Our columnist believes a focus on horsemanship is the best way to safeguard the sport.

The sport of eventing is high risk. To be honest, I believe it’s that risk that attracted many of us to the sport in the first place. There is nothing like the adrenaline rush one feels at the start box while being counted down. Equally, there is nothing like the release of that tension when we gallop out of the box and are underway on the cross-country.

However, the risk we take should be the risk of failure or maybe even the concern of a silly mistake that could result in an unfortunate “pop off.” It seems to me that all too often that fear of failure turns into the fear of serious injury—if not for ourselves, it most certainly is there for others. That is a fine line that we, as a sport, have unfortunately crossed all too often.

I don’t know why it seems like things are getting worse. I really can’t even say for certain that they are. Eventing as a worldwide sport doesn’t have statistics on falls from 20 years ago. It hasn’t been until recent years that those statistics have been kept.

I went online the other night and watched some of the all-time greats ride around two of the major championships of the past. I watched the 1976 Bromont Olympic Games. In my opinion, there is no place more beautiful than Bromont. The setting is idyllic. Beautiful green mountains surround an emerald cross-country course that in turn surrounds a beautiful mountain lake. I then watched the 1978 World Championships at Lexington. No place in the world can rival the Kentucky Horse Park. It embodies the sport of eventing. Every April, it turns into North America’s Super Bowl of the sport.

As I watched these videos, the first thing that struck me was how much the sport has changed over the years. These riders were true warriors. I watched numerous horse-and-rider combinations fall and get thrown back together. There was no immediate regard for the welfare of the horse or rider in these situations. Not once after a fall in the video did I see a horse jogged up to be certain it was sound and fit to continue. Not once did I see an EMT on the scene to check the rider before he or she remounted. It was just expected that they would continue if for no other reason than it was a team competition, and therefore they would do it for their country. I watched as one rider fell at the serpent and was kicked no less than twice in the head by his horse. As he sat there in the water looking bewildered and a bit delirious, his horse was caught, and he was literally picked up and thrown back onto his horse. Again, no immediately visible concern for horse or rider welfare. I am absolutely certain these were some great horsemen, but I am sorry to say that what I saw was not great horsemanship. It pains me to say that, but it is what I saw.

I hear so many people say that the answer to our problems is a return to the old days, and perhaps on some level that is partially true. However, I will argue until I am blue in the face that the sport is safer today than it was in “the good old days, when things were right.”

It wasn’t just the horses and riders or the way they were treated after a fall that affected me. The fences themselves were incredible. If you want to see what a truly big table is check out the Giant’s Table in the video from the ’78 World Championships. “Wow” is about the only thing that came to my mind. Then there was the serpent. This was one of the most upright and airy fences I have seen. If the horses and riders misread this fence there was not much left for them to do other than fall. No frangible pins. No MIMS clips. Just a big fat dirt sandwich and a slap on the rear end when they were thrown back up.

If you want to see terrain go back and watch the video from Bromont in ’76. The slide before the water was incredible. Even the horses that got it right made it look tough. Like I said, true warriors. For the most part these truly great riders rode these fences like the experts they were. However, I maintain that present day builders can and do build courses that are just as impressive but with much safer construction techniques.

Long Format Lessons

I am one of the fortunate people who got into the top level of this sport before the long format was eliminated. I learned so much in the months leading up to those major CCIs. The need to have a plan to be certain my horse would be fit enough for the CCI was a daily task. The need to balance that fitness with my horse’s soundness was a constant concern. I am a firm believer that the perceived problems we have as a result of losing the long format are not actually from losing it at all. The problem is that we’ve been telling ourselves for years now that we don’t need the same level of horsemanship anymore. That somehow the sport is less difficult now than it used to be. That is ridiculous; the level of fitness and training required for a modern CCI is the same.

When I started my business more than 15 years ago I started to keep track of my horses’ daily work in a book. I kept those books in a box in the spare room in my house. The other day I went into that room and dug those books out. I discovered exactly what I suspected. I do the same things now with my horses that I did then. Certainly a few things have evolved. For one, my horses go to The Sanctuary now to swim and aquatred twice a week. Living in Florida and lacking any significant hills, I discovered that additions like this were required to achieve the level of fitness needed for the top of the sport. Again, this is an addition to what I used to do. It does not replace the daily work or attention to detail.

