Everybody knows how strongly I feel about wearing a Safety Helmet when riding a horse. Now even the most precious Dressage Queen, can feel right at home in a Helmet.
http://eventingnation.com/samanthalclark/2011/03/top-safety-hats.html
Hi guys,
Just a quick post to let you all know I have not forgotten about these meetings and reporting on how they went. They were on 27, 28, & 29 of January. To date the “Cone of Silence” has been most effective and I have almost no information.
What I do know is that at least one other person tried to participate in the FEI Risk Management Meeting and despite a demonstrated track record in the area of Eventing Safety was excluded. Additionally, there are whispers of discontent amongst some present and the whole “cone of silence”. Hopefully this will lead to some change and more open and transparent discussions in the future.
I can’t even tell you if the ProLog guys were invited to the second TRL meeting after being excluded from the first despite the fact that the FEI stated the meeting included all known manufacturers of frangible devices.
As of now, I have no other information to share.
If you have more information and would like to share it anonymously with me drop me a line, your confidence will be respected 100%.
eventingsafety @ gmail.com
In the meantime, please rider safely and wear your helmet.
The U.S. Coaching position closed this week and we hear from three more applicants for the position; American Jimmy Wofford, Australian Andrew Hoy and Britain’s Leslie Law. Kerry Millikin is back in the co-host chair so tune in right here…
Eventing Radio Episode 117 by Bit of Britain – Show Notes and Links:
Please visit our sponsors as they make this show possible:
_________________________________________ Listen Now: [audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/eventingradio.horseradionetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/podcast/EventingRadioEpisode117.mp3%5D
Download or Subscribe: 
Great article in the New York Times on wearing helmets in dressage at the 2010 World Equestrian Games
Excerpt
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Olympic dressage rider Courtney King Dye has no memory of the day last March when she jumped on a horse she was training, to demonstrate its progress to its owner. With inexperienced horses, she liked to wear a helmet as a safety precaution, but it was the busy winter show season in Palm Beach, Fla., and she was in a hurry.
Daily radio coverage of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games continues with a wrap up of the days events. We recap Reining Qualifying competition and Dressage Team Grand Prix today as we record at the International Equestrian Festival in front of a live audience. Listen in…
2010 Radio Show Episode 113 by SUCCEED – Show Notes and Links:
Please support our sponsors because we would not be here without them:
_________________________________________
Listen Now, Download or Subscribe:
Wear a helmet every time you ride a horse
Dramatic really, but I am sorry I am stunned and lost for words.
The Equestrian World’s elite are descending on the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington Kentucky USA. More horses and riders arrive every day in preparation for the games due to start in a few short hours. It is really important that after the inactivity of transport and quarantine that riders get out and about on their horses to iron out any wrinkles.
Travelling around Kentucky Horse Park is a great opportunity to celebrity spot and see some of the best horses in the world from different disciplines working side by side. I saw young Kiwi rider Clarke Johnstone worked in the same arena as Edward Gal and Totilas, awesome.
Celebrity spotting aside, there is already some cause for me to say WTF!! This is the world championships, the world is watching and dressage riders continue to believe they are immune from injury and ride without a safety helmet. I can understand wanting to ride into the main stadium with 7500 people cheering in your top hat and tails. BUT SERIOUSLY working out in an arena with other horses you don’t know in close proximity and you are not wearing a helmet, you must be really stupid. I am sorry I make no apologies for this.
Wear a helmet every time you ride a horse
To be a top dressage horse, it must be hyper fit and be on the edge, really the horse needs to be a bit bonkers to be the best. And then you get on without a helmet?
I cannot believe, the USEF, KHP, the FEI or even HRH allow this, given the level of scrutiny on our sports. Please wear a helmet everytime you ride any horse. if you are not convinced read some of the stories on riders 4 helmets.
No point wearing a Helmet if it is not on your head when you hit the ground
I just found this article in the Spring 2010 edition of the Eventing USA 2.0 magazine written by Captain Mark Phillips, Chef d’Equipe and Technical Advisor of US Eventing. This is an extract of his article which is on pages 26 & 27 of the Eventing USA 2.0 magazine.
The Pine Top accidents brought many issues into focus. Not least of which is the new rule in this country that if it is possible to ‘pin’ or make a fence frangible, it now has to be done. The pins are free, courtesy of the USEF, so there are no excuses in the future.
