I feel like the professionals should stop "ducking"

[skydy]

Are you speaking about his ducking? You must be, because there is really nothing else to criticize. Apparently, since he could out equitate most people who are complaining about his position, he finds it helpful to ride the way he does.

Ducking certainly isn’t as attractive as the classic jumping equitation position, but I think it’s silly to nit pick a rider that can out ride most of the people who are complaining about his position.

His job is to train his horses to jump beautifully, and he is (and has been for decades) very good at it.

[kirbydog]

Most of them don’t ride like John French. Most don’t have his talent, or his ability to get the best out of a young hunter, or a seasoned campaigner. The horses themselves tell us they love his riding

[Tha_Ridge]

Can we see videos of the horses you’ve owned, ridden, trained, or produced?

[skydy]

Thanks for posting the round. His commentary shows how well he knows his horse and that he knows very well how to stay out of the horse’s way.

[CBoylen]

John is also not a good choice if you want to pick on the “modern” hunter discipline with the usual arguments. He grew up foxhunting and has represented the US internationally in the jumper ring. His background is full of “back in the day” heroes. This article is a bit dated but I think gives a nice overview of his career, at least to that point.

John French: Full of Surprises - Sidelines Magazine

[Rel6]

I had no idea he rode Rumba in the Olympics trials. So cool. Thanks for sharing!

[MHM]

I was just about to say the same thing! Who knew??

[CBoylen]

I’m actually wondering if that part of the article was a grammar misunderstanding there. I feel like that would be something that I would’ve heard about before and it’s not ringing a bell. I know John did the Olympic trials and did well, but I do not remember remember Rumba having a jumper career at that level.

[MHM]

In looking for more information about Rumba’s jumper career, I came across this Chronicle profile about John French, which is a little more recent. It’s pretty darn interesting to see what his typical day looks like.

https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/a-day-in-the-life-with-john-french/

[kirbydog]

Wow, he’s even more interesting than I realized! And impressive

[MHM]

OK, after wrestling a bit with the search feature here, it looks like John French was riding a horse named Millennium in the Olympic trials.

It’s quite a flashback to see the names of the horses who were at the top of their game almost 20 years ago, as well as the riders. Some of the same riders are still at the top of their game!

https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/madden-dello-joio-and-ward-rise-top-round-2-wraps/

[bamboopole]

Back in the bamboo pole days.
Can’t criticize the man or his team.

RJ could beat anyone, even these days. He’d probably “duck.”

[bamboopole]

Clare Bronfman!

Not at the top of her game these days.

[MHM]

Definitely not.

[blondewithchrome]

@kirbydog

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?

lol agree that the toll for right to judge position of these pros should be video evidence of commenters own 4’ hunter course. Gotta pay to play, baby!

[CBoylen]

I find the situation sad but the comment hilarious. Wish there were more than a heart reaction to posts.

[Rel6]

Thanks for clarifying! I started to wonder if that was right, given other articles talking about French getting the ride after Rumba was already in the hunter ring.

[risuenaVT]

One of my instructors grew up riding with John and in intervening years has been at least occasionally stabled in the same location as his horses, so she knows how he rode in his youth and has seen how he rides outside the show ring. And to hear her tell it, he has fantastic equitation and is as pretty a rider as you’d ever like to see. Which means he knows how to ride and chooses to ride the way he does in the hunter ring because it gets results. Whether that’s because the ducking results in better jumps from the horses or because the style appears to make the horses better to the judges or whatever, I don’t know! I don’t have a good enough eye or enough experience to say. I do trust my instructor and her bonafides, so I’m pretty okay with believing that John French chooses to ride the way he does because it gets results. And he’s got the results to support that, so…

[Foitin]

John French is a ridiculously good rider, the softest rider I think. His student Ariana Marnell (Babylon/Ocean Road, etc.), is also a beautiful, soft hunter rider. My mom and I remember watching John in California in 1990s and being wowed by how the horses jumped for him. Still doing it some 30 years later! My position is not good (ducking, laying on the neck, open finger dramatic release) and I I’ve tried to fix it because it makes it difficult to be organized for the handy turns and trot jumps. What has finally gotten me to change somewhat more was getting a green horse! This amateur can’t be reclining on the neck and hanging off the side to stay on.

[Railbird]

The plaid horse podcast interviews Diane Carney and Michael Britt Leon on this topic. Interested to hear it when I have a chance.