Hopefully the COTH hive mind can help, my google searching of “showjumper strange position” and scrolling through many many images has not been successful.
What is the name of the showjumper (a woman) who kicks her heels up behind her when the horse jumps? Her feet fly out behind her and her heels nearly touch? She was very successful. Aaaaaaaargh my brain.
Sounds like Roger-Yves Bost to me (but he is obviously not a woman!)
Annette Lewis!
Just out of curiosity, what’s the reasoning behind her technique?
Apparently she started out riding ponies and had to lift her legs out of the way to avoid hitting the jumps. And I also read that she didn’t have much formal instruction as a kid so her style to develop that way. The horse she is riding in this video was called Tutein and he had an extravagant style too so they were a perfect match.
anne lewis?
All I did was google “tutein jumper horse”.
Xanthoria yes!!! Thanks so much 
OMG for the “everything was better in my day, get off my lawn” types… is she (gasp) posting the canter?!
She doesn’t even have all of her hair in her helmet! (I actually love the low bun, it reminds me of the old foxhunting style of a thick, looped braid beneath the helmet).
That was a fun horse to watch, but I do wonder if she rode like that when NOT competing (like popping over fences hacking out)?
Not that I could see.
Possibly the best ever example of ‘function’ over ‘form’. She represented GB many times, was successful at the top level and, possibly even more surprising, was a certified British Showjumping Association coach. I find it slightly sad that the wilder extremes of rider style and ‘exotic’ horse breeds and types have largely vanished from the professional sport in a world of Warmbloods and cookie cutter riders. Not so much fun.
If you watch the beginning, right when she picks up the canter, she is indeed posting to the canter.
I just want to see ultra-loose-lower-leg-riders ride a horse with a stop in them. Now THERE’S the entertainment! My guess is they knew no matter what that horse was going to go (who knows what “training” was going on at home), so no need to have a tight lower leg…
Of course not all of them would do unscrupulous things, but when the stakes are high? I mean, we’ve got Kocher with electric spurs just recently, he didn’t invent that in a vacuum.
Lol oh man. Some people are really brave that’s all I can say. Whatever works for you I guess 
Benny O’Meara had a similar style.
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/tbt-benny-omeara-1962-national-horse-show.
He not only didn’t “ invent electric spurs in a vacuum”, he didn’t “invent” them at all. Have personal knowledge they were in use in the 1950s and suspect back to shortly after Edison and Tesla harnessed electricity for commercial purposes.
The “good old days” weren’t so good, especially for animals.
100% agree. In general, I’d guess the tip-top upper levels are not good for horses, in any equestrian sport.
She certainly had an unorthodox style - but it didn’t seem to hinder that horse! Definitely function over form
I do have one burning question though - how on earth did she keep her stirrups?
To be tip-top upper level in equestrian sport requires tip-top upper level horse care from an entire team of tip-top upper level experts who devote their lives to achieving the day in, day out consistency in performance that separates the tip-top upper level competitors from the many who “also ran”.
Right, to keep the horses bandaided together well enough to compete. This is well known in the eventing world - keeping a horse sound at the upper levels is on a wing and a prayer (along with tip top management).
The top level of anything, human or horse, is HARD on the body. It’s not actually “good” for the horse, or the human.
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