I have a hard time understanding why all these companies choose to sponsor her. Thin lines response about having respect for the O Connors is interesting. So they are sponsoring her partly because of who her coach/mentor is. Well I for one am disgusted the O’Cs help in this aspect of MLs career, and her horsemanship.
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Is DOC as involved as KOC though? I know KOC is in there like a dirty shirt, but I get the feeling DOC isn’t as involved.
I also have very different opinions of KOC and DOC, which is soooo weird.
I agree though, its disgusting how much the OC’s back her up, but usually I only hear KOC’s opinion, I’ve never read/heard DOC’s, so I personally think its KOC that’s all over her and thinks she’s the best thing since sliced bread. Disgusts me, but with my opinion of KOC, I am not surprised.
Someone made the comment that retread’s statement was ‘opinion’, but “rules are rules”. Well, in the case of this rule, it too is an opinion, just one written and accepted as a rule. In essence, a relative call which as we can see, causes problem in regards to the basic axiom “welfare of the horse”.
A while a go I was doing a routine practice in my home arena. Sterling and I were on a right lead canter making a turn to a moderate height vertical when I felt his left front catch, his right front drop trying to catch the fall and he collapsed. As I tumbled right, he dropped and rolled left. Shaken I was and he had a scraped nose and dust in his face. Once I got my wits I trotted him on lead and he seemed okay, I mounted and trotted again, still seemed good so we readdressed the question, made the jump and stopped (btw, later it was thought I had a mild concussions as well). It was not till a few days later that he seemed off and when I got the vet out we found both the advent of lower ring bone, but he had strained some muscles. He had a month or more off and is now on a program to manage the ringbone.
Point being, just because the horse seems fine when we get up, we really have no clue their condition, just as we have no clue or our condition. They can’t say ‘I don’t feel good’ and given their genetics, they are ready to run, even if injured. I read and heard stories of times past when a rider would get back on and ride with a broken neck without knowing, with a severe concussion, even a broken bone that in the moment may only seem a minor issue, because adrenaline is racing through our system. Kim Walnes told me how Gray carried her around cross country with a broken back, but what if Gray had not been a horse able to work on his own.
Perhaps it seems simplistic, but any fall is really an accident. It is a failure of the system to work correctly. A slip on wet grass means a rider tried to push a turn instead of balancing (knowing accident) or a horse jumps into water that has a hole (unknowing accident), but either way, stress is put on the body. Forget about UL for a moment, LL riders like myself do not do this for pay, recognition or some other outward reward (at least I hope), we do this because we love the bond with our horse. The time it took to train, the intensity of competition, and the challenge of riding three styles. I would hope that every rider out there considers the welfare of the horse from Starter to Training. Were that the case, I begin to agree with retread that every fall, rider or horse is elimination. You had an accident. You stressed the machine of horse and rider either individually or together, but an accident is meant to be a learning moment, not a passed over moment.
Point is, from the start box to the finish line we are both a very finely tuned, living, machine. If an accident happens between those two lines, that machine may now have a flaw that will come out sooner more than later. Is losing a few hundred worth the price of a potentially large vet bill or worse?
I left out ULR, because they ride for different reasons and have different pressures put upon them. It is harsh to say, but Welfare of the Horse becomes a gray line as they attempt to meet the differing demands of owners, sponsors, syndicates, contracts, above their original desire to ride. As we bear witness, scores can be altered to lessen the impact of an obvious accident, dangerous riding is overlooked, rules regarding blood, rules regarding horse condition are bent or ignored to ensure professionals complete their job. As such, it is time they get their own rules, argue their own structures, because what may be a sound rule in LL will not work with professionals, thus they negatively impact the larger portion of the sport.
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Don’t mean to poke the bear as an outsider from HunterWorld. But I can’t believe y’all need someone to legislate the strategy of moving down a level if you have had your horse fall in competition “too often.” “Ever” is too often for me, lol.
Otherwise, I take the point of the article and discussion, and I agree with it. A rider coming off is a whole different kettle of fish from the one where the horse falls, too. IMO, you have to work hard/make a big mistake to get these highly-evolved flight animals to end up prone on the ground.
If you sign up to judge, either as a volunteer or as a paid official, you are obligated to uphold the rules as written. You don’t have to agree with them, and you can actively campaign to change them, but you should still abide by them. This works both ways-- if it is clearly an RF by the definition included in the rules it should be recorded as an RF, if it is clearly an MR it should be recorded as an MR, if there is any question it is ultimately up to the TD/ Ground Jury. Having clearly articulated rules that everyone follows is what makes it a sport.
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Hypothetical question: What if a horse falls and hits only the rider with both or either hip or shoulder but not the ground with both before it gets up. Is that still a horse fall within the rule?
For the most part, I agree. However, I have seen some falls that are just flukes - I have fallen over myself in my own house sometimes and wondered how I survived to adulthood.
I received an MR (the only one of my career) where I can’t tell you what went wrong. Both horse and I were experienced at the level and were having a good round. The only thing we could ever think caused the fall was that either the shadows in front, or the shape of the fence (it was a hedge with a rail quite low rather than close to the top) caused the horse to misjudge when she took off.
That seems to count as a MR because the only thing preventing the hip/shoulder from being on the ground is the chance placement of the rider.
I would hesitate to accept the “volunteers are mistaken” excuse, because (in my experience) volunteers are a lot quicker to act and call something what it is before the officials do. In the case of this ML bloody mouth incident this past fall, the jump judges were remarking on the blood long before the officials decided to acknowledge it. It seems more likely to me that the jump judges are say what is happening (“horse and rider down after jump 10, I need the medics over here.”) and it’s not getting reported in the results correctly.
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And speaking of bloody mouths. Since we know officials have no problem changing the MR to RF… what makes us think they wouldn’t turn their head to some blood to prevent an E?
From JP60, “Perhaps it seems simplistic, but any fall is really an accident. It is a failure of the system to work correctly.”
Hear, hear! Your whole post is right on point IMHO, but I didn’t want to quote the whole thing.
And your point about denial of any possible infirmity on the part of the horse also applies to the rider. Especially if they’ve had a TBI. It’s not that we want to deny the issue, it’s that we’re hard wired to.
The eventing ethos has always been “get back on and finish”, and we rightly admire the tough folks who feel this way. But I think our goal as competitors should be to feel this way, to want to get back on and finish but to be prevented by cooler, less adrenalized heads from doing so.