Instead of continuing to rant about how things were so much better back when we had the long format, let’s concentrate on the real problem. We need to impress upon the next generation the values that those of us who actually did ride around long formats had stressed to us. The long format did not actually teach us that horsemanship; our coaches and trainers did. Their insistence that we “listen” to what our horses were telling us was the real education. Let’s focus on that. This new format is not the problem. The Fédération Equestre Internationale, U.S. Eventing Association, and U.S. Equestrian Federation are not the problem. They are all trying to find the answers. The real solution lies in each of us. It lies in each of the coaches and trainers who have an opportunity to teach the same level of horsemanship that was and still is so important to the fabric of our sport.

One Way To Survive

In today’s era of instant information and social media gone wild we can’t have catastrophic accidents, period. I have recently changed my opinion on this fact. I used to be in the camp of, “We have to accept that eventing is a high risk sport,” and “We can never eliminate all catastrophic falls.” If that is the way we are going to start a conversation about improving the safety of eventing then we have already lost our sport. It will only be a matter of time before social pressure and exposure will force us to shut it down. We can all make the switch right now to the more dignified worlds of dressage and show jumping. I believe the only way to save our beloved sport from the grips of destruction is to start the conversation with: “We must eliminate all catastrophic falls, period.”  We simply cannot survive any other way.

So how do we do it? I don’t have all the answers. However, I do think it is attainable. Not only that, I actually think we are much closer to that reality than we think. Obviously, the first key to the puzzle is course design. It is absolutely essential that horses must be able to see and read a fence or combination before they are forced to jump into it. Some of the worst riding fences I have seen over the years are at jumps with blind turns. These type of fences must be completely eliminated from our courses.

Truly great design is the sort that makes the riders wary but the horses understand. My basic rule of thumb is that if I don’t understand what is being asked when I walk up to a combination the first time, neither will my horse. I think as riders we need to be aware of our first impressions of a course. It’s so easy to convince ourselves after walking four or five times that a combination will ride OK. In fact, that is exactly what we need to do to be able to get the job done. Never forget that first impression. Unfortunately, the reality is that riders will always press for that last bit of hope when things are going wrong. They are, after all, competitors, but this will all too often lead to a bad result. In most cases this isn’t bad horsemanship, it’s being competitive.

I am aware that this next opinion will make me tremendously unpopular with the traditionalists among us. I believe that we need to get to a place where 100 percent of the jumps aside from banks, water and ditches are frangible or deformable in some way. Crazy, huh? We really are not that far off from this. The technology is almost there. We have frangible pins, reverse pins, MIMS clips, Prologs, and we are very close to having a real working collapsible table. The research and study of frangible devices is not complete. Truthfully it probably never will be. At least I hope it never is, because we need to keep evolving. We need to keep improving. I can hear you already: “That will change our sport forever.” You might be right, but you know what? We need to change it, because right now we have problems.

What about the upper-level riders? Why aren’t they the ones taking to social media to call out the dangers of the sport? Shouldn’t they be the ones shouting from the rooftops? I guess that depends on who they are and how you look at it. My first thought on this is that just because someone isn’t hiding behind his computer screen (ironic I know, as I sit here behind mine) doesn’t mean he’s being quiet. Many of the top riders, trainers and coaches in the world are actively trying to make changes for the better. Many of them sit on various USEA, USEF, or FEI committees, or rider groups like the Professional Riders Organization or Event Riders Association. These various groups are where the real work is done. It’s not as glamorous as posting lists of what’s wrong with the sport or blasting the “powers that be” on Facebook or Twitter. It won’t get them 10,000 likes or re-tweets, but it is in fact where the real change can be made.

Secondly, not everyone is the same. Some people are good on committees. Some people are tolerant of sitting down at the table and listening to all sides to come up with solutions. Some people are not. Those who are not good at that can be—and predominately are—still heard. They have avenues to communicate with their various representatives. There are numerous channels of communication open to all of us.

Finally, the most important thing that any of us can do is to thoughtfully and responsibly prepare ourselves and our horses for competition. If each competitor did only that I suspect we would be better off as a sport already.

Jonathan Holling has been a mainstay at the top level of eventing for close to 20 years, competing in North America and Europe. He won the 2012 Bromont CCI*** (Quebec) and was a member of that year’s Nations Cup team at Boekelo (the Netherlands). Jon has successfully ridden around numerous four-star events. In addition, he coaches the Area IV young rider team, which has won numerous medals, including two golds. He serves on the U.S. Equestrian Federation Competition Management Committee, Eventing Committee and High Performance Eligible Athletes Committee. This is his first Between Rounds column.