I believe he thought he could grab that rein and sort him out and got to the wall before he realized it was that close. He should have pulled him up when the rein broke, the end. short of that, he should have been STOPPED for dangerous riding when he lost the broken rein the first time (not when it broke, but when he lost it).
We don’t need more rules, enforce the dangerous riding rules that are already in place.
Honestly I have a lot of sympathy for him. I do think he should have pulled up long before, but think about it: if he had finished the course riding with a broken rein, not many people would have said anything negative, it would have been all about how amazing it was that he finished (like Mark Todd without stirrups). I doubt in the moment he could really think much about it, it was doable so he did it. Or tried to.
When he lost the left rein a second time, I think his body shifting over to catch the rein told the horse to turn, horse locked on to that fence, his body crouched over told horse to go, he thought surely the horse will stop at the wall, and horse thought it was a brush or something to jump into.
And I didn’t see a “temper tantrum” after, I saw a guy who was frustrated with himself. I probably would have been cussing myself out while I got my bearings and got my brain working well enough to find my horse.
Sometimes I wonder if people that villify others for not immediately running to check on the horse have ever had a high adrenaline, high speed fall. I have. Your brain doesn’t function right at first. Even though he didn’t actually fall and hit the ground, it still takes some time for your head to get out of that intense, in-the-zone focus. Not to mention you know in the back of your head that others are catching your horse so for a second you can get your bearings, be upset, then get back to business.
I had the same thought. There have been many examples of riders being celebrated as heroes when they continued on despite a broken stirrup, or breastplate, or bridle, or rein, or bit, or whatever. When it ends well, we talk about how amazing someone is and what a great job they did to get it done despite the adversity. When it doesn’t end well, we vilify the person completely for making a dangerous, unsafe choice. Maybe we (the collective “we”) should pick a stance.
Yes,the effect of ski gates on skiers really isn’t relevant. Skiers are people, not horse shaped.
Agreed! Or had a big car wreck, anything where you are absolutely flooded with adrenaline and everything else going from a million MPH to zero.
Honestly it looked like there was something wrong with the footing and these horses were just damn unlucky enough to put a foot in the hole or whatever. Damn sad that it cost a horse his life.
I noticed at least one horse in the runout/fall video (there probably were more) that had a slight misstep at that exact spot going in to the jump. It was very subtle, but it made the horse run out. I should have gone back and watched more. There had to have been something there that was taking out horses that stepped juuuuust right. I wonder if anyone ever went out to check the ground after more than one horse stumbled and fell there.
I noticed that too. I once jumped into water that had a submerged log and we went down in the same way.
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