@Amberley An interesting point of view that I hadn’t previously considered. Thank you.
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If we are basing our discussion on anecdotes …
Years ago I had a full rotational fall at Training level eventing. It probably looked spectacular, but neither of us had any injuries. I did choose to retire out of caution.
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I think Jane Q Public barely knows the difference between hunters and jumpers, much less eventing and hunters. I do agree that English horse sports can be strangely triggering as a symbol of wealth for some people and was taken aback on several occasions when I was (at the time) riding once weekly at a barn (hardly “balling” it, money-wise) and a woman I knew whose daughter was pursuing tennis at a fairly elite level (coaching, camps, traveling all over the country for tournaments) said “I didn’t know you were so rich, I could never afford that,” or something to the effect.
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With all due respect, while I do think that is certainly a common thing on and off-line, I don’t think concern about safety in eventing can solely be reduced to sexual memes about horse girls. It certainly doesn’t help the perception of equestrian sports, of course, but it’s not the only thing going on. There are always cultural forces that will intensify what sports draw the most ire-like the class tensions in the UK which impacted perceptions of foxhunting. But still I don’t think that can absolve horse people from still asking hard questions.
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Reddit really isn’t a good example of what people think. Is there an element of sexism? Probably. I think mostly it’s the perception of wealth with the English disciplines. Western disciplines have always had a more “blue collar” public face to it.
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This is really missing the point behind the OP’s emphasis on the LL end of the sport. And a further example of how distorted anything can get through social media, online videos, etc. & so on.
LL eventing doesn’t really have a safety issue. Statistically speaking, and relevant to other teen/family sports.
UL eventing has safety issues that certain dedicated members of the USEA do focus on, with associated rule changes and required changes in jumps / courses. That don’t really affect LL eventing.
Statistically, a relatively small percentage of USEA members will ever event at the UL’s. Of those that do, some only do so one time, or for one season, and never ride at that level again. Although UL eventing gets the photos, views and clicks, it isn’t a big part of the eventing membership as a whole.
But we get wound up in a “safety” discussion and a “public perception” discussion about something – LL eventing, accessible to many riders in many places in the country – that shouldn’t have either perception issue, if public perception were based just on facts backed up with statistics.
Once again, a discussion is totally sidetracked from attracting more people to LL eventing and flounders down into the bog of “public perceptions of safety” that are statistically relevant only to UL eventing. Which the vast majority of eventers will never do.
Those perceptions are a real thing, but the path forward is to add focus and clarity to the image of LL eventing (horse trials, really, most are not 3 days). Rather than trying to clean up and re-package the entire UL arm of the sport, which isn’t even germaine.
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Pre-internet society believed that stereo type so you can’t blame Reddit or the internet.
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My post was about a personal story, directed to the conversation on why it doesn’t seem like HJ are as concerned etc. In no way attributing a personal 1 off to anything in the conversation other than relating to another poster. I hate commenting on eventing threads because it always seems like the same people throw shade at my posts. I’m glad my local people, even those who went to Aachen, are warm and inviting because it doesn’t come off that way on the boards.
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Quit doing cross country. IOW, stop eventing. IOW, can’t be done.
I think you raise some interesting and important points with your posts and I think you are right that sexism and classism have to be addressed . I also think we have to do a better job of making sure we are showing more than rich women ( it goes back to that idea of showing off the grass roots levels ) . I remember when they were interviewing the last Olympics show jumping team and the main attraction was Jessica Springsteen and how her parents felt about her riding . And in the 2012 Ann Romney’s ownership of an Olympic dressage horse got covered on NPR. I think many people can see themselves having a beer with a Reiner or another western rider , they can’t see themselves doing that with Jessica Springstee.
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I have really appreciated and enjoyed @Janet and you sharing your personal stories and perspectives. It is one way that we tell the stories of our disciples and that was the whole point of the thread, how can we tell those stories in such a way to foster a greater understanding and acceptance.
We horse people live in a very closed, inward looking world that is often a lifestyle and not just a sport. The wider world can not distinguish between rodeo, Big Lick, Olympic show jumping or flat racing: they all have horses involved. I really don’t know how to overcome that perception. When TeamGB won an Olympic gold in 2012, a UK national newspaper actually put a picture of the team on the front page - except it was the Dutch team. Whoops, never mind.
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Fair point. I mean if there are horses in the photo, or if the people just look rider-ish, good enough, right? It’s not like any of the readers would recognize them. LOL
You can be a ‘very famous’ world-renowned rider, and still go out to eat and shop in the grocery store, unbothered by selfie-autograph-seekers.
That media ‘mistake’ happens all the time, both print and online. I don’t know if it is complete carelessness & stupidity or if maybe someone is trying to make a point about something.
Once saw a little article about a music group winning an award. The photo alongside was of a different group, different number of members, different type of music, different costumes and different nationality. But you know, they were both music groups. Close enough, I guess. 
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