Secondly, the concussion incidents at Pine Top highlight once again the inadequacy of the USEF ‘return to play’ policy. In Europe it’s very simple; if you have a concussion you are suspended for three weeks unless you go to a neurosurgeon and have an ‘impact’ test. Only then can you get back to compete sooner. Rusty Lowe who has done so much for safety in the sport of eventing in the U.S., has been a strong proponent of this rule, and I understand that Malcolm Hook, (USEF National Safety Officer and USEA VP Competitions) and the USEA Safety Committee led by USEA Vice President, Carol Kozlowski, are planning to put this proposal on the agenda for an upcoming meeting of the Board of Governors and fully expect it to go forward as a rule change to the USEF this year.
In the same vein, I believe that a USEA ICP certified coach is essential for all riders competing at USEA events. After all, everyone is in agreement that the fastest way to a safer sport is through better coaching. I fully expect that in ten years all coaches at USEA competitions will be ICP certified and I call upon the leadership of the USEA to work towards this goal. Becoming certified certainly shouldn’t cramp anyone’s style if they are a good enough coach. In the meantime, I stand in the collecting ring and warm-up areas feeling immensely sorry for all those people paying for and listening to often dangerous advice from their coaches at USEA affiliated events.
Mark and many of his contemporaries including Lucinda Green have been very public and vocal that one of the most critical steps to increasing safety in Eventing is to lift the level and quality of coaching. Many riders come to Eventing from numerous different avenues including starting out as adult riders. Fewer are having grown into the sport through Pony Club where a focus is on horsemanship not just learning to ride.
There is also a movement in some countries that teaching riders to fall safely can help to reduce injuries. Personally, I think this may help for smaller falls but when your in a rotational fall, it is not your landing that is the issue but the horse landing on you that causes the issue.
So YES, it is definitely important to teach riders to become better “Horseman”, and learning to fall cannot hurt (well it might, but a great skill to have). But reducing rotational falls is simply the area of focus which will reduce the number of serious injuries and fatalities. The most recent death in our sport was a 16 year old young lady in Russia (an emerging Eventing Nation), read my story here.
We all need to consider the factors of “Return to Play” and how having a heady injury can affect your performance, not just on the day but in the weeks following. For instance in the UK, British Eventing will place any rider who has had a head injury that results in a loss of consciousness on a mandatory minimum 21 day “Medical Suspension”. At the end of the suspension written approval from a medical specialist (i.e. Neurologist) is required and must be approved by British Eventing before a rider can return to competition at both BE and FEI events.
Here is an extract from the BE Rule Book explaining a “Medical Suspension”
vii. Falls and Suspensions
Falls – Any Competitor who has had a fall or sustains a serious injury anywhere at the competition site must see the Doctor and be passed fit to ride before riding that horse in a further test (Show Jumping or Cross Country) or before riding any other horse. After a fall in the dressage, the BE Steward may, after discussion with the ambulance personnel, give permission for a rider to ride again, if no doctor is present.
Suspensions – The doctor may decide that the Competitor is so badly hurt that he should be medically suspended. Such a suspension will either be for a stated period or of unspecified duration. Details will be recorded on the rider’s BE Medical Card.
In the case of a head injury (or other injury likely to cause concussion) the following applies:
a. No loss of consciousness and no sign of concussion – No mandatory suspension;
b. No loss of consciousness but with brief symptoms of concussion (all symptoms of concussion must have resolved within 15 minutes both at rest and exercise) – minimum of 7 days mandatory suspension;
c. Any loss of consciousness, however brief, or symptoms of concussion persisting after 15 minutes – minimum 21 days mandatory suspension.
The day of injury counts as the first day of the suspension period.
Some people consider this rule to be too tough, a Medical Suspension rule similar to this was actually introduced into the FEI rules on 1 July 2009. This rule 519.3 was then removed (in the main) on 1 January 2010. No public explanation has been given for this reversal.
So what can you do as a rider to help improve safety in Eventing.
Start with yourself
We all need to be part of the solution, so if you are not sure please speak up, for the sake of our sport.
From Grant Johnston FEI I Course Designer
As an International Course Designer and Builder, the one thing I can note is that we are always trying to build jumps as safely as possible.
I also note that at some of the major events this year in the UK and USA, that some of the frangible pin technology DID NOT fail when it should have. This may have been because the pins were not correctly installed, possibly the way the horse hit the fence meant that there was not enough pressure going ‘down’ or it could have been that the pins simply were not appropriate for the style of the fence.
I would hope that we in Australia could encourage Eventing NSW to lobby Equestrian Australia to provide funds for Course Safety improvements. Not only to provide ‘pins’ and the like freely to event organisers (there are also plenty of other safety improvements out there now besides pins), but also provide funding so both our professional and amatuer course builders, Course Designers AND Technical Delegates are shown HOW to install them and what situations they are appropriate.
