A failed jump by one of the world’s finest riders and a spate of deaths have unnerved the equestrian community.
Darren Chiacchia, 43, who helped the United States Olympic team win a bronze medal at the Athens Games and was considered a favorite for this year’s team, was training a horse on an intermediate course in Tallahassee, Fla., last month when the stallion crashed over a fence, crushing ”” and nearly killing ”” its celebrated rider.
Mr. Chiacchia spent a week in a coma and is now recovering at a rehabilitation facility near his home in Buffalo. Meanwhile, the sport he devoted his life to faces an identity crisis. Considered alongside the deaths of 12 riders worldwide over the past year and a half, his crash has reignited a fierce debate over whether the risks involved with the equestrian discipline known as eventing ”” an arduous three-phase competition ”” have become too great.
Top competitors and coaches argue that the sport’s growing popularity has attracted inexperienced riders who take too many risks, and amateur riders complain that courses are being designed beyond their skill level in order to challenge elite riders. There is also frustration that the governing bodies for eventing have not mandated the safety improvements they identified after another cluster of deaths nine years ago.
Any sport that involves riding at speed and /or jumping, is inherently dangerous. That is accepted by those taking part. If they are minors, the decision whether to accept the risk is something the parents need to make and for adults, it’s up to them whether to take part or not. I agree some of the obstacles in cross country are very challenging and complex – more so by far than in even the highest level competitions of 40 or 50 years ago, and perhaps they should be made more “natural”. After all, the origin of the sport was to test a cavalry mount’s ability to do everything expected of it.
all in all, however, I don’t think it’s something for those outside the sport to meddle in and fairly simple changes to course designs and rider qualifications should be sufficient to address these concerns.
The article said use of ‘frangible pins’ developed to prevent such falls, injuries and deaths is rare because they are considered too expensive at $70. per fence.
Strange seventy bucks would be considered expensive and prohibitive, especially when compared with the cost of participation in equestrian sports, the cost of horses, the cost of a day of hospitalization and rehabilitation, the cost of a human life.
Part of the problem is that the sport is demanding more and more of its horse athletes. I think in many cases training is started way too early and is pushed to a high level too quickly.
Not taking into account the horse’s physical and mental development can often have tragic consequences for horse and rider.