[No1Dazy]

I didn't know if anyone had seen this. This went out after Rolex to all USEA members.

What do you think? I have my own opinions, but I'll share them after others pipe in a little. With all the racing talk going on, about safety of the horses and riders, there's equal controversy in the eventing world.




Joint Letter from USEF President David O’Connor and USEA President Kevin Baumgardner


04.29.2008

Dear Members of the Equestrian Community,
This past weekend at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day, Laine Ashker suffered a serious fall during the cross-country stage of the competition. She is currently in critical condition at the University of Kentucky hospital in Lexington. Laine’s horse and another involved in a separate accident had to be euthanized.

These accidents come just a month after Darren Chiacchia, an Olympic rider, had a serious fall at an event in Tallahassee, Florida. They also come in the wake of a recent article in the New York Times about 15 rider fatalities in cross country that have occurred worldwide over the last two years.

These accidents have hit us hard in the sport of eventing - we are all riders who care deeply about the horses, their welfare and the image of the sport. For us, the issue is also a personal one.

This spate of accidents has raised important and potentially troubling questions for those of us who govern the sport: Why are so many riders and horses having accidents? Is there more that can be done to make cross country safer? Is the sport just too dangerous?

There is no question that eventing is a demanding and yes, risky sport. Riders cross undulating terrain at high speed and jump a series of challenging fences - all while atop a 1,000 pound horse. So there is a constant need for us to ensure that every precaution is being taken to reduce the risk of injury to riders and horses.

Although we have implemented several measures to improve safety over the last year, clearly more needs to be done. In the coming days and weeks, we will be redoubling our efforts to identify additional steps we can take to make sure that riders and horses can compete as safely as possible. We would like to ask your help in this effort - whether you’re a rider, trainer, coach, veterinarian, or simply a horse enthusiast.

We invite each and every one of you to the USEF/USEA Safety Summit to be held in Lexington, KY June 7-8. We will break the issue of safety down and examine the causes and potential solutions with some of the best minds in the game. In the meantime, if you have immediate thoughts about how we can improve the safety of cross country, please email them to us at: safetythoughts@usef.org and/or safety@useventing.com.

Over the last few days, we have received emails from people who were at the Rolex event over the weekend and were disturbed by what they saw. They are asking hard questions of us and questioning whether they should continue to support the sport of eventing. To them and to you, we want to say that we too are disturbed by what we see. No matter how much we tell ourselves that injury is a part of our sport, it is always traumatizing to see a horse fall.

Therefore, we are working closely with FEI to do whatever we can to better protect riders and horses and to repair the public image of our sport. We are proposing today that within the U.S. the following five initiatives be put into effect:

1. If a horse has a rotational fall, horse and rider are suspended from competing for three or six months
2. If a horse has a rotational fall, horse and rider lose their qualification at the level at which they are competing.
3. If a rider falls off on the course they are eliminated.
4. Open oxers on courses at every level are made frangible.
5. If a horse falls related to a jump both horse and rider are suspended from competing for one month.

We don’t have all the answers, we are deeply concerned about what is going on in the sport of eventing and we need your help.
Sincerely,
David O’Connor, USEF President
Kevin Baumgardner, USEA President

[John]

Eventing is dangerous. You are asking a horse to jump when they are tired from running over a rough course.

[No1Dazy]

Bump...where are the eventers?

[equestriandynam]

i am not too sure those rules are going to help. 'If a horse has a rotational fall, horse and rider are suspended from competing for three or six months'
? i doubt anyones goal is to have a rotational fall, horses trip, horses fall.. i dont blame it on the rider or the horse really.. i think the goals need to be set for the jumps to be safer and for the demand on our horses to be reduced. Our equines are suprisingly fragile to be so strong..
personally i dont point at eventers and blame them for accidents that happen on the course.
where i stand is i wouldnt push my horses or any horses this hard, but i dont condemn the riders. Eventing has been made thousands of times safer than it used to be in the old days when the sport was first taking shape.

[eqgirl101]

i know eventing is dangerous... but its good i guess that they are wanting them to be safe and the horses too..

