Badminton Horse Trials
John Horne
The accidents were : Face the Music broke a forearm, Briarlands Pippin
broke his back falling into the Lake (having hit the rail and cartwheeling
into the water), and Mr. Maxwell was put down due to two broken vertebrae
and damage to the spine. (extracted from Horse and Hound).
I didn't go, but watched as much as I could on TV. To me it looked very
yucky, and the horses seemed to be slipping a fair bit. Not between the
fences, but at the take off and landing places around the fences.
John.
John Horne
> I do know that some riders will push their horses too far in
> the name of glory or the heat of competition. I was recently talking
> with a vet, who cares for Nancy Guyotte's horses, and a lady who rides
> upper level dressage, and we reached the conclusion that Badminton may
> have been too hard, and that event courses in general have been getting
> harder over the years.
With regard to this years Badminton apparently the Trials director, FEI
ground judge, and riders still considered the competition should proceed
despite the conditions and after (I think) Mark Todd's horse had died.
It was considered that although things looked bad, for the horses - with
4 legs - they were able to cope with it. The course was also thought to be
less demanding than previous Badmintons, and statistically there were
the same (or more) riders going clear. The RSPCA inspector who was there
did not blame the event directly for any of the deaths.
John.
Carl Keri Williams
> The RSPCA inspector who was there
> did not blame the event directly for any of the deaths.
>
> John.
I guess he thought they were just as likely to break their legs/backs standing
at home in their paddocks?
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Debbie Levine
>In article <920515123...@world.std.com> C20...@prime-a.poly-south-west.ac.uk (John Horne) writes:
>> The RSPCA inspector who was there
>> did not blame the event directly for any of the deaths.
>>
>at home in their paddocks?
Well, actually, it HAS been known to happen.
Yes, there are some bad accidents in eventing. However, there are far more
CCIs completed with no deaths or serious injuries than there are "disasters"
like Gawler or this particular Badminton. If you want a high-risk horse sport,
look at the fatalities associated with racing. And, to put things in
perspective, I personally know more horses that have died in trailering
accidents or from tainted feed, than have been killed or crippled eventing.
Maybe the ground conditions at Badminton were as bad as we all have
inferred -- or maybe the random nature of statistics just caught
up with everyone. Eventing is not a NO risk sport. But, if one
uses good judgement, and good preparation, the risk can be
minimized. Bruce Davidson makes this point on the same episode
of "Horse in Sport" that interviews Torrance Fleischmann about the
incident at Gawler the original poster mentioned. And, it should be
pointed out that, though Finvarra was withdrawn from stadium,
the injury was not all that serious. Also, that Torrance did not
realize he was injured until he was already back on course, and
that she did continuously consider pulling him up. It is not the
case that she forced a horse she knew was in major trouble around
the course, but that she continued on a horse that she knew was
not at 100%, but who was still galloping and jumping OK. Now,
we might not all make the same decision that she did, but the
interview in that tape certainly shows a rider who cares about
her horse.
Eventing is not a cruel sport. Upper level event horses are very
carefully and conscientiously managed. In order to be sucessful,
an eventer must have a good working relationship with the horse
and must know the horse well. There are an awful lot of "weekend"
horses boarded at my barn, who, on the whole, get a worse deal
out of life than those poor three horses at Badminton. And
there are an awful lot more of THEM.
All that said, It can be argued that the cross-country phase has
pretty much "maxed out" in terms of difficulty, and that the sport
must now evolve. I read somewhere that Mark Phillips, among other
course designers, is gravitating towards asking more testing mental
questions and control questions and less extravagant physical questions.
The concern seems to be to find a solution that maintains the primary
importance of the endurance phase while keeping the difficulty factor
from becoming outrageous. The powers that be in eventing ARE concerned
about keeping the risks in eventing to a minimum. They are also
concerned about not changing the essence of the sport. I'm just a
lower level rider thus far (I intend for that to change, though)
and I'm still trying to decide how I feel about that trade-off.
Any of you other eventing enthusiasts out there have an opinion?
Oh, well, I guess I've babbled on long enough now.
Debbie, the opinionated.
Alexander Hauptmann
deb...@nimoy.ipac.caltech.edu (Debbie Levine) writes:
> Any of you other eventing enthusiasts out there have an opinion?
>
> Oh, well, I guess I've babbled on long enough now.
>
> Debbie, the opinionated.
Good opinions, Debbie, IMHO.
The trend in eventing is definitely towards narrow fences and technical
turns/combinations rather than killer height or width.
The incidents at Badminton this year will continue to strengthen this trend,
and why not. So for a while, we will find more technical courses at the upper
levels, rather than big and dangerous.
On the other hand, I find it interesting that the USCTA has increased the
speed requirements for horse trials in this country, effectively making
competitors go a little faster at all levels. I think the rationale was
that we want to encourage riders to get used to speed at the lower levels,
so they will be safer when they get to the upper levels.
Let us also note that there are only 2 regularly scheduled horse trials
in the world rated CCI****: Badminton and Burghley. Nothing in the US comes
close, no other competitions are as demanding.
Does this discussion remind anyone else of the aftermath of that
100 mile endurance ride out west, where one year so many horses came to grief.
I don't remember the details, but the sport of endurance riding took a
beating then, everyone resolved to do more careful vet checks etc.
Now it seems that eventing is in a similar spot, and at least for a few years,
more care will be taken to avoid these same incidents.
I walked the '91 Burghley CCI**** course designed by Mark Phillips,
and it was a superb creation of difficult narrow fences, but relatively
few absolute shockers, and there were easier options on all of them.
His course designs are certainly worth checking out and something to learn
from for all levels. The two most difficult fences there, a vertical into the
water coming off a downhill slope and the direct route on the sunken road
both only had a 50% success rate for the 4 or so competitors who took the
difficult/direct option. However, almost all of the penalites were due to
runouts, rather than falls on the course.
A friend of mine thought that the US Olympic Combined Training Team
selection process was at fault in pressuring Karen Lende to compete
Mr Maxwell at Burghley. She felt that as USCTA horse of the year in 91
and the winner of the 91 Rolex Kentucky as well as 3rd at the 91 Burghley
Event, they should have been assured of a spot on the team, rather than
having to risk it all just a few months before the Olympics.
Anyway, I could go on cackling about this forever, but I won't.
Alex
Janet Pengelly -> if you're out there - I tried to send you mail.