WTF Are We Doing?

[Texarkana]

@Impractical Horsewoman

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).

Do you think we are having more XC schooling accidents because XC schooling has become more commonplace?

My eventing experience is like swiss cheese, so please bear with me. As a teenager in the 1990s, I was not actively competing in eventing, but I had the opportunity to work for several upper level riders in Chester County, PA. XC schooling seemed like it was done sporadically. You might have a few simple XC fences in a field at home to freshen up horses. Competition courses would host XC schooling infrequently-- maybe a couple times a year max, usually the day after a competition. People would bring their green/young horses and their problem horses, but it seemed like most didn’t bring their competition mounts just to school, or at least not with any frequency.

Fast forward to today: I feel like XC schooling has become part of regular conditioning and training. Most people would not move up a level without several schooling sessions. Private farms (Windurra, etc.) have built courses with every question imaginable that are open to the public nearly any time. It seems like competition courses are open for schooling more frequently as well. Trainers seem to take their students out to school XC with regularity.

Is my perception totally wrong? I didn’t start actively competing in eventing myself until the early 2010s, so I definitely have major blind spots.

[SonnysMom]

@Texarkana I am guessing as xc gets more technical that you need to xc school more often. I board at a hunter barn. There are no jumps in the fields. Most people don’t foxhunt anymore. Even our trails are limited.
I think the chances for casually jumping xc fences isn’t there and the sport has evolved. Most people don’t have jumps shaped like ducks, foxes or boats in their home jump field.
Although earlier this year we used my red kayak as jump fill.
I think as land gets pricier and more built up it is hard to have the space for a jump field. Good xc jumps are expensive to buy and hard to build safely.

For me unless I go to a xc schooling I don’t have access to ditches, drops, banks or water. There are very few grass jump rings so xc schooling is that opportunity to jump on grass and really gallop or at least a forward canter between fences.

[Texarkana]

@SonnysMom Oh, I totally agree. I wasn’t trying to imply XC schooling is bad or problematic. My thinking was that the increased frequency of XC schooling presents more opportunities for schooling accidents, that’s all.

The technical nature of XC today definitely changes how riders have to prepare. People like to wax on poetically about the good old days. But I think if you speak to any rider who has been at the upper levels for more than 25 years, they will tell you the courses of the past were harder on the horse, yet “easier” on the rider. Jumps were big and scary, but that was it. You had to have the guts and strength to gallop through possibly questionable footing, drop down a heart-stopping bank, then gallop on to a huge solid fence… unlike today where you ride over well manicured terrain down a large bank only to be immediately met by two skinnies at related distances. That takes a different skill set and different type of preparation.

Society has also changed thanks to the connectivity of the world; accidents are reported and news of them spreads far and wide in moments.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

@Texarkana very true, and like you say, it may just be we are hearing more quickly about tragic accidents that never would have been reported in the past.

Or it may be a blend of factors as @SonnysMom says–people are schooling more technical courses with less room for error more frequently on one hand, but on the other hand (this isn’t based on my own experiences, but friends of mine who are slightly older who grew up with horses) people seem less apt to casually jump their horses on trails or have access at home to anything but stadium courses with set striding. And there are other factors people have mentioned like air vests, that throw a further variable into the mix.

[IFG]

@Impractical Horsewoman

@Texarkana (this isn’t based on my own experiences, but friends of mine who are slightly older who grew up with horses) people seem less apt to casually jump their horses on trails or have access at home to anything but stadium courses with set striding. And there are other factors people have mentioned like air vests, that throw a further variable into the mix.

So true. As kids growing up and as a young adult, we used to gallop over whatever we could find. Things that are now considered unsafe such as picnic tables, entry gate ways, whatever we could find out on the trails.

[Libby2563]

@SonnysMom

@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.

This is horrible and hits close to home. Wishing you peace, Melanie.

[punchy]

And another one-last year’s Pau winner is in a coma after a fall although reported to be in stable condition, source: Eventing Nation

[Jealoushe]

@punchy

And another one-last year’s Pau winner is in a coma after a fall although reported to be in stable condition, source: Eventing Nation

omg who is this…going to look now.

[horseshorseshorseshorses]

French rider Thibault Fournier after a serious fall at an event in France.

[Jealoushe]

@horseshorseshorseshorses

French rider Thibault Fournier after a serious fall at an event in France.

oh wow, just read he won Pau on his first attempt. This is awful.

[punchy]

And when he realized he had won Pau last year he dismounted and hugged his horse😥.

[add_leg]

And while looking for information on Thibault Fournier, I found this: https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/plus-de-sports/equitation-la-francaise-thais-meheust-est-decedee-apres-une-chute-1763132.html (Google Chrome will translate) or here in English https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/thais-meheust-france-killed-cross-country-fall-696214

A 22 year old at the French Young Horse Championships this summer. Ugh. It’s enough to make me want to pick my epidemiology classes back up and do some true injury epidemiology research.

[Jealoushe]

@add leg

And while looking for information on Thibault Fournier, I found this: https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/plus-de-sports/equitation-la-francaise-thais-meheust-est-decedee-apres-une-chute-1763132.html (Google Chrome will translate) or here in English https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/thais-meheust-france-killed-cross-country-fall-696214

A 22 year old at the French Young Horse Championships this summer. Ugh. It’s enough to make me want to pick my epidemiology classes back up and do some true injury epidemiology research.

omg, did I miss this one? Are there so many now that it’s not even news or that I can’t even keep track? Looks like it is time to update the list for 2019 which I have been avoiding

[rockonxox]

I double checked the topic before posting yesterday and noticed that Thais has been talked about (September 7), but just not on the main list as of yet.

[midstride]

Archie Rocks at Pau
https://eventingnation.com/archie-rocks-euthanised-after-fall-at-les-5-etoiles-de-pau/

[sophie]

Some good news - Thibault seems to be making progress.
https://eventingnation.com/thibault-fournier-showing-signs-of-progress-after-fall/

[FatCatFarm]

@Impractical Horsewoman

@Texarkana very true, and like you say, it may just be we are hearing more quickly about tragic accidents that never would have been reported in the past.

Or it may be a blend of factors as @SonnysMom says–people are schooling more technical courses with less room for error more frequently on one hand, but on the other hand (this isn’t based on my own experiences, but friends of mine who are slightly older who grew up with horses) people seem less apt to casually jump their horses on trails or have access at home to anything but stadium courses with set striding. And there are other factors people have mentioned like air vests, that throw a further variable into the mix.

Good points. And I wonder too if fatigue factors in at all, particularly with the adults we’ve recently lost like Mellanie, a busy professional. I found that with my own riding, trying to cram riding/schooling time into the evenings and weekends, after working all week, didn’t always result in my best riding because I was tired, thus putting myself at risk.

[gardenie]

https://useventing.com/news-media/news/horse-and-rider-fatalities-at-rocking-horse-winter-iii-h-t

[Jealoushe]

Sad news; https://eventingnation.com/some-like…at-winona-h-t/

[endlessclimb]

@Jealoushe

Sad news; https://eventingnation.com/some-like…at-winona-h-t/

Holy cow, that was in a starter division too. Maybe because of the heat? Very sad news.