November 28, 2007 @ 10:41 pm
Another Eventing Rider Death
Another young eventing rider died in a fall when competing in Florida on 17th November. Again another female advanced level rider has been fatally injured after her horse hit a fence and fell on her causing head and chest injuries. The horse died instantly after falling on its neck. Apparently another woman was killed on the same course in 2006.
I have written a number of posts on this same subject but continue to be shocked at the slow response from the eventing world. Apparently there was a review of eventing deaths and dangers a few days before this latest death but I’m still waiting to see some concrete actions be taken to reduce the risk of the sport to the rider and the horse.
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December 5th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Terrible news.
While they can make the sport safer, horses will always be dangerous.
Wish I hadn’t read this two days before my daughter takes her horse to his first event. She’s doing the little stuff (very little) but that’s as challenged as they need to be — and I’m worried even at that.
December 13th, 2007 at 12:24 am
Sorry that my comments made you more nervous before your daughter’s first event. I hope this went OK - it must be much more difficult to watch than actually take part. Certainly I still did a lot of the small event stuff despite the dangers but was careful with my speed and approach to the various types of solid fences. I used to say I’d much rather jump a 4 feet show jump that a 2′6 cross-country fence.
Horses are inherently dangerous so you always have to be careful around them but most enjoyable and exciting activities have some degree of danger. However I think the eventing sport need to address their inherent dangers and minimise the risks, given the ongoing, albeit small proportion of deaths each year.
December 16th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Very sad news. Is there a pattern to the types of jumps that might be causing injury? I guess I’m always looking for ways tko explain things.
December 16th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I’d be interested to know this too but it is not usually mentioned in most reports I see. In this latest accident I believe the horse hit a gate which was next to the actual fence. I expect that it is likely to be solid post and rail type fences but maybe these are the fences I’m most concerned about. I expect there are a number of other factors as well, such as the type of going, start or end of course, approach to fence including gradient, etc.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
The courses have changed since I started attending these events in the 70s — they went from big, wide, rustic often spooky jumps to narrower, tricky obstacles (a horse was impaled on a flag at Badminton, Engand horse trials last year) largely because the endurance (roads and tracks) section of the cross country has been removed. The cross country courses today are just glorified — and much more dangerous — show jumping courses. The reason for omitting endurance? So more competitors could compete in each trials and could do more events per year and to make it less slow for the spectators. All bad reasons. Don’t fix things that aren’t broken. How many more horses and riders hav to die because of the current system? Two more things I think have changed over the past decades: the instant gratification culture and people not putting the time and effort to train to the skill and fitness levels required and the “me too” ethos of affirmative action which ignores expertise and skills so that everyone, competent or not, can have a go. This goes through down from riders to event organizers and course builders. FEI and USEA need to create and enforce standards!