The Gochman family’s famed hunter Catch Me, who rider and trainer Scott Stewart describes as one of the greatest of all time, died June 27 from colic. He was 19. We spoke with his connections about the gelding’s life and legacy.

When amateur hunter rider Becky Gochman first watched Catch Me strut his stuff in the schooling ring in Traverse City, Michigan, in 2014, she was struck by the gelding’s presence. But the then-7-year-old’s greenness was clear, so Gochman didn’t immediately rush to buy him. Instead, she chose to quietly keep an eye on the Holsteiner (Casiro—Wonne).

The next winter, she found herself at the 3’6″ green ring at the 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival (Florida), when “Snoopy” marched around the course as if he’d done it his whole life.

“I was just amazed by how much he had grown up and how much he matured, and his jump turned out to be just as good, or even more amazing than even his wonderful movement on the flat,” Gochman said.

She immediately called her trainer Scott Stewart and implored him to give the gelding’s trainer, Cookie Beck, a call to see if he was for sale. While Snoopy happily hacked over to Stewart’s Rivers Edge farm for a trial ride, he proved spooky and green in the ring.

“I couldn’t walk him up to any of the jumps, which is something I like to do … and he would not go near them,” Stewart said. “He didn’t stop [when we jumped], but he was extremely spooky. It was late in the afternoon, and I got maybe got one out of eight lead changes.”

Afterward, Stewart and Gochman had a serious conversation. Snoopy wasn’t going to be a horse Gochman could start riding immediately. But they struck an agreement: Stewart would take the reins exclusively for the first year, and Gochman wouldn’t ride him even at home.

“He was always so careful, so once his braveness came through and he understood it all, he still had that jump,” Stewart said. “I must say, when he was good, he was the easiest horse I’ve ever ridden. He didn’t even need you.”

While Snoopy started winning tricolors with Stewart almost immediately, Gochman nearly lost her new horse just months into owning him. Terence Prunty, who was Gochman’s in-house trainer at the time, walked into the barn on a May morning to find Snoopy attempting to eat, but instead of swallowing, the food was falling to the ground. After their veterinarian evaluated him, Snoopy was rushed to the Mid-Atlantic Equine Medical Center in Ringoes, New Jersey, where he was treated for botulism, a potentially fatal illness caused by a toxin that causes paralysis.

For two months, Snoopy stayed at the clinic under the care of Rodney Belgrave, DVM, DACVIM, where small milestones such as swallowing water, and later grass, were celebrated.

“They took such good care of him, and he was nursed back to health, and when he came back, he was just as good as when he left,” Gochman said.

By August the horse Gochman thought she’d have to put down had returned to the show ring in winning fashion, claiming championships at Capital Challenge (Maryland) and the National Horse Show (Kentucky) as well as the WCHR Professional Challenge. He was also named the 2015 WCHR Hunter of the Year.

In 2016, he contested the $100,000 USHJA/WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular (Florida), giving Stewart his first win in 20 years of trying—which he counts as one of his favorite memories. Stewart finished the year out as the gelding’s sole rider, winning championships at all four indoor shows that fall, including another WCHR Professional Challenge title. Catch Me was also named the Chronicle’s Hunter Horse of the Year.

With Snoopy’s green years finished atop a pile of tricolors, Gochman began swinging her leg over the gray in 2017. Their debut show at WEF 1 ended with the first of countless tricolors.

“He just looked so unworldly then that I was a little hesitant,” she said. “Once I got on, I never had felt a mouth as soft as that or a stride as buoyant yet smooth. It was such a surprise to feel how light he was in the bridle. He always felt like you could ride him without reins.”

That year, he topped his second hunter spectacular and won his first Devon (Pennsylvania) championship in the amateur-owner hunter, 36 and over, division with Gochman, and swept the same division at Capital Challenge. In 2016 and 2017 he was named the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame Horse of the Year twice. For the next two years he continued his domination in the hunter ring, topping high performance classes with Stewart and the amateur division with Gochman.

 In February 2019 he was immortalized as a Breyer model, adding to his fame among younger horse enthusiasts.

“It meant a lot to me to see young people, whether they were pony kids that were lucky enough to have a pony, or kids that collected the Breyer horses, just thrilled to be able to see him in real life,” Gochman said. “He was a magic unicorn. He was one of the greatest loves of my life, one of the best dance partners I ever had.”

In early 2020, Snoopy survived another near-death experience when he presented with signs of choke that didn’t resolve with treatment. Further evaluation revealed an impaction at the top of his stomach, which required surgery. His veterinary team, led by David Freeman, MVB, MRCVS, PhD, DAVCS at the University of Florida’s Large Animal Hospital, gave him a 50/50 shot of survival.

While the incident meant he had to have a special diet and required special care to prevent it from happening again, Snoopy recovered from the surgery and returned to his winning ways. He showed a couple times that fall, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stewart and his clients took most of the year off from competing.

On Jan. 21, 2021, after coming close in the past, Snoopy scored the elusive perfect 100 in a high performance stake class during WEF 2 with Stewart in the irons, making him the fifth horse to accomplish the feat. Stewart described the career-defining moment as an understated affair because it took place in the grand hunter ring during a busy show week at WEF, and the rail wasn’t packed with people.

“To be honest, even just in the times I showed him, I probably had 10 rounds that were as good, if not better,” Stewart said. “He did go around the ring many times when I thought, ‘Wow that really could be it.’ He would get 98s and all that stuff. I know a 100 doesn’t come easy, but there were so many rounds that were worthy.

“It was a little bit of a surreal moment,” he added. “We went back to the barn, and [people] were like, ‘Oh how’d you do?’ And I said, ‘Oh, we got a 100,’ and everyone was like, ‘What?!’ I was so happy for that horse, because even when things didn’t always go perfectly, it wasn’t for his lack of trying to do it perfectly. I was really happy he got that.”

That year, Gochman’s daughter, Mimi Gochman started piloting him in the junior hunter ring. Though they competed just two seasons together, the pair only came home without a tricolor once, and of their many tricolors, only one was a reserve. Mimi rode him in the hunter spectacular twice, finishing second in 2022.

“It was definitely inspiring to work with him,” said Mimi. “It gave me a real sense of hunters, because people will often say, ‘Oh, the hunters is boring. They’re not as talented.’ Or they’ll say negative things about hunters, because it’s maybe not as complicated as jumpers to watch. But when you worked with a horse like Snoopy, it made you really realize the beauty and the art of the hunters. … I was super lucky to get to work with Snoopy, riding him myself in the junior hunters. And those were some of the best years of my life.”

As he got older, Becky stepped him down into the 3’3” amateur-owner division, where he continued to win at major horse shows up and down the East Coast. And outside the ring, on the trails he loved so much, he carefully carried Becky’s friends for long chats and good conversation.

“There was not a moment that he showed ever anything but kindness to us all,” Becky said. “When I wrote online about his passing somebody said, ‘How unusual to have such a beautiful, spirited animal and amazing athlete, but kind of a personality of a golden retriever,’ and I think that was a really good assessment of him. He was just all that. He loved life.”