Please sign if you in support of FEI Reining. https://www.change.org/p/world-wide-fans-of-international-reining-at-all-levels-in-support-of-fei-reining-621353a0-d290-4fb6-a03b-7b92e0dc1d76?recruiter=false&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=share_petition&recruited_by_id=ed3f93d0-fc54-11e9-81f6-95f5c963b5a8&utm_content=fht-18742290-en-au%3Av10
The way I see it, the FEI wants to become the international reining federation.
They demand that everyone follow their rules, if they make sense or not for reining.
It seems that is why they are threatening to take reining out of their line-up if other reining associations won’t comply with their demands.
Not sure it is in the best interest of reining to have an international group based on European concepts determining for every country which rules they need to follow.
There is also much economic activity with reining.
Money from that would flow to the FEI if they had more/total international control of reining.
Not sure current associations would be very happy to relinquish that much control.
They are who made reining as successful as it is as a self standing discipline.
Here is more:
http://www.wrsnieuws.eu/controversy-aqha-takes-position-against-fei/
Will be interesting to see where this goes.
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Well said Bluey. Plus the FEI has already shown they can be paid off with big contributions, with the lack of Rule enforcement in Endurance, not the folks i would want running reining. I don’t believe the Western folks thinking, previous ways of doing things and FEI “Toe the line or else” attitude will ever mesh well. FEI acts like a big bully every time I see them trying to be the only way of doing things.
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Congratulations everyone… Great to see our sport remaining as part of the FEI. Look forward to following its continued development. A great result.
FEI has mandated helmets for all mounted sports in 2021 except vaulting.
Well, there are western safety helmets that would qualify already on the market.
Here is one:
https://www.statelinetack.com/item/r…SABEgLlNvD_BwE
Many other neat ones on Etsy.
Some are western hat covering standard helmets:
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Heaven forbid someone ride without a helmet. Because, you know, so many reiners fall off of their horses. Can we assume steer wrestling isn’t likely to become an FEI sport?
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Oof, that rang my bells just watching his head hit. Ouch.
Yes, scary.
Bet he had a headache after that one.
That is exactly the kind of hits the new helmets just out are best at protecting from.
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And what did he do next? He got up. You can also slip and fall crossing an icy street. Doesn’t mean everyone needs to wear helmets in winter. Ever take a hard fall hiking? Ever fall climbing a tree? Has any cowboy riding on rough ground ever had a horse fall? Of course! Doesn’t mean OSHA needs to issue cowboys helmets.
Over 150,000 falls a year send people to the emergency room and over 300 a year die. That would be falling from ladders, usually under 10 feet.
Nothing bad about wearing a helmet. I wear one if I expect to ride on pavement. Making it mandatory for reiners seems excessive.
Look. I am a reiner. I know Dany. But to think I can’t get hurt riding one is silly. Courtney Dye-King had a TBI after a fall while cooling out her dressage horse. Shit happens - yes.
This aversion to and mockery of those who do wear helmets has to stop. Someone asked on a cowhorse group I’m in if they will get docked points for wearing a helmet. I told her if I judge did that they needed their card pulled.
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I’ve never mocked anyone for wearing a helmet. I’ve used them myself, often. I just don’t think reining - most of which will go on outside of the FEI, thankfully - needs to make helmets mandatory for all riders. I suspect one is as likely to die driving to a competition as they are from not wearing a helmet during one. I’m NOT a reiner. I don’t like arena riding. I also know of no statistics indicating reining has a TBI problem as is.
Riding horses has a TBI problem. Regardless, there’s no need to get up in arms about the helmet requirement if your not competing at the FEI level.
It’s your head.
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If it’s any consolation the dressage folks are also required helmets as well.
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A rider doesn’t wear a helmet just for themselves, they wear it mostly for the family members whose lives would be changed taking care of them after a TBI.
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Like TheMoo said, horseback riding in all disciplines has a TBI problem.
However, a study released today by the journal Neurological Focus found that the sport that causes most traumatic brain injuries isn’t even a contact sport, it’s horseback riding. Looking at data from the National Trauma Databank between 2003 and 2012, the researchers found that equestrian sports contributed to the highest percentage of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) for adults.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/horse-…ry?id=38090435
As for the commonly held belief that western riders, especially experienced riders, don’t need to worry about TBI, look at the results of this study of patients at an Alberta trauma center:
Overall, the study population could be characterized as experienced riders and was consistent with the equestrian population of the area. The average patient was male, 47-years-old, had 27 years of riding experience, and was riding Western. Almost half (47%) had previously been injured while working with horses. Most of the riders owned the horse on which they were injured, and were riding for work or recreational purposes. The average horse involved was a 7-year-old Quarter Horse, ridden on a daily (36%) or weekly (36%) basis. And,
The most common injuries were sustained to the chest (54%) and head (48%), and 45% of the patients required surgery.
https://thehorse.com/124343/injuries-common-among-experienced-riders-study-finds/
FEI seems to have finally recognized the benefits of helmet use for riders. But yeah, unless you’re the rare reining competitor at an FEI event, you are under no obligation to wear a helmet, so likely this will have absolutely no impact on you.
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Because they would not need any help if they merely broke their neck and ended up a quad.
There are always risks when you climb on a horse, and that is to each and every body part, not just your head. I don’t want to hurt anything. The best way to deal with injuries is to prevent them with solid training and preparation for the situation in which you put your horse. Your horse deals with the situation and doesn’t do anything tricky that puts you on the ground. If you are going to participate in a higher risk discipline that involves speed, jumping, etc, then maybe a helmet should be required. But reining? Dressage? Riders should have a choice in the lower risk disciplines.
Courtney King-Dye’s horse just slipped and fell while they were training at home. It didn’t do anything naughty. I know of several serious TBIs that just involved the horse cantering, not jumping, not working at speed. People have been killed by head injuries just walking.
Not to mention that reiners do in fact work at speed.
You only get the one brain and there’s no promise it will ever heal if you have that fall. If you don’t want your kids spending the rest of their lives wiping your bum for you, why not wear a helmet for them?
There’s no functional reason reiners can’t wear a helmet. And no logical reason they shouldn’t.
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Just because you didn’t mock anyone doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. I have heard life long reiners say they would stop reining if they had to wear a helmet. And then they proceeded to mock some riders who wear them. That is the type of thing that has to stop. I don’t wear a helmet when I ride, but would never judge someone who did.
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