It must have been something in the water at this show, because there were SO MANY bad crashes. I saw two just as I was going in and coming out of the show ring for my class on Friday. Of the last five rounds in Jumper I on Friday, four fell off and one was eliminated for refusals.
The Flight for Life helicopter came twice, that I know of - once on Friday afternoon for a girl who may have punctured a lung, and then yesterday, when the low Children’s jumper girl tried to leave out 2 strides in the last line and had a horrific crash. In all my years of horse showing, the past two weeks were the worst horse crash (Karl Cook’s horse) and worst human fall (A.S. and her horse, Vrai) who flipped over the last jump and he rolled over her. Has anyone heard how the horse is doing?
ETA: I just heard that she is okay, and doesn’t have any internal injuries or broken bones. She is unbelievably lucky. I thought that she was dead when she didn’t move for so long. I think everyone else did too, until she moved her hand.
Somebody tried to leave out TWO strides in the Low Children’s?
The bending line walked a direct 7, so you expected to see some people do 6 in the jump off. She jumped in and gunned him for 5, they were going too fast to pat the ground for 6, so the horse left the ground at 5 1/2 and they somersaulted over the jump. The horse looked hurt but after the vet checked him he walked off okay, I think.
So you think the drinking water forced someone to make the poor decision of doing 5 in a 7 line? I think you answered your own question. Hardly the fault of the horse show.
Somebody tried to leave out and leave long and weak in the Low Children’s at KHP a few years back. Horse also went rotational. It’s an accident but, IMO, not the shows fault at all rider made a bad decision or horse dragged her to that spot and left. That rider was 16 IIRC. Not so lucky as this one.
The Low Children’s fall was just one example of the abundance of crashes - it just happened to be the worst. I’m not blaming the show at all (my show went great!!!) it was just surprising how many random falls there were. It seemed every time I turned around, someone fell. I’ve never heard of Flight for Life coming multiple times in one weekend until this show.
I didn’t go to Loudoun, but at upperville there were a surprising number of refusals and falls in the jumper rings, IMO. Maybe the courses were a bit harder than usual? Or it could possibly be that for many people, this is their first AA show of the year.
They came twice in one day this winter at WEF. Within almost the same hour. That was pretty darn unusual, though. I don’t know the average, but I think that day was way off the charts, for whatever reason.
Yeah, it was wild how many falls there were at Upperville too! I was on my horse about to canter my last schooling jump and so close to Karl Cook when he and his horse flipped over the oxer I could’ve reached out and caught him. That was a horrific fall to witness. Then, I had the person ahead of me fall before I went into the ring for the classic at Upperville.
This Friday at Loudoun I went in the ring to pre-load but had to leave because the girl ahead of me fell and was screaming on the ground. Once the EMT picked her up, I went back in the ring, had a fantastic ride, then came out and someone fell off in the schooling ring, so they stopped everyone until they caught her horse. They all ended up okay, thankfully.
It took some serious mental fortitude to go in the show ring and perform my best after seeing all of that, however. I needed extra wine after each show day LOL.
That footing can be kind of funny. Several years ago two very, very good VA pros had rotational falls on pre-green horses. Then a year or two after that, another notable pro and a top A/O also had really nasty similar falls. The footing is wonderful in that it holds up well to tons of rain. But like at WEF and Tryon, the footing doesn’t always give and some horses seem prone to tripping and their feet sticking oddly.
I was just talking about this with a friend. I showed at Loudoun and Upperville, but noticed the most falls at Loudoun. It seemed like every time I turned around, a ring was on hold for a fall. Really bizarre. The courses were challenging at Upperville, but I think everyone expects that, especially with Alan Wade designing jumper 1. However, the courses at Loudoun seemed normal and the quality of competitors was very good. I have no idea why so many people were having accidents.
Exactly! I knew I wasn’t going crazy. It wasn’t really the courses at either show (except maybe the 1.40 High Jr/AO Classic fall I saw at Upperville was due to a tough course) but it was a bizarre phenomenon to see so many horrific crashes. It was just a bloodbath, and hard to pinpoint how or why.
It will be hard to erase the memory of that poor girl lying motionless on the ground after her horse scrambled to his feet, and her mother (I assume) sprinting to her side in hysterics. I’ve never, ever seen someone fall where I truly thought they were deceased. Except for her.
This past winter at hits ocala I saw 5 bad falls & heard about many others that I didn’t witness. I feel like this hits had so many more accidents then previous years. Scary.
Since this is a junior rider you’re talking about, you might reconsider posting her identifying information (her name, horse’s name) since we all make mistakes and these threads stay online indefinitely. I don’t know the rider, but your description of the class and incident is enough that someone with further information could provide follow-up without having to name names.
I’m glad she’s OK.
Karl Cook discussed his fall in this article
https://www.noellefloyd.com/blogs/sport/karl-cook-relives-a-rider-s-worst-nightmare
I didn’t see Loudoun but showed at Upperville and have to say I was shocked when I saw the same rider go down after a jump on two different horses in the same area of the main hunter ring (two different days so not the exact spot), so the comment above about the footing not giving was interesting. The horses each left relatively long to a large oxer, tripped upon landing and went down unable to regain their footing tossing the kid. The second horse looked injured, refused to put his foot down but then walked out gingerly, so hopefully its ok. I have to say it did cause me concern about the footing though my horse who is often prone to tripping had no issues with the footing at all. He even also left long to the same jump and had no problem with the landing.
It had to be said, although 100% Optimum Time classes may not be the complete answer. It certainly adds more safety to the lower levels:
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/slow-down-lower-level-jumper-classes-shouldnt-steeplechase
I’m curious how many who come for Upperville stay for the Loudoun Benefit and how many new pairs arrive for the latter. Part of me wonders if everyone is just too worn out from Upperville the week before.
I do wonder about with the footing getting “sticky” or worn for lack of better description by the start of Loudoun? I drive past the showgrounds almost daily. The hunter side is almost totally grass until a few weeks ahead when they start working whatever magic they work. One day I drove past and the jumper rings looked like a giant kinetic sand kit with machinery leveling huge dump loads of footing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s the only show ground I know of that isn’t really maintained year round because it’s private land. Some local hunts have trials there in the fall but otherwise, it’s only those two weeks of the year that it’s active.
I said as much on Facebook, I think think making all lower jumper classes optimum time is really missing the whole point. Galloping doesn’t win a jumper round, precise riding on a tight track does. A person flying around the course will not make the rollbacks and tight turns needed to win.
I have spent the past two days at HITS. I didn’t see one rider in the lower jumper ring that looked out of control or going too fast. The main jumper ring was a different story, and I saw some riding out that was just scary, but those are riders doing big tracks where a little mistake can be disastrous.
Punishing everyone because every once in a while a rider or trainer is clueless isn’t the answer, IMO.
Now schooling shows are a whole different beast, and I have seen downright scary riders there. It seems that it’s always a bunch of kids with one trainer and they all ride like they are trying to win the Kentucky derby. But shouldn’t the show grounds punish these riders by citing them with reckless/dangerous riding?
