Rules question

[Mardi1]

I enjoy watching eventing however I’m not very familiar with the rules.
COTH is reporting that a rider received a yellow card for “Abuse of Horse—Riding an exhausted Horse". The article says the rider finished the cc and was later eliminated by the ground jury.
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/two-riders-sanctioned-at-defender-kentucky/

I looked at the FEI rule cited and it explains “If not directly witnessed by the Ground Jury, the incident must be reported as soon as possible to the Ground Jury through the Secretary of the Organising Committee or Cross Country Control Centre as appropriate. Where possible the report should be supported by a statement from one or more witnesses.”

My question: if the GJ notices the exhausted horse while it’s on course, do they (can they) signal the rider to stop ? If yes, how is the rider signaled ? T.I.A.

[Larksmom]

The horse in question was near the end, and maybe the jump judge called it in, but it didn’t get back to the TD until he was finished. The horse apparently collapsed in the vet box, so there wasn’t much question of it being true.

[Mardi1]

I don’t know this horse/rider, but generally would the GJ stop the ride ?

[frugalannie]

Yes, a rider can be stopped on course, for safety reasons (“hold on course” because a fence needs to be repaired or a rider is down or something else that requires that the next competitor not ride through). Or a rider can be stopped for an exhausted horse, dangerous riding or broken tack among other things.

I’m not sure how they do it at the biggest events, but the ones I’ve volunteered at the jump judge walks out into the track and waves down the rider. If the rider will be allowed to continue (hold on course) a stop watch is started immediately and that time will be deducted from the elapsed time. From what I’ve seen, if it’s a reason that eliminates the rider, a member of the ground jury will be there to deliver the news so the jump judge doesn’t have to go it alone.

[Highflyer1]

Generally there are set stopping points with good visibility. The jump judges at those points are given flags to use to signal the rider.

[alyssaequestrian]

The collapse in the vet box thing is a rumor. It did not.

[K_VanOlst]

@alyssaequestrian

The collapse in the vet box thing is a rumor. It did not.

There is at least one commenter in another thread who said they saw it in person and tarps quickly went up.

[alyssaequestrian]

I worked for the vet team and FEI delegates. They were radioed to keep an eye on the horse and it was watched in the vet box but did not go down. Should it have been pulled up, probably but that’s not my call. No tarps were up for it but they were there if needed.

[TXnGA]

Horse did collapse in the vet box. The ground jury than asked for tarps to surround the horse to hide the horse from the public.

When the tarps were snapped open, the horse was spooked enough to jump up from the ground.

Horse finished ears flat to the head and clearly exhausted.
It was not fun to watch. Reason it wasn’t mention much in the live stream as the rider wasn’t shown on the end of the course via live stream.

[Jealoushe]

They can but I think they rarely do because they’ve been verbally attacked and sued after these things before. Not the best system IMO

[Texarkana]

For anyone doubting whether the screens were up in the vet box around ZB’s horse, I present exhibit A:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Nb5dx1M3gi5mDzdR/?mibextid=kqHFok

Around the 30 second mark you can literally see the screens being rolled up in the background. And no, that was NOT from PD’s horse.

The horse in question also makes a cameo at the end, though you can’t tell much from that footage.

[SillyHorse]

Maybe there are two horses being discussed?

[Janet]

@Texarkana

you can literally see the screens being rolled up in the background

But that doesn’t mean they were actually UP. Could be that they unrolled them thinking they would need them, but didn’t.

[Bonnie2]

It was reported down by a veterinarian on the vet radio channel.

[Bonnie2]

Horses can be stopped on course if they look too tired. But it is a judgement call and fraught with peril. Is the horse tired? Just not a great galloper? Is the rider going slowly just to get home safe? How tired is too tired? The horse’s at the 5* ran for over 11 minutes averaging over 20 mph up and down hill through water and over jumps. They are tired at the end. Generally jump judges call in if they see a horse looking tired. Then the area vet will radio in what they see. As the horse moves into the next area those jump judges and vets will weigh in. A member of the ground jury will get in position to see the horse if at all possible. Other members of the ground jury will watch the livestream. If a consensus is reached - and the horse hasn’t finished by now - the horse is stopped. Horses can also be stopped and checked if blood is seen. If the vet feels it is minor and safe to finish, they are then allowed to continue.