Rodney Jenkins, revered show-jumper and race horse trainer, dies at 80
He was a legend in the sport, known for his fluid style and instinctual approach to horses. “As a rider,” one equestrian judge said, “he was without peer.”

December 12, 2024 at 8:31 p.m. EST


Rodney Jenkins in 1977, riding Dutch Crown at the Royal agricultural fair and horse show in Toronto. (David Cooper /Toronto Star via Getty Images)

By Harrison Smith

Rodney Jenkins, arguably the greatest show-jumper in the history of the sport, never got a formal riding lesson. But growing up on a farm in Orange, Virginia, he spent most of his childhood in the saddle or the stable: mucking stalls, riding before and after school, hauling logs and branches to create an obstacle course behind the barn, where he would play “horse show” until the sun went down.

Mr. Jenkins, who died Dec. 5 at age 80, went on to claim dozens of equestrian trophies and ribbons, retiring from the show ring in 1989 as the winningest rider in American show-jumping. Although his record of more than 70 grand prix victories has since been surpassed, he remains a revered figure in the sport, known for his fluid, instinctual way of guiding horses over and around ditches, fences and seven-foot walls.

“For show jumping, just as a rider, he was without peer,” said equestrian judge David Distler, the show manager at the Washington International Horse Show. “It was a beautiful thing to watch, the way horses responded to him, trusted him.” ... Equestrian writer and broadcaster Steve Byk said Mr. Jenkins was “perhaps the greatest natural horseman America has produced.”

“There’s people that are taught how to ride, and they may be proficient, and they may be successful, but there’s also people that are put up on the back of a horse and just instantly have a rapport,” Byk added in a phone interview. “They literally can translate their desire to the horse through their hands and their legs, and the way in which they communicate with a horse. That’s what Rodney Jenkins had.”

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By Harrison Smith
Harrison Smith is a reporter on The Washington Post's obituaries desk. Since joining the obituaries section in 2015, he has profiled big-game hunters, fallen dictators and Olympic champions. He sometimes covers the living as well, and previously co-founded the South Side Weekly, a community newspaper in Chicago.follow on X@harrisondsmith