WTF Are We Doing?

[trakehners]

To me a lot of this is less a question of whether we’re asking too much of horses (which I’m not discounting, I ask myself that question daily since I’m sat on a horse that my trainer believes has the athletic ability to run Intermediate at minimum and I’ll have to make a decision about how far is far enough one day) and more a question of whether people know their own limits/are able to resist outside pressures to keep going when they shouldn’t.

Most of us aren’t Michael Jung (all of us aren’t Michael Jung except for Michael Jung, lol). He makes a 5* look like he’s skipping around a playground. There’s a lot of people out there who can’t even make Beginner Novice look that way. Should they be moving up? No. Will their trainer tell them that, if they even have one? Quite possibly not. I know Michael wasn’t in KY this year, but I can imagine that watching him over that course would have made it look entirely different than watching someone who scratched due to being entirely out of control try to take it on, and that goes all the way down to the lower levels.

There’s always going to be more to do to make the sport safer, and discussions to be had about what qualifies as an acceptable level of risk, but, in my opinion, a lot of it just goes back to that endless refrain about how just because you can move up doesn’t mean you should. That’s really not the question with Solaguayre California, because I don’t think Tamie is unprepared in the slightest, but how many cases of falls and injuries (both horse and human) are because people were trying to run a course that they had no real right to be on?

(And then when you (g) have TPTB try to change rules to make it more likely that you are truly qualified to be at the level that you’re moving up to so that we do reduce the risk of injuries due to incompetence, you have half the competitor base angry because they don’t have enough events locally to get the MERs to be able to move up at the top levels. What do we care about more? In an ideal world we’d be able to address both issues, but in the current one, I really don’t know.)

[Jealoushe]

Falls happen at all levels.

The most falls and injuries happen at the 2/3* level, NOT 5*.

[CornishPixie]

You are right of course.

My point was that determining acceptable risk is almost impossible because 1. It defies definition and 2. It becomes a squishy subject that relies on one’s feelings (which are not rational) and not based on empirical data.

I left eventing after progressing to prelim. It got too scary for me to enjoy. The risk was not acceptable to me.

It did not take a bad experience or a governing body to make me realize that. It was a gut reaction.

I feel really bad for the horse injuries/fatalities when they occur and I want courses to be somewhat safe with mostly collapsible jumps and fair proper placement. But I state again if no risk is acceptable, then horses become pasture ornaments.

[Highflyer1]

Ironically, of course, there are also people who are afraid to turn their horses out for fear they’ll get hurt.

I don’t know how or where to draw the line. I don’t think that it’s necessarily in the wrong place now.

[bingbingbing]

Tilly Berendt, the EN author of the article, posted a comment on FB yesterday in which I think she was trying to address the “freak accident” Here’s what Tilly said:

———————————-
I want to say something here, not necessarily as the author of this article, but as an observer of sport on the day: while I absolutely believe we have to hold our sport accountable and do everything we can, as media, as fans, as riders, and as course designers, to ensure a safer sport, this incident truly was something I would consider an anomaly. I have rewatched the video of the complex where the injury happened countless times; it was the C element, a reasonably inconsequential table on dry land, where California skimmed her knee and sustained the injury.

Skimmed her knee? Can you fracture a knee skimming something? If you can, then maybe that something needs to be changed.

[Highflyer1]

It’s been my experience horses can injure themselves doing just about anything .

That said, while I’m not sure of the exact details of California’s injury, this type of fracture (slab fracture in the knee) is very common in racehorses, so I do wonder if it was even 100 percent caused by the jump.

[bingbingbing]

Good point! Maybe it didn’t happen at the jump. I felt the “skimmed her knee” comment minimized the trauma and event.

I had an OTT with two healed/repaired fractured legs and he was sound. No jumping.

[Jealoushe]

That’s was my initial thought. Underlying weakness already?

[frugalannie]

If Tilly were to be available for clarification, I would ask what “skimming the knee” meant. My interpretation would be a glancing contact, not a full on bang into the jump. And I would think that a glancing touch wouldn’t have caused that much damage, but I would clearly be wrong.

[StormyDay]

@Jealoushe

I don’t think that’s a matter of no not being an option. It’s a matter of a keen horse misreading a fence for a jump. It happens in the hunter and dressage ring too. At home in the field… etc etc.

Yeah, I think the horse read that as a brush fence. I wouldn’t fault the horse for that.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

I mean poor Boyd Martin’s ride Crackerjack took a bad step at Pau years ago and had a break. (Literally a bad step from dirt to sand, I think, on the flat, if I remember correctly.) So yeah, underlying weakness is always a possibility.

[wanderlust]

@frugalannie

If Tilly were to be available for clarification, I would ask what “skimming the knee” meant. My interpretation would be a glancing contact, not a full on bang into the jump. And I would think that a glancing touch wouldn’t have caused that much damage, but I would clearly be wrong.

This is odd, though, because Tamie initially characterized it as a puncture that caused a fracture.

[Larksmom]

I do think it is a lot safer than it used to be. Courses are shorter, no roads and track, no steeplechase, and the jumps are built better.

[Cowboy_Girl]

Then eliminate junior and high school and all athletics’ for minor children. And driving them to and from such endeavors, It’s all too risky for the innocents.

[Cowboy_Girl]

I’ve broken my ankle twice (crack in the sidewalk and stairs,) and twist and turn it/sprain regularly from the point of taping to crutches (walking across the living room, stepping on a pebble, getting out of bed.)
Freak accidents happen, people and animals get injured - the world doesn’t have to stop.

[frugalannie]

Good point but I was just referring to a spectator’s point of view. Tamie had a close-up post injury visualization that superseded any other impression of this sad injury.

[Willesdon]

Look at the FEI fence safety stats, talk to Course Designers, speak to Course Builders, have a conversation with the TD and the biggest safety imponderable is the rider. It is the responsibility of each individual rider to ensure they are sufficiently capable, have enough appropriate experience, are physically fit enough and have given their horse the very best possible preparation etc etc. Tables are no longer the danger they were once recognised to be. They now must have a clear ground line and the back be elevated slightly so the horse can clearly read the fence. And so riders now treat a table as a galloping fence. Is it the Course Designers fault that I sometimes have my heart in my mouth as some maniac hoons towards a table? Saying riders have responsibility for falls is often unpopular. A bit like never admitting to being a bad driver, no one ever admits to being a poor rider. Education, education, education.

[Bonnie2]

Horses and humans die below the top levels as well. Also in show jumping. I don’t know of any deaths in dressage, just bloody mouths and sides. Rodeo is out of my comfort range. Reining and cow horses love their jobs but end up crippled from the extreme demands on their bodies. If we leave our pet horses inside we’re denying them. If we turn then out they founder and get hives and cuts and break legs. We can only do our personal best for our personal horses. We can each vote with or feet on what activities to support. None of us can save them all.

[Bonnie2]

Agreed. When a plane goes down the pilot is always considered at least partially to blame. Even if there were other contributing factors.

[Benchmark]

I think that’s what makes it a “freak accident”. We can argue about acceptable levels of risk all day long, but it’s a subjective idea that everyone views through their own personal lens.

Semantics aside, it is a low probability that such a catastrophic injury would be caused by hitting a jump below the knee/pivot point. It CAN happen, but it’s UNLIKELY to happen. The right spot, with the right force, with a confluence of other coincidental and non-coincidental factors happening in just the right sequence… I’d say “freak accident” in this case given the information we have is a fair characterization.