Eventing is like skiing, motorcycle riding or snowboarding an extreme sport which involves calculated risks. One of the main reasons many people are attracted to the sport is because of the edge of excitment involved in galloping across open fields and jumping various obstacles at speed.

The governing bodies of the USEF and USEA have established a task force to examine the recent accidents and deaths to determine if further safety elements can possibly be established to minimize the injuries. Interestingly, the ten event riders who were killed in the past year all suffered from unfortunate falls resulting in death, but were not under similar circumstances.

There is no underlying common thread or trend plaguing the sport. Riders simply must think of safety first when preparing for competition and know when to retire if it is not their day. Trainers must honestly evaluate their students and horses abilities before allowing them to move up the levels.

I am very strict with my students, they must complete 3 clear show jumping and cross country rounds and feel confident in themselves before moving up the levels. This is a sport where you cannot take short cuts and must do all your homework in order to succeed.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2007 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Cross Country, Jumping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.