Yes, thank you. I left off an apostrophe. Noted.
I am local. The first year, I volunteered (and brought non-horsey husband). Last year, I attended my barnâs tailgate and shopped (again with non-horsey husband). This year, work kept me home. Non-horsey husband and I watched the XC replay tonight when I was done with work. Iâm thinking of buying a t-shirt to support the event. Other ideas?
A question for Janet. Oliver Townendâs horse activated a clip but the rail did not lower. I only took note because the commentator pointed it out and it was replayed. So can you tell me what the phrasing tells us in the rules regarding MIM clip activation vs lowering of jump. I guess that you can be awarded a clear as long as the rail stays up?
There was a moment where I thought âOh crap - this could take a while to sort outâ!
Gosh, you did. Irresponsible and insensitive to post misinformation about a terrible fall that happened 30 years ago, completely unrelated to this thread. Do better next time.
Yes. We (all the organizing committee) were pretty much in shock for the rest of the competition.
I did not actually see it, as I was helping set the show jumping course at the time, but I was on the radio, and got there before the ambulance. He was transported to the local hospital in Culpeper before being airlifted to Charlottesville.
My husband was running cross country warmup, and his opinion was that CRâs confidence exceeded his competence. But lots of of riders have confidence exceeding their competence and still manage to get round clear.
We were figuratively holding our breath for 7 years, concerned that his medical insurance might sue us. But they didnât.
But my main point is that his fall had NOTHING to do with it being a solid fence. The refusal would had resulted in the same fall if it had been a show jumping fence.
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Whew!
As I wrote, my husband & I were watching together but the jumps frighten him. They make him think of Christopher Reeveâs accident.
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I had to look that up.
The USEF rules ( https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/KlV5P9prkmM/ev-eventing-division ) just say 11 penalties for âActivating a frangible Obstacle in the jumping effort.â (rule EV123.1)
But the FEI rules for Eventing ( https://inside.fei.org/sites/default/files/2023%20FEI%20Eventing%20Rules_clean.pdf ) say âActivating a frangible device where the dimension of the fence is modified.â (rule 548.1)
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Thank you Janet for researching this. Devil is in the details:)
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Frangible technology is a scoring problem. Purely as a safety device it isnât logical to give penalties. After all, a rider can smash an unpinned xc fence into matchsticks but if they get over/through the obstacle between the flags, and the horse is still on itâs feet with the rider in the saddle, then they are scored âclearâ. But under FEI rules, if there is frangible technology activated then penalties are applied. The problem is that these can be subjective as no one can really judge which particular knock caused the pin to deform or break: MIMs are much easier to see than pins but neither has a precise gauge of deformity. It is up to the FJ to ask for replacements. If a frangible snaps after eight previous thumps then is it that eighth horse that broke the pin or the previous seven? To be totally fair, it would be necessary to replace the pin after every brush or thump but the cost, in terms of money (the technology is not cheap) and time makes that very unlikely.
However, the reason why penalties are applied to frangible fences is because safety is not just fence design and build. The penalties are there to stop the riders thinking âOh, doesnât matter, it will fall overâ and instead make them think âPenalties if I break it, be carefulâ. Frangibles tend to make riders think, even in the heat of the moment.
The FEI rule was tightened to include âmodifying the dimensions of the fenceâ to remove some of the ambiguity. The previous seven taps then arenât important, it is the eighth that altered the shape of the fence.
I was completely against penalizing a safety device functioning correctly - because other broken fences arenât - until I learned about penalties preventing rider stupidity. Now it makes perfect sense. And checking those pins after every horse keeps up my step count over the day.
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If anyone wants it, hereâs my video of Boydâs fall. Contessa was like, âsee ya, Iâm out of here! Stabling is that way!â
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My husband feels the same
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thank you for that. I was jump judging locally so I didnât get to watch. I forgot to load my account onto my phone and of course, I couldnât remember my password, I was hoping to watch a bit, but we were pretty busy so there wouldnât have been time to watch anyway.
Anyone getting the live stream for the jog this morning?
Canât find anything anywhere. 
The same fence was also included in the Novice course. It was a nothing burger of a fence. I jumped it in competition and schooling multiple times.
Reeve was a big guy, 6â 4", 200 pounds. What I have heard discussed, but is purely anecdotal, is that 1.) Reeveâs arms and whip got tangled in the reins, so he couldnât break his fall. 2.) Because of his arms being caught, he became a human lawn dart, striking the ground head first. Mass * Velocity = compression fractures of the cervical vertebra.
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Heartbreaking. She was going so well, what a gallop stride on her!
And just a tiny peck on landing, it looked like, but Iâm guessing it felt different from the saddle at that speed.
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Piggyâs out, Erin and Campground are out.
Only 14 to jump in the 5*.
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I have been told, by someone in a position to know, that, at the latest Olympics, the frangible clips were replaced after EVERY rider, whether the fence was touched or not.
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Ugh. The 5* course was tough yesterday so Iâm really not surprised but sad (for me) so few are jumping.
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