[CowGirlUp1833]

My coach used to work directly with David OConnor. She's been involved in Eventing at the international level for almost 15 years. Being at her barn, I am getting more and more exposure to this sport; It's something I would like to persue in addition to dressage but have been, quite frankly, worried about the safety of the sport.

I think that the sport can still remain highly challenging and greatly competitive while still taking measures to become more safe. I think it may open up the sport to riders like myself which are hesitant to join the sport for the sole reason of safety.

[equestriandynam]

rule 4 is the only rule that will help ensure safety.
Liane had a rotational fall at the flower basket. The basket had no safety features and it was early in the course (jump 5)
Rotational fall that lead to a broken jaw, clavicle, ribs, and collapsed lung. She got up and could move all her limbs but likely she wont be on a horse for at least a year. What good will a 4 month suspension do?
Liane wasnt riding wrecklessly (that i could tell.) Darren is one of the top riders in the country.. his horse misstepped.. and Frodo didnt take off in time from what i understand. The only thing that could have saved this horses life may well have been as simple as a safer jump. I won't go into the fatalities that occur due to internal bleeding..

[No1Dazy]

Originally Posted by CowGirlUp1833

I think that the sport can still remain highly challenging and greatly competitive while still taking measures to become more safe. I think it may open up the sport to riders like myself which are hesitant to join the sport for the sole reason of safety.

How do you and your coach think this can be accomplished? What are your opinions on the proposed changes?

[No1Dazy]

Originally Posted by equestriandynam

rule 4 is the only rule that will help ensure safety.
Liane had a rotational fall at the flower basket. The basket had no safety features and it was early in the course (jump 5)
Rotational fall that lead to a broken jaw, clavicle, ribs, and collapsed lung. She got up and could move all her limbs but likely she wont be on a horse for at least a year. What good will a 4 month suspension do?
Liane wasnt riding wrecklessly (that i could tell.) Darren is one of the top riders in the country.. his horse misstepped.. and Frodo didnt take off in time from what i understand. The only thing that could have saved this horses life may well have been as simple as a safer jump. I won't go into the fatalities that occur due to internal bleeding..

I agree... I'm not really sure those 5 points will help? It seems more on what to do AFTER the accident instead of preventing the accident. Let’s use Darren as an example—he fell on a 7 year old horse showing Prelim. I believe it WAS rotational. How is that predictable, or avoidable? He has the experience and qualification to do what he was doing. I do believe that the frangible pins will help, and I agree that fall=elimination is probably the right path, but for the most part, I think we need to reconsider what we are asking the horse and rider for at each level.

[No1Dazy]

Maybe there needs to be some way to prove the fitness or qualification of the horse? Requiring X amount of schooling time at recognized courses, or something. Just thinking out loud—I don’t really have any phenomenal ideas or suggestions for this.

And yes, there have been really tragic accidents at the upper levels lately, but a LOT of the danger in eventing falls at the feet of those trainers that we see, locally and around the nation, who have not put their students in a safe position on appropriate horses. When I think back to the last schooling event we attended—we saw probably 30% of riders fall in stadium, with kiddos eliminated before they even got to cross-country, because they were riding unsafe horses in a VERY bad position. And because this particular show does this out of order—with Stadium before Cross country, that probably saved a LOT of falls on the cross country course, because most of those kids weren’t even qualified to do BN or Novice. The push to make everything bigger and better needs to STOP with the trainers. Maybe there needs to be a required trainer’s certification program, and to do a recognized event, you should be required to have a certified trainer with you? I know people will gripe about limitations like that, but I’m not sure I see any other way to stop it.

As comparable to dressage, if the trainers stepped up and were honest with their students about levels they are QUALIFIED to show at, these wouldn’t be necessary. (http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsDisciplines/discipline/allDressage/natdressage.aspx Click on the blue button that says “Dressage Performance Standards Proposal Information.” AND please take the survey—you need your USDF number, if you’re currently a member.) Again, I believe the responsibility lies with the trainers, AND with the judges, to be true with the scores…but that’s a totally ‘nother discussion. ;-)

*stepping down off of my soap box now*