It’s not trying to find blame, it’s trying to understand with hopes of preventing it again in the future. It’s good people want to explore everything about the incident. This forum regularly talks about fatalities in horses and riders and the potential reasons why it happened.
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Yes I understand. Maybe it’s the diva site and all their vitriol. Or the posts about “prep”. Just seems gross. I know the venue. It’s amazing. And it’s not the souless mega venue. It’s really the horse persons venue. I will bow out now. I guess the speculation about something nefarious bothers me. I understand the need to investigate. It’s just so raw right now.
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I always thought that the reason people debated after a rider fatality on the Eventing forum is because the safety equipment is more varied (as well as the jumps…) - like what type of protective vest they were wearing (coming from a hunter/jumper, but that’s just what I gathered when I read). This might sound incredibly dull and unintelligent, but I would’ve thought what helmet she was wearing wouldn’t have been up for debate as they all have to be of certain specifications in order for a rider to enter a show? If I recall, OneK helmets didn’t do terribly in the Virginia study either?
I don’t think there is a helmet made that could withstand the weight and force of a horse coming entirely down.
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Did the rider die from a brain injury?
While they all have to be certified to a certain standard, they do perform differently in crashes. Champion studies helmets involved in falls like this and discovered that the helmet should basically squish your head out when there is a crush fall. If your helmet stays fully on your head often you have more severe head injuries.
So how helmets perform IS important. Studying what happened is important.
Horse & hound podcast did a whole series with Champion last year on their research. It’s well worth the listen.
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Thanks for the tip. I’m a podcast junkie. Sounds like it’s well worth looking into.
The risk of traumatic brain injury is not exclusive to crush mechanism. I don’t know of any helmet that can prevent the brain from slamming into the inside of the skull (and possibly rebounding, then slamming into the other side of the skull), when the head is struck by a 1200 pound animal, or forcibly strikes the ground.
I’m not at all saying that we should not wear the best and best-fitting helmets available to us. But a helmet can only do so much … and in the case of this young girl, let’s not even try to say she should have had a better helmet - she did everything right and a tragic accident happened.
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They’re sessions at the ends of their weekly podcast for that series, if you don’t want to listen to the entire episodes. I do recommend though, it’s a great pod.
It seems perfectly legitimate to have an interest in the footing, safety equipment and preparation of the horse. We see article after article about how getting the horse to the ring quiet enough to be competitive isn’t good for them. No one is making accusations of mismanagement. Everyone just wants to do better going forward.
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You have posted this in two different threads. Sometimes horses just trip. There is nobody to blame.
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This. It is a terrible tragedy, but a freak occurrence. Risk can be mitigated, but not eliminated. The sport is as safe as it has ever been, and statistically pretty safe considering you are sitting on a 1200lb animal pointing it at sturdy piles of lumber. Anaylizing the facts that are pretty nonexistent isn’t going to yield much. Sometimes things happen. Whether the horse was lunged or did a division before during the week is going to make zero difference. If the footing is to blame what about the 800 other trips that went in the ring all week? …you won’t “learn” anything of much consequence.
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Actually there is a lot to be learned in fatalities when you look at the facts of each individual situation.
People used to say the same thing about Eventing, but the constant questions have led to many changes which have seen our fall rate drop significantly over the past few years.
Safety equipment, riding style, prep, how to fall etc can all be reviewed in this case.
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This sums up my concerns with this thread. Not one poster has stated what the actual injury was, for all we know at this point, her spine broke, or organs were crushed. I have seen no facts stating that it was a head injury, although I agree its very likely. Additionally, we have very few facts about the conditions that caused this. So, yes, it is speculation, and you are unlikely to get useful information at this time by guessing.
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Further I know the trainer very well and she is one of the best horsepeople you can find. The Monday morning quarterbacking serves no purpose. Our current culture has to find blame for everything. Not everyone who shows at a high level is beating the horses into the ground or medicating at the in gate. Honor the girls legacy and leave it at that.
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THIS. The people running this show are absolutely lovely and they try so hard.
It is a freak accident, people. We have them as humans all the time. How quickly we forget that equines are capable of tripping and falling, as well.
Do we go into a full diagnostic if someone falls down the stairs? Do we question the hardwood or carpet company? No. Why? Because it’s a tragic accident. This is no different. There is no takeaway except the loss of a life. No helmet, footing, vest, grooming, under/over prep, etc. Nothing was going to save her from the weight of an 18 hand horse falling on her. It is tragic. Plain and simple.
Honor the child. Keep her family and barn in your thoughts. Ride with passion and love in your heart to celebrate her.
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It’s possible to honor the child and offer support to family and friends AND look into what happened. It’s not dishonouring anyone to look into things.
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Wow it is not too soon to discuss helmet safety and an accident that occurred. I am in the process of buying the helmet I’m told this rider was wearing and I want to know if others think it’s safe or not. No I didn’t say this could have been prevented if she had a different helmet, I said I wanted to do more research on the helmet she was wearing before I buy it.
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I brought up this exact point to my mom. Not one mention (that I’ve seen) online about prep. I think about it constantly at shows where I know for an absolute 100% fact the barns that d**g and LTD and put junior kids on those 1200 animals.
Not saying that happened here AT ALL but it is all too common in our sport and a real danger that I’m not sure the oblivious parents are even aware of the possibility. They just get a bill with “miscellaneous” and have no clue.
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To be fair, a hot distracted horse can very easily trip too. So can a calm horse. I say this, not to defend the practice of overly prepping horses, but to say that horses fall every day in very varied circumstances. Usually it results in an “oopsie”. The only reason this fall is different is because it ended with tragic heartbreaking results and very publicly.
Horses being prepped for showing by meds and longing is an ongoing problem.
The statement issued by the parents is very gracious.
My deepest condolences to all involved.
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Absolutely.
I’d be lying if I said this incident didn’t make me nervous to ride my faithful steed. It really truly made me appreciate how much I trust my mare with my life every single time I get on.
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