Thank you. Said what’s on my mind perfectly.
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I think xcjumper was saying that. Xctrygirl was talking about Kat.
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Understood. I suppose I attributed enjoytheride’s reply as a response to xcjumper’s post since s/he was the one who mentioned “mother.”
Anyway, all of this is a bit awkward considering the timing. I feel really bad for this gal’s family and friends and can’t imagine how sensitive they would feel to any hint of perceived criticism right now.
Let’s look at this - again, actually because we’ve had this very same discussion here before, for probably as many names as there are on the death list.
If you gathered all the eventing safety committees, officials, whatever and said ‘Do you care about safety?’, the answer would be a unanimous, resounding ‘Yes!’.
But then you need to take a look at the culture and find out if that’s really true in practice.
Paying lip service to safety can mask what is called a ‘culture of indifference’.
The example we used here before was based on a lab accident at UCLA in which someone was killed. The court found that a ‘culture of indifference’ in the lab was a contributing factor in the accident. In a lab setting, this means that you’ve got all the warning signage posted and everyone’s had their two-day safety training course but what actually happens in the lab falls way short of the mark. You find a person not wearing safety eyewear, ‘just this once’ they tell you. Right. And then you find someone pushed a heavy cart in front of the eye wash ‘to get it out of the way’. And then you see that a lab tech is eating lunch with food spread out on his bench and someone else is applying nail polish at their bench. All of these people, if you ask them, ‘care very much‘ about safety. That’s a culture of indifference.
Cultural change is difficult, takes real effort and causes much discomfort.
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Guess what? This rider did the EXACT same thing that killed another rider 14 years previous. She made the same choice in the same situation and got insanely lucky. I know the course where it happened well and I rode the same course that the other rider was killed. We all were instructed to NEVER do what they did and yet this rider made an insanely dangerous choice, ignoring common sense.
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This is incredibly cruel.
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Maybe it’s time for this to come back into fashion. My trainers have never been afraid to call me out when I’ve done something stupid or risked me and my horse. I’ve had trainers tell me that I was about to be killed if I didn’t shape up and fucking ride every fence.
This rider was failed because she didn’t get a yellow card for dangerous riding. Nobody pulled her aside and taught her the true danger of this sport.
Too many people now think they can do this without understanding the hard reality that every decision and every ride at a competition puts the horse and rider at risk.
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Can someone please explain for those who aren’t in the know, what this comment means, what the specifics are, and what happened?
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No. You have no idea what the officials said to her. Or her parents or trainer. All you know is she didn’t get a yellow card. Cruelty on a BB doesn’t help.
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By all means, a coach and friends can do this, and should if it’s warranted, to keep her safe ultimately. It’s entirely inappropriate for you to witness a mistake and declare over the internet that she had this coming. You’ve even admitted you’ve made mistakes (as obviously we all have). Should you never ride again?
I doubt you know what was said after her ride or what she worked on to get to this competition. It’s cruelty for cruelty’s sake- don’t kid yourself that it’s tough love or that you’re helping make others safer by lambasting a girl who is dead now.
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The riding in the Rebecca Farm video reminds me of Marilyn Little . Run and snatch and hope.
What a sad mess.
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Actually, what she did was truly yellow card worthy. I’ve seen folks pulled for less. A yellow card would have rocked her back so she could solidify the credentials.
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RAyers is referencing the gallop into the unmown crop field in the Rebecca Farm video. Cindy Burge died at Rebecca in 2004 when doing the same thing.
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And how do I know it was a yellow card offense?
The officials have warned us ever since Cindy that riding into the canola was a yellow card offense!
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I don’t think it’s fair to base judgement off a video taken months ago. @RAyers, if I am correct, you’re not referencing the ride from this year?
We can never understand what the trainer was thinking or what the rider was thinking or the specifics of the horse - thus, how can we judge? We have no clue what was happening that day.
Ultimately, I believe it is wrong to be fighting with each other. If you need a target go to the USEA and talk about collapsible fences and safety modifications. There’s no reason to argue about this rider. The only thing we should be doing is offering our sympathy and support.
I don’t think it’s fair to base judgement off a video taken months ago. RAyers, if I am correct, you’re not referencing the ride from this year?
We can never understand what the trainer was thinking or what the rider was thinking or the specifics of the horse - thus, how can we judge? We have no clue what was happening that day.
Ultimately, I believe it is wrong to be fighting with each other. If you need a target go to the USEA and talk about collapsible fences and safety modifications. There’s no reason to argue about this rider. The only thing we should be doing is offering our sympathy and support.
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The USEA is an educational entity. It has no influence on rules etc. (as they like to claim). It is the USEF and FEI that actually oversees the implementation of safety. USEA can make suggestions.
As for the yellow card, it was never issued when it was a clear violation.
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But does it really matter that it was never issued? Was it really going to change what happened? There’s no reason to be digging up old rides at this time.
It might have changed what happened. How do you know it wouldn’t have? I also think it’s a valid point to question whether we as a community should be doing more bystander interference (i.e., telling a rider or their parents that you think they are unsafe). Maybe it won’t make a difference, but maybe it will cause them to think twice.
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I’m guessing she encountered a drainage ditch?
