WTF Are We Doing?

[trakehners]

My dad is a physical anthropologist and every time my horse does something to damage himself and I put another however many hundreds or thousands of dollars on my credit card (my choice, wouldn’t change it), his comment is always that horses only continue to exist because of humans and our intervention, because evolution would’ve done away with them otherwise.

I’m not sure that I wholly agree with him on that, but given his accurate assessment of the propensity of horses to break if you so much as look at them wrong (or don’t look at them for half a second), this is just… My trainer ran a horse from BN to the 5* level and then stepped him down and sold him on to an amateur to be spoiled and teach her the ropes at Training level because (trainer’s words) he didn’t owe her anything at that point and she wanted to give him the retirement he deserved. He had to be euthanized after a pasture accident this year. In my last training situation we lost a lesson horse to colic after trying everything to help him (I’m the one who noticed it and hand-walked him for three hours and then loaded him on the trailer to go to the emergency clinic after our regular vet couldn’t help him, and six years later I still wonder if I could’ve done more for him). I personally know someone who also lost a horse to a broken leg from a pasture accident (on solo turnout). I don’t even want to list all of the bad luck that other people I know have experienced.

There are always, always, always going to be discussions to be had about how we make eventing safer, but every single one of us who engages in any horse sport has made the active decision to be involved with animals that have an unfortunately high chance of breaking themselves whether we work with them or not. I’m not going to say that we shouldn’t try to figure out what went wrong when tragedies like the ones in this thread happen or shouldn’t draw personal lines in the sand about what we’re willing to do—I refuse to run my former favorite unaffiliated event anymore since they put a fence on course that I don’t feel is safe or appropriate and I refuse to risk my horse or myself attempting it—but we can have those discussions and be respectful of people who are hurt and grieving at the same time. I truly don’t believe that the two are mutually exclusive and it’s counterproductive to act like they are.

[Pennywell_Bay]

@Djones

You have asserted the horse’s age was intentionally fudged, you’ve cast horrid aspersions against a complete stranger who was injured and whose horse is dead, you’ve maligned the farm where the event was held,

I think the validity of questioning the above (ages are fudged for questionable reasons, MERS are a thing- though I don’t think applicable here, the farm didn’t utter a peep except to say what a great event they had) are not necessarily inherently nefarious, but the tone and vitriol, coupled with there is no middle ground, erases any benefit that comes from asking tough and sometimes uncomfortable questions.

Again, it could be any of us, in any equine sport, or in almost any situation. That is why, Endlessclimb, people send “thoughts and prayers”. There but for the grace of god go I …

[Mondo]

@endlessclimb

The answer is actually yes to more than one of those. The safety initiatives I will not contribute to until there’s more transparency, and accountability to dangerous and/or abusive riding. What will it take to get dumb riders off course, I don’t know. It was only a year and some change ago the course designers were aiming for carnage to separate wheat from chaff.

Question - on a usea record, how can one tell if a time penalty is due to too fast, or too slow?

Here you go again. “dumb riders.” Who died and left you arbiter of all things equestrian? You sound like an ignorant, inexperienced amateur. And your equivocations and left handed apologies have never once apologized for your vile snark toward the rider in this situation. That alone proves you are arguing for the sake of arguing. I think you just like the attention. It’s like a 3 year old child - any attention is good attention. Grow up. And, like DJones, I’m done arguing with you. You’ve proven who/what you are. No point in continuing.

[Blugal]

@Pennywell_Bay

the farm didn’t utter a peep except to say what a great event they had)

A few people are latching onto this idea; my experience is different.

I saw the announcement of the death soon after it happened. Possibl6 from this News item from COTH, which is an edited press release:

https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/horse-dies-at-apple-knoll-farm-event/

Excerpts:

A horse died Oct. 7 while competing in the cross-country phase of the Apple Knoll Farm Horse Trials in Millis, Massachusetts, organizers announced Saturday.

The organizing team of the Apple Knoll Farm H.T. and the U.S. Eventing Association extend their deepest sympathy and condolences to all of Ready To Rumble’s connections.

