For all of the picture-perfect advanced riders, there are always a few who make you wonder how they not only survived, but actually won, using their unconventional, even gravity-defying, jumping styles. Annette Lewis is one of those. George Morris, hide your eyes!
In the video above she is shown on her horse Tutein winning the Hickstead Derby! Hard to believe that she stays on.
I found this interview with her on EQ Life where she talks about her unique style:
“It’s been described as flamboyant,” Annette laughs during a break at one of her clinics at Norton Heath in Essex. “I jump like I do because I was never taught how to ride. At eight or nine years old I was really tall and when I used to jump my 12.2hh ponies my legs got in the way so I had to lift them up to stop me from hitting fences with my feet. I still ride like that. People will tell you that even though my riding style is unorthodox, I never get in my horses’ way. I’m never a hindrance to them. I’ve come in for terrible criticism for the way I ride but my record shows you can be unorthodox and still be good, and if I had a rider come to me for coaching with a similar style, so long as they were effective, I wouldn’t try to change them.”
Do you remember Jeff McVean, an aussie rider in the 70s who also had an unorthodox style? Have a look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbX-HuayOKQ
Their forms are so similar: Get completely out of the horse’s way. Wasn’t there an American who had a similar “levitational” style? I remember seeing him at the Washington Int’l Horse Show in the mid-70’s, only his hands would go the way of these two’s legs. Hilarious, yet effective.