[QUOTE=kmartin85;8156223]
I guess this is where we will have to agree to disagree - I don’t see the sport as dangerous in the same sense you do. I don’t consider Eventing any more dangerous than any other sport that involves high levels of risk and skill.
What do you propose the Eventing community do to lower these risks? Should we make the jumps smaller, take out the XC phase all together? I don’t see a viable solution because you lose the heart of the sport when you change it from what it is now. I don’t think the jumps are too big or that the horses are pushed too hard or too fast. I think there are unfortunate accidents, that’s all.[/QUOTE]
There are aspects of your post with which I agree. But I also think that there are proactive things that we have done and should continue to do with renewed energy to reduce the probability of accidents to horse and rider. We need to really channel resources and energy into safety even more than has occurred over the past 5 years.
But, remember y’all: the sport IS safer now than it has been in the past. We have made progress toward better safety. Maybe the frangible pins help; maybe they do not. Maybe better safety vest and helmet design help; maybe they do not. Maybe dropping the long format has helped; maybe not. There are a million things that we can do to increase safety and we need focus, focus, focus, and teamwork, not individual one-person teams.
Certainly our xc courses seem more safe than in the past - when there was poor footing, horses that drowned, for cripes sake, snakey fences that you could slide under and be trapped, and so forth. It is better. But it is never going to be better enough.
The accidents and deaths this year are heartbreaking and distressing. But over all, these accidents have not increased over the past decade. The percentage of accidents, rotational and otherwise, have decreased significantly.
That being said, this needs to be a reminder that we are just beginning to address safety issues and this needs to be considered a beginning.
It is tragic and we need to make the sport safer. I have three friends who has tragic accidents over 15 years ago, two quadriplegic and one seriously brain damaged (she meets me for the first time every time I see her). They got little to no press back then, during that time period since we had to either hear word of mouth, or through the printed media. Many LL riders and trainers did not even know about these losses. We all heard about Christopher Reeves, because he was a famous actor.
Good that we have social media and instant news as accidents are far more salient and more likely to cause a strong reaction (justifiably). And our strong reactions then, hopefully, result in action.
I get a bit annoyed when people act as though accidents are a recent thing and not of the past. They have always happened and at a higher rate (again percentage of starters) historically, than they do now. However, this year has been bad. I can only pray and hope that this is at least partly a statistical anomaly and that we will not see this level of accidents for the remainder of the year. I hope we never see another one, but that is not going to happen.
I am not an expert on safety. I do not know what will work or not work or where funds and expertise need to be channeled. I do know something about group dynamics and I do think that the “safety committee” needs to be functional and have good communication, with common goals, proximal and distal, along with good working relationships. I suspect that to enter into that committee, we need to be cognizant of such group dynamics, and the perception and impact of a new member, or proposed member.
No one NO ONE is against making our sport safer. Everyone EVERYONE wants it to be safer and safer and safer.
Knee jerk reactions implying that the sport is so much worse than it used to be… I just have to put my foot down on that. Not so, not so. Stop it. It is not worse. We just know about it. And that is a good thing. Because we can now do something about it.
