Clearly Mr. French is a more advanced rider than I will ever be, but I have a question about his technique.  Each week in my lesson I must hear  "look to your next fence!"  or "EYES UP!"  at least ten times.  Yet, I see that in each of the photos that accompany the article Mr. French is peering down over Rumba's shoulder, looking directly at the ground.  Even in the cover photo he seems to be closely examining his mount's left knee.  Assuming he isn't in the witness protection program, and trying to keep his face from being photographed, I wonder if someone could help me understand this technique.  It is not my intent to question Mr. French's horsemanship, I am an amateur rider that would sincerely like to learn from this article and wonder why the photos don't mesh with what I am being taught.

Thanks!

You are not the only one to wonder about this one, Brenda.  I too got the issue and that was the first thing I noticed.  It may be hunters, but you still need to keep your eyes up!  I was quite disappointed that they did not pick a picture offering a more positive example of good equitation for the cover because goodness knows there needs to be more good examples out there.  No point in staring at the jump after you are already jumping it!

We hear you guys, and this is something we discussed knowing full well we'd get letters from our astute readers. (The feedback just goes to prove how wonderfully educated you guys are! Well done!) However, the idea was to highlight the magnificent Rumba on our cover. Despite what John is doing, it doesn't seem to be affecting Rumba's style, which is the bottom line in hunters, as Solaris points out. Remember, the story isn't about John's equitation--it's about his strategies for winning the Hunter Derby Final with this fabulous horse. Hope you can see past the "unorthodox" riding style to learn something from the article. Would we like every rider to have a text-book position? Of course! That would make our job MUCH easier. But John's style clearly works for him--and his stellar record proves it. I think it's one of those "do as I say, not as I do" teaching moments. And I do hope we show enough good equitation examples each month to make up for it! ;-)

Thanks for your feedback, Stacey!  I do understand that the horse is judged in the hunter derby, not the rider's equitation, and Rumba is of course, quite lovely!  I always worry especially about young riders emulating the style of the "celebrities" featured in magazines and hope that they realize that the horse jumps well and wins IN SPITE OF a rider staring at his feet, not BECAUSE OF.