There is no doubt that many of the new safety devices currently in use are expensive so many event organisers in Oz shy away from this due to budget constraints, which means that we need our governing body to assist in providing funds to make it more achievable for event organisers to make it safer… The other option will simply be, that for event organisers to make it viable they have to continue to increase entry fees, something which most riders DON’T want to see.
After spending some time in Europe this year at Badminton and other events, If I were still riding today, I would be investing in every technology I could to protect myself. A high quality body protector, an air jacket, the safest helmet my budget could afford and I wouldn’t ride ‘yanga’s’…
Also as a rider, I would be happy to put in for a ‘sinking’ fund that would not only assist in making our courses better, but also make the courses ‘SAFER’.
Riders need to lobby for this to happen.. It won’t happen on it’s own.
My Response
Thanks Grant I agree. In the US frangible pins are required and provided FREE by the USEF to all Events. NO limits. In Holland the cardboard poles are also REQUIRED and FREE to EVERY event, I think the Dutch add $2.5 euros to every entry to cover cost of poles and transport.
BUT that is only the first step. No point having them if people don’t know how to use them:
A.In the correct situation, on the right fences at the right height, weight, etc.
B How to install them correctly.
The best example of instructions I have found, and indeed the ONLY real one, is from the USEA, This document is constantly evolving to meet the changes, lessons learned and keep up with standards.
Here is the link for the USEA page on my site and here is the actual document.
As for the NEW technology, I too have been lucky enough to see the Mim Clip and ProLog in action this year. Both hold huge promise. Course Builders, Organisers, Federations and the FEI need to use, test, report, share and build a bank of data that can help us get to where we are currently with the frangible pins now, much quicker.
No excuses, no umming and arrring, JUST DO IT, because the quicker we get it right the more lives we will save, that simple. in the meantime, we must test in competition at ALL levels and sometimes we will NOT get it right, but better to fail trying than not at all.
As for here in Australia, to date, other than the fall study which is now a few years old. I have been unable to find ANY documents, minutes, guidelines or anything else related specifically to Eventing – Safety or Risk Management (whichever floats your boats) that has been produced here in Australia.
We need to seriously pull our fingers out and get on the front foot, support our Officials, Designers/Builders, Organisers and most importantly Horses & Riders and get this right.
I know first hand that the average small competition in Australia can’t afford to put the 6-10 frangible fences they need in. BUT can we as a sport afford for them NOT TOO. It is only a matter of time before we lose another rider in Australia. We don’t want to be in a position to say, that fence would have been pinned (or other) if we could afford it.
So you have decided you are going to ride half a tonne of horse which has a mind of its own, is a prey animal so its first response to fear is flight (note: humans are predators) and you decide that wearing a safety helmet is not for you.
Honestly, if you don’t wear a helmet every time you get in the saddle, in my opinion your a bloody idiot.
On my recent trip to Red Hills I was gob-smacked that most event riders, present at Red Hills, did not wear a safety helmet with chin strap when mounted. Instead they wore velvet caps without straps, they were clearly not safety helmets. For one if you have a fall and you have no strap there is a good chance by the time you hit the deck there will be no helmet on your head,
When jumping and during XC they all donned a safety helmet, so they all own one. But for some reason they did not wear them on the flat. Here in Australia, if you are mounted at a competition you must wear a safety helmet with a strap fastened.
So I am very impressed that the campaign Riders 4 Helmets is building momentum.
I have copied this direct from their website
Fact: Wearing helmets can saves lives.
What is our goal?
The goal of the riders4helmets© campaign is simple: to get more equestrians wearing helmets…period.
What is the purpose of this website?
To educate equestrians on the basic facts of wearing a helmet, to promote the helmet wearing campaign on a National level by involving leading equestrians in various disciplines that hopefully encourage an increased use of helmets, and, to provide important links/resources to enable riders to become further educated on the importance of wearing a helmet.
So what can you do?
First up: wear a helmet every time you hop in the saddle, every time!
Second: Visit the website http://www.riders4helmets.com/
Third: Follow on twitter, facebook and tell your friends
This is a great way to finish this blog from the Riders 4 Helmets site again
Jean White, whose article ‘Will You Save a Life?‘ is featured on this website, summed it up perfectly when she said “the better you ride the harder you fall. Beginners fall off. Good riders get launched.”
Eventing Safety and Risk Management 