I understand that there’s been some debate about the cancer thing but this group has done repeat studies like this one. Certainly some types of cancer have more of a genetic/lifestyle/environmental component but not so much with mutations that cause cancers like melanoma for example. (An interesting discussion of this can be found here.)
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I found a photo of her on Middleburg Photo’s FB page. Just sitting a horse you can SEE her experience level, and her love for life. It’s just so sad.
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Someone who was at the schooling event confirmed she was wearing an air vest. I hope the data is being collected somewhere on these fatalities.
Safety vests are required at Morven and all other XC schooling places I know- it’s required by their insurance policy.
I have always been struck by how carefully orchestrated XC day is at a competition and yet how seemingly zero thought goes into the free for all that is open schooling days.
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@Jealoushe Is wanting to know if this person was wearing an Air vest specifically, not if they were wearing a vest. It is assumed everyone who schools/shows cross country is wearing a vest.
How would they make it more organized?
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Limiting the number of people on course at once?
I just wanted to add…the person who was present at the schooling event mentioned it was not chaotic this day, not crazy or overcrowded.
I think the public is being seriously misled to believe air vests will save your life. As many posters here already know nothing can prevent a crush injury except maybe an EXO…the greater equestrian community beyond CoTH for the most part does think this.
There have been several deaths of riders wear vests. I hope an enquiry goes into their effect on the rider in these fatalties.
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The cause of death hasn’t been mentioned AFAIK - was it crush/blunt force trauma or was it head injury?
No body protector can help with the latter.
So… if the EXO came back, who here would buy it?
I heard that the injury was chest trauma. Sometimes, taking all reasonable precautions isn’t enough to prevent a death. I feel so sad for her husband and child.
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I don’t know you, but I generally see your posts and nod 100% in agreement. This one, however … this is a terrible analogy.
Cancer is more than bad luck. And when it IS “bad luck” (I.e your genetics) it has a reason behind it … for example both of your parents were carriers for some random recessive gene that led to the cancer of their offspring. Other times it’s more than bad luck (I.e: smokers, alcoholics, exposed to a carcinogen etc).
If these rider fatalities are just simply “bad luck” why does anyone even compete in this sport. I find it a gross exaggeration to say “oh here people come trying to analyze a death when it was just bad luck”. Like - what. No. I strongly believe this goes more than bad luck. I hate when using the word “believe” because I’m a scientific person and would prefer to rely on scientific evidence not just what I feel. But I have nothing else to go on so here I am.
Every time I see something like this it makes me stop and think what I’m doing. I’m 29 years old and have a 3 year old daughter. If I died doing this and someone said well she died doing what she loved I’d throw up in my grave. Yes I love this sport but it’s certainly not worth dying for. For horse or rider.
My heart goes out to this family. I feel sick even writing that because “thoughts and prayers” do actually nothing. I wish there was something more I could do but I don’t know what. What I do know is that this goes beyond bad luck.
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I would. I don’t compete or school in an air vest. I actually have one but don’t see any actual evidence, as in non-anecdotal evidence , that shows they actually do anything to protect you.
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Just tragic. We really don’t known enough details of The fall to discuss anything. I didn’t know her but a go fund me account has been started and came up on my FB feed.
I feel for her family and friends and hope they feel the support we are all sending to them. https://www.gofundme.com/f/1s0ursbxpc?pc=fb_dn_postdonate_r&rcid=r01-157063174983-a72f7ba91ce54719&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb_dn_postdonate_r
Air vests still have absolutely no peer reviewed science behind them and are marketed as making people safer with no merit.
The data is inconclusive as to whether they can make an injury worse, it would have to be a very specific type of fall to accomplish this.
The majority of fatalities I’ve seen in eventing are a result of catastrophic spinal compression injuries (imagine the spine as a slinky being slammed shut), neck trauma, or crush injuries. An air vest is incapable of assisting or minimizing trauma for any of these.
I do believe that riders are being lulled into a false sense of security and taking more risks because the marketing and especially testimonials from ULRs claim they are some sort of life saving device. They are not a life saving device. They may prevent you from breaking a rib, or make your bumps and bruises less severe. In this aspect I would love to see an investigation opened on the manufacturers around false marketing of safety devices. The manufacturers are really clever though to not represent any claims about their devices, they make sponsors do it for them. Shady.
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Sometimes it really is bad luck. If you come off an moving object at a high rate (or even sometimes a slow rate) of speed and your body hits the ground in a manner that cannot be protected by a safety device you will suffer catastrophic injuries. This isn’t isolated to eventing. It happens skiing, it happens riding bicycles, it happens with people riding horses at a walk. Risk can be minimized but never eliminated.
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@Manahmanah i can get on boarding with sometimes bad luck. But not always bad luck. And fatal falls do need to be investigated.
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Agree with this also but discussing it in the COTH horse forums is not going to help. No scientific data is going to be gleaned from anecdotal forum posts “asking the hard questions”.
What would help is a grassroots demand of USEA and USEF to be more transparent about what they are doing to monitor injuries, falls and deaths. We are here. We want change. We expect regular progress reports and you are accountable to us for this because we pay you money for our participation in this sport and people are still dying even at low levels. What progress was made last year. What progress has been made next year. Etc.
THOSE are the types of demands and activities that result in change. not compiling posts on the internet.
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+1000 to this. Doesn’t help that sites like PointTwo still have those misleading testimonials plastered all over their pages. I griped about it years ago with them putting ads on EN with Boyd Martin saying the P2 “saving his neck!” and they even got in trouble with the British Advertising Standards Authoring for using misleading advertising. (Granted, HitAir was the one who initiated the complaint, but still… :rolleyes:)
Helmets are put through rigorous testing processes, why the h*ll aren’t body protectors?!
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Right. Follow the money here. Every ULR who is sponsored and makes a claim about product safety should be disclosing that it is a SPONSORED ADVERTISEMENT. There is law in advertising. I am not a lawyer so maybe one of those will chime in, but it’s my understanding that being sponsored and also making claims about efficacy of a product you are sponsored for without disclosing that you are a paid sponsor is not legal.
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I 100% agree with this even though I’m one of the people talking about it on the internet.
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