I’m still laughing at this story. Lol.
I was so sad when Rodney stopped showing, just because it was so much fun to watch him on any horse in any ring.
But then somebody on a Facebook page did the math and figured out a conservative estimate of how many jumps he had jumped in his life in the show ring, not even counting the ones at home. And the number was just staggering. So I guess I can understand if he felt like he was ready for a change.
I have an eventer friend several years ago who figured out how many jumps at training level and up Buck Davidson had jumped in competition. It was more than she jumped, period. Time in the saddle is so important.
My friend leased a older U25 packer for her child, when they finally did the math he had jumped something like 400 classes at 1.45m or higher over the course of his life. No wonder he was such a packer!
Forever have other disciplines griped about hunter riders. It’s getting pretty old.
Nevermind that eventers these days ride every single fence in the SJ ring like a drop. (Then wonder why they so often drops rails behind)
Or dressage riders leaning so far back their ears are almost touching the hindquarters.
And there’s always been jumper riders whose legs aren’t even touching the horse over fences, they’re just floating above them. Or pinching their knees so hard their heels are touching their own butt.
Someone above mentioned they think watching hunters is like watching paint dry. I feel that way about western pleasure / english pleasure.
You can’t please everyone.
Let people enjoy things.
It’s funny because I do and have ridden and jumped many horses. Not nearly as many as John French and the like, of course.
I do find that the harder the horse jumps…if I ducked, I’d be jumped loose. I’m more inclined to keep my body upright on a “hard” jumper.
My personal horse has a very unique style of jumping. I typically am able to do an automatic release over verticals (1.20m) but an oxer at 1-1.10m it’s crest release and sit UP. Then again, we see a ton of riders at the top level (1.60m+) who look like they may fall off in the air and get incredible jumps out of their horses. I think we all develop a style and feel as we ride more and more horses.
I hate the ducking and agree, there’s almost no logical use for it and find it incredibly distracting from a horse that jumps well.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know a lot, but I do know watching John French canter around a high performance course is incredible. Unbelievably beautiful. I find him to be an amazingly soft and elegant rider and even if he does duck, it does not take away one bit from the beauty of the horse or the round as a whole.
I agree with not griping about disciplines you don’t understand, but sorry, I don’t see this that much beyond maybe a few inexperienced riders learning the game.
This contributes absolutely nothing to the actual discussion, but I did want to defend my fave discipline real quick 
otherwise I totally agree. I love watching my hunter friends go around, it’s lovely and relaxing to see.
Since the Chronicle was kind enough to send out this picture today for time travel Tuesday, I’m going to add photographic evidence of Rodney Jenkins into the mix.
If anyone cares to criticize his position, I would certainly love to see their résumé and how it stacks up next to his. Lol.
Denny Emerson already beat you to this one with a pic of bill steinkraus looking impeccable (and taken at a point of the jumping effort well past when one photographs a hunter) and suggested people should “Look at photos of excellent riders like Steinkraus, not photos of Sloppy Basics Sally to get the right idea” in reference to this same post on COTH’s facebook.
I don’t mind someone disagreeing who at least has a concept of what the other side is trying to accomplish, but so much of the criticism comes from a place of thinking the whole discipline is stupid, so you can’t argue with that. The way some professional saddleseat trainers rides gives me the heebie jeebies but I have no fundamental understanding of that discipline and therefore I just keep scrolling. Why eventers specifically are so incapable of doing this with hunter riders is strange to me. I came home last year from winning a championship at WEF on a catch ride and was greeted with commentary from other boarders that “I don’t know how you could feel any sense of accomplishment from that” and “wow I guess it’s so simple you can just do it on any horse” so it’s a more pervasive sentiment than just the comments section.
There were actually three pics at various stages over fences with some depth to them:
"If some current rider who is OK with seeing another rider jumping ahead of the motion, lower legs swinging back sees a photo of, say, Bill Steinkraus doing it right and says “old fashioned”, that current rider is sadly deluded.
Correct is correct and wrong is wrong, and it doesn’t matter whether it was 1953 or 2023.
If some current mathematician started a new interpretation by declaiming that 2 plus 2 equals 5, he would still be wrong.
Bad riding is bad riding, good riding is timeless. When jumping, the best riders sit in balance, look up, allow with hands and arms so the horse is not restricted in head and neck, let hips go back, lower legs stay stable just behind the girth, heels at least slightly down.
If anyone thinks this is “the way they used to do it, we know better now,” that person doesn’t understand the basic physics of thrust, motion, centering, balance.
Look at photos of excellent riders like Steinkraus, not photos of Sloppy Basics Sally to get the right idea."
This winning hunter round looked well ridden to me;
Lovely ride 
I don’t know who this is but assume they are “someone” and in slow motion… well, it’s a bit desperate.
That’s John French. 
That’s what I thought…
What is desperate about that? You do realize that the jump is well over 4’, as a high option in an International hunter derby, and that, while not crawling along, it isn’t done at the pace that a jumper would jump it at
Do you not see the kick from behind that horse gave? Or the push from the back it gave? Have you ever jumped a horse like that? Have you ever jumped a whole 4’ hunter course?
It’s the last gd jump of what he’s got to be thinking is the winning ride (it was) of the country’s biggest hunter class with a $38,000 winner’s paycheck. The word you are looking for is not desperate, it’s relief.
I encourage you to watch the video with his commentary in this article. https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/inaugural-winner-john-french-is-back-on-top-at-derby-finals/
I thought he was incredibly tactful, light and smooth on the horse. He’s a great rider and it’s clear how much he loves horses.
I don’t understand why people feeling the need to bitch about someone who rides so well and is apparently a very nice guy.
Because they are armchair quarterbacks
Meh. Agree to disagree. Not all hunter riders ride like that, so the slowness doesn’t appear to be the reason for it, and I don’t find it attractive personally. I’m sure he’s a super guy but I wasn’t commenting on his personality.
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