From Editor Sandy Oliynyk: 

"I was at the Rolex Three-Day Event and didn't see the falls of either Frodo Baggins and The Quiet Man, though I saw Frodo's fall in photos afterward, which gave me chills. At the breakfast stand the next day, a few of the riders said that part of the problem was that some riders don’t respect the fences enough, don’t fear them enough and go too fast to them. You’ll see in Nancy Jaffer’s article on the Practical Horseman Web site home page, the leaders of the sport give their thoughts on why there have been so many eventing accidents. But the difficulty is there doesn’t seem to be one big reason, so it’s a hard problem to fix. Do any of you have thoughts on why there seem to be so many more accidents in eventing? We’re doing a story on eventing safety for an upcoming story in Practical Horseman and we’d be interested to hear your thoughts."

 Feel free to respond here, or you can send your thoughts to practical.horseman@EquiNetwork.com.

I tend to agree with Roger Haller.  Never in my 47 horse-years have I seen so many people involved in jumping in general and eventing in particular.  I'm not sure what's priming the pump.  It could just be that eventing is simply the next in the long list of extreme challenges we seem to need these days to keep us feeling good.  Statistically, the more competitors participating in a sport, the greater the number of accidents will be--not the percentage, but the actual number.  The percentage might actually be dropping.  I haven't seen any studies to support or refute that.

I think there might be some valid concern over the fact that any barn owner or instructor with an empty field can fill it with jumps and call it a "cross-country course", which I think gives some riders the impression that, if they can make it around at home and do a passable dressage test, they can sign up for the next mini-event without any further instruction.  Hopefully the recent increase in the number of eventing clinics held by successful riders will over-balance that trend. 

I don't know whether or not it's related, but I've also noticed over the past few years that the quality of riding and of the horses being ridden at local shows has deteriorated while the number  of competitors has increased.  I'm wondering whether competition is being used as a lure to get more youngsters interested in riding (and keep them interested) to bolster the horse business in a time of economic stress.  Not that a shot in the arm isn't necessary and good, but perhaps the competitive drive is pushing the wrong buttons and giving quantity an edge over quality.

I have been actively involved in the eventing community for about 20 years; first as a competitor (lower levels), now as an owner, groom and spectator.  I did see Frodo Baggins' fall at Rolex and it was one of the worst falls I'd ever seen.  In my opinion, the rider rode the fence too fast, possibly because she had already ridden an earlier horse around double clear and was trying to "get up on the clock" because of the combinations ahead.  That said, I would urge everyone involved in eventing, especially those headed to the upcoming safety forum, to read Jimmy Wofford's online article of today "Eventing Lives in the balance".  http://www.equisearch.com/horses_riding_training/english/eventing/wofford_eventing_lives_051408/index.aspx  Wow!  I couldn't agree with him more.  As a very well respected trainer and clinician, I think he has really put his finger on how recent changes in the sport (short format, more difficult dressage and show jumping tests, overly submissive horses) may be resulting in the increase in tragic accidents.  I agree that there are probably not "magic" rule changes that will ensure safety.  Eventing is a high risk sport.  It seems that many of the rule changes over the last few years have unintentionally contributed  to the current dilemma.  I feel that if we over legislate, we will end up changing the sport completely and be left with something like Indoor Eventing (Yes, there is such a thing), or Handy Hunter classes.

I agree, the more I read the article, the more I found myself thinking, "wow, he's right."  Changes in the sport which were originally intended to make it safer may have actually contributed to the current problems. I hadn't thought about it that way before and it was very thought provoking.

 

I think some of the rule changes regarding qualifications to move up through the levels are valid, but I feel that they should apply to both horse and rider as a team.  If you check Baron Verde's (Darrin C's horse) record with the USEA, he moved from Novice to Prelim in 5 events: 2 Novice, 2 Training  (one with 60 penalties), then did 1 Prelim with lots of time faults before the event where the accident occurred, all from January until March.  If the experience qualifications applied to both horse and rider, there was no way that the horse could have been doing Prelim. This would make catch-riding difficult, but how safe is that anyway?  It would also prevent riders from buying experienced horses and riding them at levels above the rider's ability because they feel the horse can do it.

