Bokt.nl

Citaat:

Anytime you jump a fixed obstacle there's a chance you'll have a rotational fall. If your horse for whatever reason does not get his striding, or unfolds in mid-air, you're toast ... doesn't matter if you're a relative newcomer to the sport, or a seasoned eventer. What they're saying now is that if Teddy drops a knee, Karen O'Connor could be suspended for several months, plus she'd loose her qualification to compete at this level. Would that make the sport any safer? No.

While the new rules may prevent some accidents, Sunday's events probably would have unfolded the same way if the new rules had already been in effect. Would Laine & Sarah have ridden any different? I doubt it. No one wants to get hurt, or for their horse to get hurt, so how is the possibility of a suspension/loss of qualification a deterrent?

From what I've read online a lot of people treat these accidents as isolated incidents that can be blamed on the rider, and that they would not have happened had the rider done X, Y, or Z. Maybe that's true, maybe it's not ... we'll never know. What we do know is that out of almost 30 combinations starting in the stadium jumping, only TWO jumped double clear! Obviously, setting your horse up properly is hard, or else we'd have seen more clear rounds.

That's not to say that inexperience is not a contributing factor, but why wait until there's a serious accident to weed out those that are in over their heads? Rotational falls are rare, but when it does occur horse & rider rarely walk away unscathed (making suspension and loss of qualification kind of a moot point). Why not implement a qualification system aimed to keep riders and horses safe by forcing them to prove their readiness BEFORE moving up through the levels, instead of demoting them AFTER they have put themselves and their mounts at risk?

There is one new rule that I do like: "open oxers on courses at every level are made frangible." My only question is, why stop there? Why not invest the time, money & effort to make ALL cross country jumps safer? Or alternatively, if a jump cannot be redesigned in a way to increase horse & rider safety, why use it at all? Why not replace it with another jump that IS safe?

Speaking from a historical standpoint some may argue that fixed obstacles are what defines cross country, but in my opinion history is just that; it's in the past. Nowadays, the sport is a testament to the partnership between horse and rider, not a test to determine whether the horse can conquer anything in its' path as it heads off to battle. Horses are not expendable anymore; we spend hours caring for them, loving them. They become part of our family. What sport places tradition before keeping our beloved animals safe? If eventing's the answer, I'll stick to stadium jumping ...