SAFETY is not an ‘us and them’ issue. It is just ‘us’. The ‘us’ refers to the fact that everyone in our sport has a role to play in safety issues and only by working together, can we say we have done our best to keep riders safe. Whether you are a rider, groom, owner, official, supporter, farrier or veterinary surgeon, there is no one in the eventing world that has not been personally touched by at least one fatality and no one should fail to take the issue seriously.

In addition, the rider fatalities in eventing do not just reflect badly on eventing but on all of us in the whole sport horse world. Just as the six horses that died during the FEI-recognised endurance competitions in the UAE had a negative effect on all horse sports. As Jimmy Wofford said: “Although this scandal is taking place in a separate international discipline, it affects all horse lovers….if we tolerate people who are willing to kill horses for sport, how is the world to know the difference between them and the rest of the horse-loving community?”

And similarly (but worst), how is the world to tell the difference between a sport that has killed 65 riders since 1993 and the rest of the sport horse world?

So we as a sport have to take action. It’s not just the ‘powers that be’ but all of us that need to engage with the challenges we have and work to be heard. But we have failed to do this in recent times. For example, the new format for Team Championships has been greeted with almost universal dismay from international riders from all disciplines.

It could have been different but regrettably there was little consultation in advance of this major decision, and that is not acceptable. So the National Governing Bodies and the FEI need to remember that it’s not them and us, but just us, and work harder to ensure FEI members and delegates have made a genuine effort to communicate clearly with the riders and all those they are supposed to be representing. And in turn, all other groupings need to be willing to engage and communicate….and in the case of eventing, all of us should do this with a main aim of eliminating rotational falls.

ROTATIONAL FALLS

Three of the riders who have died from rotational falls were friends of mine. What has driven me to stay involved in safety issues is that all three of these deaths could have been prevented, as they were all accidents waiting to happen rather than freak and inexplicable accidents. One of these deaths could have been prevented by using the EquiRatings Quality Index system; one by dressage training that did not create huge resistances; and one by dressage and jumping training that did not enslave the horse. However, and this is the crucial point, almost certainly all three lives would have been saved with deformable technology.

We need to prevent rotational falls because the indisputable fact is that the majority of cross-country fatalities (55%) have been caused by rotational falls. Yes, we need to raise training standards. Yes, many riders need to ride better. Yes, we need to use data to ensure partnerships compete at the right level, and yes, we need to use more horses that are truly suited for cross country with great brains, good gallops and stamina.

All this is a medium and long-term strategy that will always miss out some riders. But what we can do in the short term that will protect almost all riders is to use deformable technology. It is difficult to see how anyone can argue against this.

Is it going to encourage more riders to take risks and get away with bad riding? Possibly in a few cases. But this is a price worth paying to save lives and surely we can find ways to penalise bad riding more effectively in a parallel strategy to prevent accidents.

The other great advantage of this strategy is that it will allow course designers to challenge the best with the right combination of demands on both bravery and technical ability, without turning courses into lower level challenges with masses of brush for the horses to go through. The talent and ability of the top riders and horses is wonderful and the sport will be the loser if we downgrade the level of the cross-country, especially as the cross-country is the central discipline and heart of our sport.

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL

Education and shared knowledge between all parties must be at the heart of all cross-country safety initiatives. So we all have to share and let good ideas give way to better ideas, and this includes course designers, technical delegates, riders and the FEI. Anyone who wants to be a success in horses knows that you have to be part of a team, working for each other, and putting safety as a priority.

This was not always the case in the early days of eventing, and sadly occasionally in more recent times, when decisions were not always taken with safety in mind. For example in 1968 at the Mexico Olympics. Mexico City proved a challenging site as it was 2,300 meters above sea level, resulting in 30% less oxygen in the air. It was also known for intense rainfall from October to March, a fact ignored and which resulted in very serious difficulties for the competitors. Huge rains caused the river at the second last fence on the cross-country to burst its banks towards the end of the day and became a 12m wide torrent.

Were the competitors stopped on course? No! Ireland’s Tommy Brennan and his horse March Hawk bravely jumped in but were swept downstream in the raging torrent. The horse could swim, but Brennan couldn’t and he only survived by clinging onto the saddle until he was hauled out of the water by the then FEI President, HRH Prince Philip! Another example of the good auld days not being so good, especially as two horses died that day.

Tommy Brennan had been fourth at the Tokyo Olymic Games on Kilkenny, who was later to find more Olympic glory with Jimmy Wofford. In addition, he also rode on the show jumping team at the Mexico Olympics, and after retiring from riding went on to design the iconic track at Punchestown for the European Championships in 1991.

He knew a thing or two about high-level performance but at heart Tommy was a hunting man and a people man. He loved the thrill of crossing the country jumping whatever was there in the company of his friends, most of whom were lower level riders. He knew what a huge contribution cross-country riding made to the lives of these people, not just their riding lives but all their lives.

Riding outside is good for the vast majority of us. It stimulates our brains and allows us to do more with our lives as we feel better and more empowered. We can’t live our lives in some super safe cocoon, and it’s not living if we stay anchored to the couch in front of the television. The very nature of cross-country means that there is more risk for rider and horse than in dressage, but riders round the world have had their lives immeasurably enriched and senses heightened by riding across country and we need to recognise how important this is.

What is also true is that horses love getting out and about. The gradual change the horse world has experienced, riding largely in arenas is probably the biggest challenge we face, both in terms of humane treatment of horses and introducing the next generations to riding.

The sport of eventing is the driving heart of pleasure riding because the research shows that the majority of us don’t want to be fenced in. The event horse is the ideal pleasure riding horse because we need a horse that can go outside of an arena and easily do a little of everything, rather than be anchored to a sandy rectangle. This also puts eventing training and riding at the heart of equestrian training.

All national equestrian training authorities already agree about this, ensuring that their coaches have a wide training foundation before specialising. This gives eventing added value and unique value at the heart of riding and training and of course at the heart of eventing is cross-country riding. What it is really all about is opening doors for future generations of riders and realizing the full potential of the sport.

SAFETY AND US

It is so easy to do nothing and say nothing about these safety matters, leaving it up to ‘the powers that be’ to possibly take action? But all of us have a stake in our sport and we need an ‘us’ philosophy if there is going to be definite action both to successfully promote our wonderful sport of eventing, within and outside the equine world, and substantially reduce the number of fatalities.

It is not only for what we do that we are responsible, but also for what we don’t do. If we don’t improve complementary training for eventing, and if we don’t use deformable technology to a greater degree, then we are all responsible for the consequences.

It is up to us.