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Eventing -  knowing when to call it a day.

15/3/2018

21 Comments

 
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I feel like half a million people are yelling that eventing is bad, and there are a handful of riders saying it’s not the sport that’s the problem – it’s the individuals in it. But we’re whispering, and we’re not being heard. Every second article you read says we need to change the sport of eventing. We’ve got to make it safer. And I agree wholeheartedly – but I’m not convinced that it is entirely the sport that needs to change, it’s the way the sport is played. You can’t make enough rules to force somebody to think. And no matter how well you train officials – it seems to be impossible to teach them what ACTUALLY constitutes horse welfare, or what produces safer sport. I’m not sure we even have the answers yet.
 
What makes a rider want to pull up when things are not going well, rather than just press on and see what happens? Is it the knowledge of falls before them? Perhaps having experienced a bad fall previously? The knowledge of their horse not being quite fit enough or a lurking injury? Or perhaps they are frightened that an official will accuse them of abuse or dangerous riding. I guarantee you former Event Riders’ Association (ERA) president Francis Whittington’s decision to pull up Easy Target at the huntsman’s close during the cross-country at Badminton Horse Trials in 2014 while in a very competitive position was based on an understanding of his horse and the sport. He was aware that his horse was tiring, and that continuing on a tired horse would increase the risks of falls and injuries. He didn’t do it because he was scared of an official or a rule. He didn’t do it for fun or publicity. He did it through horsemanship and common sense, despite the potential pay cheque, or Olympic berth, had he continued without fault. That was the best piece of horsemanship I’ve seen in a long time.

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​The first thing we have to do is stop looking to the governing bodies for rule changes in eventing, and accept personal responsibility. As riders we voluntarily compete in this sport knowing the risks involved in galloping at fixed obstacles. Out on course there are two brains, two bodies, making split second decisions to successfully negotiate a series of tasks set by the course designer. When you’re out on course it is you against the course designer, no one else. And believe me the course designer is not trying to trip you up.
 
As riders, it is our job to select our horse, train ourselves and our horses, study each and every cross-country course and learn from everything and everyone we can. We need to spend at least as much time working on cross-country as dressage and we need to select cross-country horses, not dressage or showjumping horses. We need to think of dressage as part of the training program we have put in place to help us with our jumping and cross-country. We should look at dressage as an all-encompassing way of training that is there to help condition the horse. Not just to ride the movements. 
 
As riders we should be fully aware of the impact our decisions make on our safety, and the safety and welfare of our horse. Yet, as riders, we continue to look to others to make our sport safer - to make those decisions for us.
 
When a traffic light turns green, do you just take off, driving blindly in to the intersection, or do you look left and right first to check the way is clear? I look both ways before I go. Because it doesn’t matter if it was someone else’s fault or not when I’m dead. That’s the kind of personal responsibility we need at the top level. Once riders get there, they need to have some self-awareness and self-preservation. We can’t keep clamouring for the sport to change. Riders who don’t pay attention will keep finding ways to fall. 

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Learning from Tragedy
Danny Warrington is an advanced event rider and professional trainer, based in Maryland, USA. He was married to international rider Amanda Warrington, who died in an eventing accident in 1997. In his words “She made a mistake; I made a mistake; but the sport didn’t make a mistake.”
 
Every sports psychologist, coach, mentor or competitor will be quick to cite goals as a key ingredient to success in sport. But sometimes, by pushing so hard to achieve goals, we can push right past the safe point. In Danny Warrington’s case, his wife pushed so hard to make the US team that he reports “she died in the process. It’s horrible and it’s tragic, but it wasn’t the sport’s fault. Nobody made her run the horse. We sat at home and tried to figure out how to make the horse go better, instead of saying to each other: ‘Maybe this isn’t an advanced horse. Maybe he’s good at intermediate level.’” Danny bravely used this example to help open the eyes of riders around the globe, encouraging them not to be so goal oriented that they forget to look at life until it is too late.
 
Danny Warrington’s advice to people is that sometimes it’s better to go home and come back another day. Sometimes it’s better to look at your horse and say, “You know what, buddy, I love you, but maybe the four-star, or the three-star or even the two-star level is above you,” and not push your horse or yourself past the point you can do. It’s your first job to take care of yourself and your horse. If you don’t like that particular course, don’t run. If you think questions aren’t fair, speak up. Yet most people don’t do that.
 
A recent report by Australian researcher Denzil O’Brien identified 59 rider deaths in eventing since 1993. It sounds like a big number but there is still so little known about each fall. What type of fence, what gear was the horse ridden in, what were the training methods behind the combination, were there any underlying soundness issues? We need to start harvesting this information or we can apply as many more rules as we like – at the end of the day we are still blind.
 
As riders I think we should take on a much greater responsibility for ours and our horse’s safety. As riders we need to be quicker to criticise and modify our training techniques, quicker to recognise the possibility of unsafe fences, quicker to turn to science and braver to speak up. As riders we have to make more of an effort to completely understand cross-country riding, to study how biomechanics work and how horses learn, and evaluate what impact the gadgets and methods currently (and frequently) used are affecting the natural ability of the horse. 
 
As riders we are the ones putting ourselves in physical danger every time we leave the start box. It’s not the event officials. It’s us. As riders WE need to take responsibility for ours and our horse’s safety and to speak up when questions are asked. I'm not suggesting you ask the course designer to take out the keyhole or the double of apexes because you don't like keyholes or apexes, I'm talking about making educated decisions and not attempting questions that you know do not make sense to horses, or questions that your horse hasn’t been trained for. 
 
