Considering it was 4’3, I would haev to assume it was standing up, like this https://www.123rf.com/photo_7614186_a-fresh-round-bale-of-hay-in-a-field.html
Not sure I agree the shape is something safe to jump.
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Is the shape different than a very large log? (Yes, to a degree I am playing Devil’s advocate).
Yes, it is similar shape, but horses can put their feet on it, not in it. Round bales are much like brush in horse’s environment so in my opinion they invite horses to touch more than logs which are used to teach horses to jump, when they hit them, they feel it. In case of error, wide tables are built (or used to be before newer technology) such that horses could bank them. The danger of round bales is that horses tend to let their landing gear down on top, get stuck, continue motion and the rider on top becomes crushed as the horse and bale roll over together when she ends up underneath them…
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I remember discussions of this video years ago on HHO forums. There are still a couple of UK dealers who love to ‘show off’ their horses jumping round bales.
http://www.rightthisminute.com/video/horse-and-rider-crash-going-over-bales
This video shows a nasty rotational fall
You would rather the bale was moving?
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yeah, that’s what I want…please.
I meant as in it won’t move when you hit it. They are easily 700-1000lbs and not easy to move. It’s too bad this thread gets bogged down with ridiculous comments like this.
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I was interpreting they were jumping the flat face, not the curved side.
I appreciate Gardenie and Jealoushe explaining what makes jumping round bales so dangerous. Without their explanation, I wouldn’t have understood why they are particularly risky (I mean, other than the sheer size).
They just look like a bad idea for a jump to me. Maybe the smaller ones, if you treat them like very large barrels and have something at the base to secure it. There’s a reason they dress up barrel jumps on cross country courses, especially as they get larger. They just look like they would be hard to read for the horse as is.
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I was picturing jumping it as a log shape. The round bales I get are 4’ x 4.5’. The 4’ direction is cut side to cut side. I was figuring the 4’3" was measuring top of round side to bottom of round side. Therefore I wasn’t picturing her jumping the cut side.
I know (from experience) that they DO move if you hit them- if you are jumping them in the “like a log” direction.
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This is so very interesting, everyone should read it.
Mr Lee’s findings were more extensive in Olivia’s case because of the considerable debate over fence 8a and b’s compliance with FEI and EA guidelines. Olivia’s horse Togha fell at the second element. Others including her mother Charlotte had expressed prior concern about its presentation, construction and distances. Mr Lee has expressly banned any publication of imagery of this fence.
Mr Lee stopped short of mandating the future use of frangible technology, which has already increased substantially in Australia follow these tragedies. But he felt frangibles should have been employed at 8a and b. He also offered extensive opinion about the delicate relationship between “guidelines” and designer discretion.
It was “unacceptable” for 8a and b to breach FEI-EA Guidelines, as a vertical with a downhill approach. Mr Lee was also concerned about its bright white colour: “The rails ….were deliberately painted white as a risk mitigation feature to distinguish the fence in shade and to keep the focus of a horse on the top rail. Notwithstanding, it would have been possible to enhance this risk mitigation even further by painting the rails in different shades of white.”
The slim 175mm diameter of some rails was acceptable – “reflective of a worldwide trend at the time that resulted in fence rails with a narrower diameter than had been built previously. It appears that this trend was a product of the advent of frangible technology.
“Whilst the use of a groundline appears, from a course design perspective, to be a matter of personal style and design philosophy, the evidence establishes that it is also an appropriate risk mitigation strategy. If this is the case, then risk mitigation should clearly take precedence over matters of personal course design style. Whilst the evidence establishes that fence 8b/8b could be regarded as a safe fence without a groundline, it also establishes that it could have been made safer with one.
“It is to be remembered that the FEI Guidelines specifically provide that ‘the aim of the [course designer] is to provide a suitable test for the level of competition without exposing horses and athletes to a higher risk than what is strictly necessary to produce the right test for that level’. To give effect to this principle, it can be accepted that fences should be designed with all risk mitigation methods available. In the case of 8a/8b, this did not occur.
“The fact that frangible technology was not considered, and the other risk mitigation methods were not used meant that fence 8a/8b exposed riders to a higher risk than was strictly necessary.”
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This is also interesting, because it shows the possible effects of support going all to high performance and not grass roots.
He also considered that equestrianism is “heavily reliant upon volunteers to perform important functions,” that despite “willingness it is often difficult to recruit sufficient numbers of volunteers to perform important functions” and that there are “certain financial constraints in circumstances where there is significant reliance on public funding which is in turn directed towards high performance programs.”
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- That Section 515.4.1.2 of the current National Eventing Rules be amended to provide that: (a) the Course Designer of a Cross Country Test is to be present (and not competing) during the Test in order to critically review the performance of combinations during the Test as it relates to aspects of course design; (b) where the Course Designer of a Cross Country Test is unable to be present during the Test, that this fact be reported to the Event Organising Committee with arrangements made for a replacement Course Designer of equivalent or higher category of accreditation to be present during the Test to perform the requirement set out in (a) above.
Something else I always wondered about they are addressing. There are course designers in Ontario who design the course and ride it in the competitions. I always thought that was a bit strange.
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Why have they banned any images of the fence that caused Olivia’s fall? I feel like designers being able to see what caused problems would be a good thing.
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Agreed, and the public.
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It was horrifying to see the news when I logged on to Facebook this morning.
I know we have people who are serious data-crunchers here. But based on my purely subjective impression it does seem like, for whatever reason, there has been a spate of fatalities taking place in non-competitive cross-country situations. Usually with (at least by all accounts) fairly experienced, accomplished, appropriately-mounted riders. I don’t have any answers why, or even if these incidents are simply being publicized more (which is a good thing).
If any of the rider’s connections are reading this, my heart goes out to you.
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@Jealoushe this hurts so much to write this but there is another name for your list. Melanie Tallent was injured in a xc schooling fall on October 4th and passed away on October 11th. Melanie was kcmel on the COTH forums.
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