that we manage. We have the best atmosphere in which we can develop top horses and top riders,” Andre explains. In his 25 years of teaching Andre has coached numer- ous winners of the major equitation finals, including 2014 World Equestrian Games U.S. Jumper Team member Kent Farrington, who won the 1998 USEF Medal at Harrisburg and the 1999 WIHS Equitation Finals. Besides Tori Colvin, Andre has coached four other ASPCA Maclay winners: Peter Lutz in 1991 (who also won the USET Finals–East that year); Maggie McAlary in 2006 (who also won the USEF Medal that
Allen MacMillan/MacMillan Photography
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