As riders we have a responsibility to the horses, to the current generation of riders and to the younger generation of riders.
 
Don’t push when you shouldn’t push. There’s a day to go home, and there’s a day to fight again.
 
We don’t have to change the sport. We have to change the way the sport is being played.

21 Comments
Denny Kerr
20/6/2018 05:10:01 pm

What a sensible article

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Judy Crow
17/8/2018 04:58:26 am

Very well stated! Sometimes all some people need is to be reminded to use good judgement and make safety the first priority.

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Kerry Weisselberg
20/6/2018 05:52:48 pm

Very well said.

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Liza Donnelly
20/6/2018 08:37:16 pm

Very considered article which should be read by most riders.

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Simon Bere
20/6/2018 09:03:35 pm

Excellent article every rider should be sent this upon registration to their national bodies

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Jayne Stretton
20/6/2018 09:08:39 pm

An extremely valid and well written article

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So true for all levels of the equestrian world.
21/6/2018 04:15:04 am

A must read

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Sandy Doig
21/6/2018 05:03:40 am

Wow - well thought through. The key is individuals taking responsibility. But these days this is across the board with people not taking responsibility for their actions. The points brought up should perhaps be highlighted at a riders' briefing prior to the event, especially prior to cross country.

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Karen Inkster
21/6/2018 06:03:56 am

Brillant article. I arrived at a cross country competition the other day. It had been raining heavily all night and when I arrived the first Horse I saw hit the very first fence after slipping and the rider came off. I watched a few more horses slipping and sliding before withdrawing from the event. It’s never worth putting you or your horses life on the line. I am responsible for my horse, I a, responsible for looking out for her, for giving her the best opportunities but knowing when to say yo7 know what, there will be other events.

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Donna Woods
21/6/2018 11:48:35 am

Fantastic article, so pleased someone has said this. I see so many young horses with great potential over ridden and over jumped. Not many now days prescribe to the old ways. Break them in at 4, hack them around the bush and beach, fields for 12 months, let them learn to carry/balance them selves first. Then bring them in for schooling.

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Gill Suttle link
5/8/2018 05:09:11 am

Hear, Hear. Horses are worked in the manege from the start, often not even warmed up, pressurised into early manifestation of unconsolidated tasks - "fiddled" into an overbent position to make it appear "round" in front rather than slowly building up musculature homogeneously through the back and neck capable of carrying the rider with horse's head and neck well out in front. This stiffens the back and reduces overall elasticity. Next thing, the shoulders cannot be freely picked up, leading in the last resort to rotational falls. Or, in the dressage horse, quarters and hocks are not strengthened sufficiently for the immense strain of advanced work, so go wrong in back and hocks. Result: the superficial but misleading appearance of a trained horse in short order, big sums changing hands, leading down the road to loss of confidence, falls, injuries and strains, and a horse needing months of re-hab. Meanwhile trainer pulls another fish out of the over-large pool and repeats!

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Momo link
21/6/2018 11:28:48 pm

what an impressive speech

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Trisha
22/6/2018 12:50:48 pm

Who wrote this article? Danny Warrington?

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Amanda Page
22/6/2018 05:44:18 pm

Yes! the comps will always be there but your horse may not.

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Anne Green
22/6/2018 06:22:44 pm

Wonderful article that needs to be read by all in eventing.

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Jane Bell
24/6/2018 08:21:58 pm

Excellent, well ridden article.
Every rider, both Professional and Amateur should read

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julia Raikes
24/6/2018 11:11:54 pm

This article should be read by all event riders - it makes total sense.

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Harriet Graham
26/6/2018 03:13:46 am

Great article such a shame horses don't get ride over the hills and hunt like they used too at the lower levels it is all about the flat work not the horse fitness and balance

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Mark
13/1/2019 03:20:45 pm

Further to the comment “The course designer is not trying to trip you up”.

For several years I worked alongside seven of the best FEI and EA Course Designers (CDs). I have no qualifications in Course Designing and no experience as a rider. I have though;
* had many discussions about what they are thinking as they design jumps (I am an engineer so am inquisitive and fascinated by design),
* observed the evolution of many jumps (by that I mean the fine adjustments they make during the build process),
* been with them when TDs review their jumps,
* been alongside them during the event while they are watching how the riders approach the fences and
* watched them analyse the ticky boxes after the event (that show the spread of refusals across the classes).

The CDs have a variety of ways of deciding what jump to put where but they are always aiming to simply test the horse and rider’s ability, at that specific grade, such that any rider who thinks about what is required will get through.

They talk about “the question”. That is, what are they asking the rider to consider when approaching that particular fence. It is not about what to “look out for” because they are not trying to surprise you. It is about testing that the rider can read the jump, position their horse at the right place and pace and give the horse the guidance and trust to act on instructions. It is really fascinating.

They all care deeply. They all care about safety. And they all are devastated when the XC jump causes too many of the field to be eliminated or have too many refusals. They are aiming for a spread of refusals across the course and the grades that shows that each course was testing but safely achievable by all and achievable without refusal by all those that thought through the “questions”. And definitely not too many refusals!

I can only imagine what they would go through in the event of a rider fatality or serious injury.

These are deeply caring men and women, who care deeply about the sport that we all love. I admire their efforts (excuse the pun).

I agree with Sustainable Equitation that “in no way are they trying to trip anyone up”.

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Wahdan Arum Inawati link
11/7/2019 05:15:06 pm

how he did it through horsemanship and common sense?

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Martha Silva link
10/1/2021 02:41:21 pm

Grateful for sharing thhis

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