I don't think that there should be qualifying scores for dressage and showjumping, however.  Cross country is the important phase and is where most accidents occur.  This ties in with Mr Wofford's philosophy of placing too much emphasis on dressage and show jumping.

 

 I definitely agree with the idea of the horse becoming too "robotic" - not allowed to think for himself or herself. And on top of this are too many riders who don't trust their horses' opinion, or who don't care about listening to their horses - they just want the horse to do what they want it to do. Riding is a two-way street - you  have to LISTEN to your horse as much as you expect him to listen to you, especially in a potentially dangerous situation like eventing. (Small example - My mare has sidestepped items on the field that I could not possibly have seen, thereby taking us out of harm's way. She's even refused to cross an area, and when I looked down, there was barbed wire. I didn't assume she was being obstinate, I listened, and we were safer for it.)

Too many folks are in a hurry as it is, in life in general, including in how they work with horses, and pushing the clock in eventing seems like a huge issue. I realize that people want to win, especially when they're pro's and their reputation and skills are on the line, however, is it really worth risking the death of your horses and yourself? Myself, I'd just be grateful to be at Rolex, and would enjoy it - have a good time. Have riders forgotten to have fun? And accept that fact that you can't win them all? That winning isn't everything? That you will get better and stronger with time and that maybe you can win the next time? Has this way of thinking gone by the wayside? Aren't we supposed to enjoy just being with horses? What happened to that?

I understand that eventing is a risky sport, but it seems that there are far too many accidents and deaths. Same with Thoroughbred racing. That spells out big problem.  

Indy Carol:

 And on top of this are too many riders who don't trust their horses' opinion, or who don't care about listening to their horses - they just want the horse to do what they want it to do. Riding is a two-way street - you  have to LISTEN to your horse as much as you expect him to listen to you, especially in a potentially dangerous situation like eventing.

Too many folks are in a hurry as it is, in life in general, including in how they work with horses, and pushing the clock in eventing seems like a huge issue. I realize that people want to win, especially when they're pro's and their reputation and skills are on the line, however, is it really worth risking the death of your horses and yourself? Myself, I'd just be grateful to be at Rolex, and would enjoy it - have a good time. Have riders forgotten to have fun? And accept that fact that you can't win them all? That winning isn't everything? That you will get better and stronger with time and that maybe you can win the next time? Has this way of thinking gone by the wayside? Aren't we supposed to enjoy just being with horses? What happened to that?

 

Indy, you hit the nail on the head!  I couldn't agree more. 

My very first post! I agree with the person who said that people just throw jumps in their feild and call it a cross country course. Especially since a lot of these jumps are just stadium jumps in a field. People get confidence saying, "Oh wow my horse is doing fine!" and then they go to an event and the jumps are actually solid. Another issue is trainers. There are so many trainers at my barn putting teens that i think should be on a lung line developing correct jumping position over novice jumps to make daddy happy.

 This month's Practical Horseman has a lengthy article on this subject.  The stats were very interesting.  It would appear that part of the problem is that with so many more participants, the number of injuries and deaths is greater, though the percentage remains almost the same.  The article compares the numbers to the ratio of accidents to participants in skiing.

In my opinion, it's difficult to compare eventing to any sport that doesn't involve participants who are not given the option of NOT participating--the horses.  That innocent animals wind up injured or dead is what makes this such a newsworthy situation.  

Ponieventer, the article definitely agrees with your take, that trainers are sending out riders who have more panache and aggressiveness than basic skills.  And no one needs a trainer in order to event, so that's not even accounting for the vast number of riders who think they can handle it and just go for it without any instruction or lesson/clinic experience at all.