I wanted to pop in and say I found the tag for #rideforhannah on Instagram. Most of the pictures have some condolence under them. I actually found it sweet and touching. I also like the underlying message of Keep On Riding, to not give into a sense of fear. Also it’s all or mostly juniors. It’s important kids get to be a part of something and to create their own traditions of mournimg or memorializing.
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It’s not mostly juniors. At least on my facebook/IG pages. I’ve seen dedications from PNHS, Aiken, Andrew Ryback, another photog, retailers, BNT and hunter/jumper pros, World Cup/Olympic and USET riders, western riding icons. Many have tagged the GoFundMe, as well. It’s touched so many people and from the feedback from the family, it’s meant a lot to them. Nothing is going to bring her back, but the outpouring of love and celebration of her life is truly amazing.
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Ok I stand corrected. It’s really taken off. In any case it looks entirely wonderful to me, not the exploitative and tasteless posturing some folks thought earlier.
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When you say “rolled over on me” do you mean that he rolled over you like a horse that is rolling in the field? (In which case it is NOT a rotational fall) Or do you mean he hit the ground head first, then withers, then back ? (Which IS a rotational fall)
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No, I mean he stubbed his toe, went down head first, legs in the air, doing a somersault basically, and I got caught in his legs, I think. Definitely a rotational fall. I do know the difference
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Yep, same experience here. I was riding my saintly lease horse (he’s 26 and an absolute schoolmaster) when he caught a toe in manicured footing and we both went down. He didn’t have a rotational, but we both hit hard and while we weren’t unscathed, I know how much worse it could have been. He 1000000% wasn’t drugged.
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I didn’t look at all the pictures, but I thought the ones from the PNHS and Andrew Ryback were really a nice way to remember her on what was obviously such a happy day for her at Harrisburg last year.
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I have had one almost rotational fall and two trip and falls. The almost rotational was on grass, jumped a pole and the horse knocked it into her front legs. I stayed aboard as her head dragged in the dirt and she scrambled to stay up. Good mare, she had a stripe of dirt the whole way from her ears to her nose. My two trip and falls were both in sand. One was a green horse and the other had epm. We picked up the right lead canter and all of a sudden my brain registered that the ground was getting closer but I was still very much in the saddle. I got lucky.
I do wonder if the GGT had the grid underneath it. The show facility near me has it and it did concern me that it could cause a fall if the horse stabbed a toe into it. You just never know with horse feet.
It is tragic either way, and certainly has made me re-evaluate things like my safety equipment.
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I’ve come off countless times, and hands down the worst I was hurt was my mare’s trip. The saddle basically catapulted me head first into the ground, so it wasn’t at “normal” speed. It happened so fast there was nothing I could do. I felt her knee and hoof brush me and my helmet as she righted herself.
I ended up in an MRI machine on that one.
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That’s essentially how my near-rotation was. His front end just disappeared and I was a lawn dart. Luckily I was uninjured; albeit my hunt cap (don’t flame me…) popped off and went rolling across the arena. I was only sore from bracing for impact and trying to defy gravity.
It seems that her parents are taking some comfort from the social media posts. I am okay with it as long as they are.
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I think different people have their own definition of what a “rotational fall” is. Most of us haven’t studied it in depth.
The official definition for someone making a study of it may be a horse that goes over it’s head, a somersault with back feet straight up over the head & front feet. A hard landing on the horse’s back, perhaps slightly to the side.
For many people, any horse fall where the horse rolls over, but without somersaulting, may strike them as having been “rotational”. Because the horse rotated – but sideways in a roll, not forward in a somersault.
The side rollover after a horse trips or puts a foot wrong, or muffs a landing, that lands a horse on its shoulder and/or side is not common. But is much more common than a full somersault, which is thankfully very rare.
A rollover can also cause injuries, even be life-threatening. But it is much more likely that horse and rider walk away from a sideways rollover than from a somersault.
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So, re the initial question of should the show go on, and/or how should show management respond to a fatality during a horse show …
GR848 is the USEF guidance to horse shows on the matter.
https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/34VQYitZ_Zk/gr8-conduct-of-licensed-competitions
But there is a problem GR848. GR848 addresses only internal management procedures. Notifications to the organization, reports, forms, responsibilities of various personnel with other personnel.
There is not one word of guidance about communication to the show participants, to the media or to the public. Not a suggestion of various ways to handle things, depending on the situation. Of continuing or not continuing the show, how to decide and conditions to consider, is not mentioned.
What should the announcer say, if anything? What are some messages to the local media (who were obviously all over this incident)?
What are some suggestions for communicating with the family? Offering them a private time to come to the scene of a fatal accident? Which some are going to do whether they are invited or not, nothing will stop them. It’s part of human grief.
It is really off-putting to read the USEF rule book section on serious accidents and fatalities that doesn’t contemplate anything but its own navel. Not a single word of guidance on communication and regard for the families, the other show participants, or the community. How indifferent and crass.
I wonder if there is in-person and/or online training for show officials that mentions this subject and has experienced, knowledgeable people on hand to at least discuss it, informally if not formally. Doesn’t have to be a seminar. But at least a short period to raise awareness and give some guidance, just in case, would be smart on the part of the USEF.
I wonder if show management has a USEF number to call for guidance from an experienced professional communicator in the event of something like this. That number would need someone on the other end almost 24/7 during show season.
It is unrealistic to expect all show management to know what to do in such an unusual circumstance. Some may have enough general experience to know, but not all will.
Hopefully such preparation is never needed by individual shows. But if it is needed, it is needed desperately and immediately. The USEF does not seem to have thought of that, or at least it isn’t evident in the rule book.
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This is Equestrian Canada’s “Emergency Planning and Action Plan”
They don’t cover death of rider in great detail, and the flow chart that does cover it is geared to Hockey, but they DO have an emergency line a competition can call in the event of a death (horse or rider) to get additional help/advice, and they do cover how to talk to the press.
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This is great! And presented so understandably.
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The USEF cannot create rules as to what to do in every situation since every fall is different and has different outcomes. Rules are there to guide the field of play and level the competition. Each show manager creates an emergency plan for the specific facility which includes notification information. Due to privacy issues, some things cannot be announced over a PA system.
USEF has an emergency line that stewards use to notify them about serious injuries and fatalities and the person manning to line is trained in emergency procedures and guides the steward through necessary steps.
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And yet Canada has just such a document.
It is not only about EMT’s, reports and forms.
The additional assistance needed is a communications specialist.
No one is suggesting announcing anything at the show. But determining what should be done about things like that is why the communications specialist is needed.
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I saw a fairly established trainer post and the trainer chose a picture where she is riding without a helmet. Truly bizarre to me.
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I just saw another post without a helmet.
Em
Someone on my FB posted their friend riding their horse, jumping with NO helmet. Said person themselves had a serious rotational fall last year and broke their neck and was in a halo.
I honestly do not understand people.
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