[LiberalSnowflake]

@endlessclimb

I’d like to point out that we are 5 days from the incident and we don’t even have a solid report from TPTB about what the damned fence even looked like. All we have are second hand “my friend said” type comments.

So excuse me for not trusting the agencies to do a blessed thing about any of this, and instead wanting to ask the questions myself.

This was a dreadful accident, and you obviously have extremely strong opinions about what occurred - I’m assuming you’ve put your questions in writing to the governing body and the event managers and are waiting for official responses? I’ve escalated a welfare concern to the FEI, so I know us complete nobodies can actually do that - and they do respond quite quickly.

[Bogey2]

I also saw the statement on FB originally

[initiate1987]

I will also add that I didn’t read the statement as “what a great event”. I read it as “thank you to everyone pulling together through a tragic situation and still making a good experience for the rest of the competitors”. Dealing with the fact that the show must go on in circumstances such as these is hard - a school horse I loved shattered her pastern during a regional competition and we had to keep going after they got her out of the ring. It was awful, but we pulled together, finished the show, and issued a similar statement at the end of the day.

[Pennywell_Bay]

My point was they are pretty active on SM and just said what a great event they had. If they weren’t going to comment for what I can see are many valid reasons- I think silence in the event a horse died would have been wiser on SM. Or just thanking their competitors.

If they originally posted, they removed it and then went on about what an awesome day it was.

If it was a friend of mine or god forbid my horse, it would rub me the wrong way saying it was a fun day. A great day or fun event seems really off point. That’s just me and JMO.

[barnesthenoble]

I am going to echo you here–I was uncomfortable with the statement they left up on SM and with the general posts that have been made by competitors. It would have been better to say nothing, IMO. I would not post about what a wonderful show I or my team had at an event where a horse died on course. But, that’s just me, and everyone processes differently.

[Djones]

I hesitate to post this, but it is possible that the owner of the horse or their connections asked the farm to delete that post. Were it me and mine, I would 1000% want privacy and protection from the vitriol and contempt of a bunch of railbirds. Meaning I would ask the farm to delete it and go on with the sport, as my loss is personal, not news.

[Warmblood1]

I agree, @Djones. I can’t imagine how terrible this rider must feel.

The horrific and unfortunate fact is that there are vultures who sit on the sidelines and tear people apart for their own pleasure. They do nothing constructive to actually better the sport but never miss the opportunity spew their venom. It’s incredibly sad.

[BrownDerby]

@Warmblood1

The horrific and unfortunate fact is that there are vultures who sit on the sidelines and tear people apart for their own pleasure. They do nothing constructive to actually better the sport but never miss the opportunity spew their venom. It’s incredibly sad.

This. Especially when the railbirds know nothing, absolutely nothing, of the facts of the incident or the rider. Please people, have a heart.

[Ambitious_Kate]

@BrownDerby

This. Especially when the railbirds know nothing, absolutely nothing, of the facts of the incident or of the rider

Or of the sport.

[skydy]

https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/horse-euthanized-after-accident-in-wec-ocala-grand-prix-qualifier/

[Bogey2]

Calls for all sports to track horse and rider falls after surprising new figures

[gardenie]

“I Was Amazing”: Goodbye to British Eventer Caroline March | Eventing Nation - Three-Day Eventing News, Results, Videos, and Commentary

[Amy3996]

Another talented rider gone far too soon. Georgie Campbell (GBR) has died following a fall in the 4*S at Bicton Horse Trials today, May 26th. Her horse was reportedly uninjured.

Tragic news from Bicton Horse Trials as Georgie Campbell loses her life in fall

[fordtraktor]

Awful. RIP Georgie and condolences to Jesse and her family.

[Jealoushe]

This is so sad I’ve been really upset all afternoon over this.

This fence should have been pinned. I checked and of course CMP was partner course designer.

I don’t know why this wasn’t pinned.

[JER]

Only reason I can think of for that log not being pinned is sheer human laziness.