Yes. The USEF requires horse injuries/fatalities, as well as rider injuries/fatalities to be reported to the USEF, in ALL disciplines.
BUT the horse injury form for Eventing is different from the horse injury form for other disciplines,
AND horse and rider injury forms for Eventing have been required for many more years than they have been required for the rest of the disciplines.
I don’t know why they (USEF) are concealing the data.
As a complete outsider, is this conversation not devolving into whataboutism? For practical purposes, in the world of eventing, it matters who lives and dies, right? Using other domains to inform and support our own biases isn’t really moving the needle.
Of course, I will now put on flame suit.
If the claim is that eventing is more dangerous (to the horse) than other “english” disciplines, I think actual data (of catastrophic injuries and Did Not Complete) might be illuminating. At the top levels, I’m willing to believe that there are more retirements on the day from cross-country participants, but you’re (generally) not seeing the horses that never compete again from injuries over the much shorter courses in the h/j world.
I do think there are more people eventing than there were 20 or 30 years ago. I also think the courses are safer than they were 20 or 30 years ago. But if there are more horses competing, what is the percentage being injured/killed versus 20 or 30 years ago.
I agree with you 100% that many ( if not most people ) on this thread are bias and many are pro - eventing . I will also add that there is some very high emotion coming from both sides right now that is probably clouding people’s judgment and perception when it comes to this issue . Having said that if people are going to use phrases like -it more dangerous then any other horse sport and needs to go ( I am paraphrasing here) then supporters are within their rights to ask that it be supported by facts and figures .
I’m not saying that, at all. I’ve flagged a few other “extreme horse sports” that are stupid when looking from the outside. Like… if you like your horse, why are you asking them to do this stuff that’s way way over the top dangerous and unnecessary? What about being in the thick of it makes one blind to the risk, or accepting of the risk? Why can’t we make it safer (lower, slower, whatever), even it means it’s less “cool”?
The Tevis. Chuck wagon races. Those (and I’m sure others) are no-gos for me, if one truly cares about their horse. Why can’t the Tevis be done in two days, so the horses aren’t going through the mountains in the dark? Because it’s less cool, that’s why.
You do understand that horses can see perfectly well in the dark right? And how many vet checks are throughout a 100 mile endurance ride? Have you ever been to an endurance ride for that matter?
You know several horses have died doing this for the sake of the human, right?
I actually was not calling you out ( it’s why no one was directly quoted here) but you and others on this thread have show many times that you are not a fan of upper level eventing and the fact is you questioned others on why it should be allowed. I actually think it’s a good thing that you bring a different perspective to this post . but I stand by what I said above if you are going to call out upper level eventing it would be helpful if you could bring facts to the table .
Yes horses have died. Every time an accident happens, it is evaluated. In fact there are re-routes for this year. I would 100% do Tevis if I had the opportunity and the right horse
Well, yes … but another useful response might be along the lines of … “we’re not here to debate the relative safety of one equestrian sport over another. We’re here to understand the problem within eventing and discuss/consider what can be done to make this particular event safer, regardless of the challenges/problems other disciplines might face.”
While I would agree that any solution has to start with an understanding of the problem, informed by data, there isn’t - in my opinion - tremendous opportunity to get to the solution by bringing in other dimensions.
We’ve gone round about this before.
They couldn’t even attempt rescue on one of the horses until the morning. He stayed down there, injured, for hours and hours until they had daylight to recover him. 2 incidents of the 3 happened in the final third - you know, the part in the dark.
This is not humane. Period.
I agree and disagree. Whataboutism is a natural response to getting put in the limelight.
I want to make it clear that I am not ok with extreme and unnecessary danger in ANY animal sport. They do not know the risks. They do this because we ask them to.
Yes supported by data I am aware of, but it’s not my ability to share it. Sorry I wasn’t clear.
How magical that you have access to this top secret data that no one else is aware of 
FWIW The Western States Trail has been significantly altered because of last year’s forest fire and record snowfall, which caused massive landslides. It has been regarded as much safer. Race will occur on 29 July.
Unnecessary comment.
As you can see by this thread, horse fatalities have been at the forefront of my concern for over a decade. I’ve put the leg work in studying why, following up on leads and research, and talking to those in organizations and those involved about the issues for the last ten + years. As mentioned already I also have people routinely reaching out to me telling me about fatalities that occur that are never posted publicly.
These are all things everyone can do themselves if they want to. Not all information is public or available to be posted publicly.
You can take the information as is or not, that’s completely your choice, but immature comments like that do nothing to help the sport or the understanding of issues.
Again, your opinion is not fact. I’m sure you are such an arbiter of all things safety related that people are knocking down your door reporting things to you that the governing bodies are unaware of I’ve read enough on these boards to know you are someone whose opinion I neither trust nor particularly value. This exchange just further confirms why. I absolutely, 100% do not believe your assertion that more horses die at hunter/jumper shows than eventing and you have no actual scientific FACTS to support that statement. You’re entitled to your own opinion but you are not entitled to your own facts.
It is actually a fact known to me, it doesn’t become untrue simply because you haven’t seen the numbers or don’t like me. I’m not going to continue to discuss with you if you have no care for my opinion though so not really sure why you’re even arguing with me if that’s the case.
I have no idea why you would think I would make this up, it doesn’t benefit me at all whatsoever.
I also never said the governing bodies weren’t aware, I said it wasn’t publicly out there. Not the same.
If you want the information enough you can get it.
Carry on.
Just so other people reading the thread are reminded that your opinion =/= facts. You have no actual verified statistics to back up your opinion. You are not a scientist conducting research. You are not a data analyst for a governing body. You are someone who talks a lot on an anonymous internet forum and attempts an authoritative tone, but you are by no means an expert - if you were, you would understand that the plural of anecdote is not data. Anecdotally, you are welcome to believe that more h/j horses die than eventing horses, but again, your beliefs are not facts.
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