Warning, this may be hard to read for some readers.
I must say I am impressed there is an inquest. I think the US and UK could do to hold similar ones regarding deaths. Does anyone know if there have been any previous?
I found the judges questions about whether eventing has the image of requiring a “macho” outlook. In my opinion it does, and I would like that to change from “get it done at any cost”, to good training and horsemanship.
The UK does hold inquests into similar accidents.
an example here:
https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/eventing/belton-inquest-calls-for-better-be-rider-representatives-297548
Excellent thanks for sharing that link!
In the UK, any death in unusual circumstances is reported to the Coroner, and from what I can tell/recall, any eventing related death would lead to an inquest.
This one was also quite widely reported:
https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/jordan-mcdonald-fall-body-protector-inquest-493007
From a quick check, it appears that there may be an inquest in the US. That would be determined by state statute and usually conducted by coroners.
They are as public a proceeding as any other court proceeding.
Whether an inquest has ever been done as a result of a rider death in the US, you’d have to do some research 
The inquest would be held in the state in which the death occurred.
It is hard to read, but it is very well presented. The photos are lovely, if terribly sad. Thanks for sharing this.
Glad to see some suggstions other than making jumps fall down.
Interesting and terrifying to think they did not have the proper medical equipment at the event to help in the event of a crush injury. Probably not something many people think of. When you really think about it though, compared to other dangerous sports, us equestrians really do play our medical on site pretty willy nilly. Just a St Johns ambulance type person there and thats it at National Events.
From the above article:
An inquest into the incidents was held after the riders’ families raised concerns about equestrian safety and the handling of the deaths by the sport’s peak body.
The Fischer family had contacted the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and the then federal minister for sport, claiming Equestrian Australia was resistant to change.
They said they were “disappointed and dismayed” by the attitude of Equestrian Australia in the aftermath of their daughter’s death, and hoped more would have been done since to improve rider safety.
I think an important point to the safety standards is that while the risk at lower levels is much less, statistically, there is still risk. Australia’s second look at preparedness would be a good thing to do everywhere.
Just last weekend I watched a horse flip over a jump and land hard on it’s body, at Training level. Fortunately the rider fell clear, dropping off while the horse was inverted. Had the horse landed on her, I don’t want to think about what the outcome could have been. It’s hard to say why the horse fell from my line of sight. It may have caught a foot on the edge or the table jump.
All that really matters is that this can happen at any horse trials, at any level, if the factors come together just a certain way. There is only one chance to be prepared for such an incident. No one knows which day is the day that preparedness will be needed.
As already stated, the UK do, and have for a very long time.
I am surprised at how little medical equipment and personnel there has to be on site currently in Au.
This is a link to the BE rulebook, the medical requirements for events start around p76 and are probably worth a read. I’d be interested in what the same section of the US eventing rules looked like if anyone can find me a link.
My own horse (with another rider) clipped his heels on the back of a basic, straightforward sloped Training level fence two weekends ago and basically slid and fell on his side on landing. Fortunately both he and his rider were OK, just bruises, but my horse is pretty darn catty and has managed to save himself from stumbling/falling on many occasions due to my incompetence as a rider. :lol: We still don’t know what caused him to slip on landing - whether it was the ground, him being distracted by something in the treeline a few strides away from the fence, etc., but they both got very lucky IMO.
I still think the vest technology and use could be improved. We’ve managed to continually improve upon helmets, but riders are still allowed to wear vests that are from 1993.
Once upon a time I evented at lower levels.
Eventing is an inherently dangerous sport, jumping cross country obstacles at speed that don’t usually fall down. Both horses and riders seemed competent at the levels they were going at but the horses made mistakes and missed the takeoff/combo at speed.
I’m wondering how the sport can change to reduce such accidents, other than the OP’s original post. Sure, shows should have all of the equipment for any type of injury that can happen, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps show organizers should provide a list of equipment required to ambulances at that show? Esp for FEI-level classes? I doubt the average ambulance sees many crushing injuries and they aren’t going to know what’s at risk at an eventing horse show. The show management - actually the federation - should publish guidelines for eventing-specific injuries that the show can email an ambulance provider. Shows often hire private health care providers and often go with the cheapest they can get.
I’m so sorry to hear the fate of these two accomplished young riders and at least one of their horses. Godspeed to you both/all!
Or rather, vest technology could be restored: bring back the EXO.
One of the Australian girls died of crush injuries to the chest - there’s a good chance the EXO would have given her a chance at surviving.
Eventers had the tool to prevent at least some of these deaths/serious injuries but they rejected it. You can’t blame anyone for that but the eventers themselves.
PS. I have an EXO.
So do I. And the interest was there for some, but the lack of adjustability (and availability) is what killed it for a lot of people. At the time it also seemed expensive, since the only other options were regular vests, but now that people are willing to shell out $500+ an air vest alone (not to mention cost of a regular body protector under it), its cost seems par for the course.
I wouldn’t fault the manufacturer or vendor here. They tried and could not get people to wear it.
According to both the developer and a rep for the product, the weight of the EXO was what riders cited over and over again as the reason they wouldn’t wear it. They tried very hard to get a top UK pro to endorse it and wear it. The best they could do was Kitty King but she would only wear it on her younger horses and not her top (i.e., more visible horses). She said it was because it was too heavy - 8 lbs - and she ‘couldn’t do that to her owners’.
The range of sizes might have been limited at first but with success, this would have changed.
The company also faced significant opposition from other body protector manufacturers and due to this, British Eventing couldn’t endorse/recommend the product. The complaint from the foam vest companies was that the EXO was patent-protected and therefore they couldn’t compete.
The sad truth is eventers rejected a tool that could prevent death and serious injury.
USEF rules for Eventing
https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/KlV5…nting-division
Medical requirements are EV113
Medical Personnel in EV113.5
There are also some requirements in the General Rules
https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/s9Se…-general-rules
GR847, GR848, GR 449
Which often means EMT’s and not paramedics although Catapla had paramedics and an ambulance, my local event has 2 EMT’s and an old Impala.
Here’s a more detailed report of the coroner’s findings, listing all 31 of the recommendations. In theory they all seem logical and sensible, but I would imagine the cost of applying them all would price most national events out of the market… The idea of down-grading riders who do not seem capable of jumping the x-c is an interesting one.
https://horsesport.com/cuckson-report/coroner-31-recommendations-make-australian-eventing-safer/?fbclid=IwAR34GvViDfOlfXOXAAwMHw1HOj7Pb86MsfkqCoC3AW1ldZdfh5f3NnSIWko
Thank you!
In the UK, there is a coronial inquest into most sudden deaths. I think all of the eventing fatalities we have had here (in UK) have gone before a coroner but we don’t always get to hear about them. BE and BEF are not in the business of publicising them.So unless someone is sufficiently interested to regularly scrutinise upcoming court lists, you rely on local media reports, and those reports then being picked up by Horse & Hound or other equestrian media.
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