Jealoushe, I totally understand your concern. Totally. I am concerned as well, but I also am trying hard to be objective and not alarmist. There are just so many dire possibilities in the world today, that I find myself (across all spectrums, not just horses) trying to keep my cool and not freak out about what the “World” may be like in 10 years. Heck, it may be that water jumps will be everywhere if one competes on either coast :eek:
So that being said, I believe that the stats on rider injuries and horse falls do not indicate that the sport is less safe now than it was 10 or 20 years ago. You have to look at injuries per number of starts and not overall. The beginning of this year showed a marked increase in serious injuries. Statistically, this may be a spurious number, although personally, it was and is devastating. We cannot ever ignore serious injuries. I do know that we’ve pulled up the numbers on starts and rotational falls and those numbers are encouraging, insofar as there are fewer rotational falls than in years past.
We also need to look at real numbers, namely what are the gross number of entries in Horse Trials now as compared to previous years. Do we see a correlation between the introduction of unsanctioned Derbies and entries in Horse Trials? Are people entering these Arena Events in lieu of competing at Horse Trials?
Speaking for myself: I am entering far fewer HT now as compared to in years past because (finally!) there are unrecognized HT (and Derbies) in Virginia that are just as good for bringing along young horses as the far more costly recognized ones. So the USEA has not gotten my $$ this year because I don’t need them to compete and train, although the ultimate goal is to compete at the UL in USEA Sanctioned Events.
My one concern (and I think you would agree with me on this) is that the money does pull more people into these arena things. I believe that anyone who has been in and around this sport for any length of time knows that it is bloody hard to make a living in this sport. I see super talented young pros drop out every year to pursue employment that can support themselves and their families. So for the young pros who are hungry for cash to pay the feed bill, winning $50k could make the difference between staying in the sport for another year, and going out and finding a 2nd and 3rd job to survive.
In regards to your prediction that the CCI will be “rare or dead” in five years: I find that claim to be absurd. I assume you made that statement to argue with my earlier statement that we should look back in five years to see if Arena Eventing is taken over by the FEI to replace the CCI. Are there indications that the FEI is going to do that? Rumors? I mean, that’s a huge huge step away from the sport… hmmm… and all in five years?
There has been a huge outcry about what happened at the lower levels at the AEC’s cross country. Hopefully, people will vote with their entries in the future. But the courses affected were BN and N, not the UL, and there was no FEI at the AEC’s. So…
We have Twilight Jumpers here in The Plains that offers cash prizes ($5k) for winners. I see pros there often jumping around and trying to make time - sometimes after a day competing a string of horses at a HT. I doubt they want to be there but the $$ likely pulls them in. I don’t blame them for that, as long as they’re not harming their horses.
