have put together a few thoughts and added a lot of other peoples thoughts to write down some points of interest on modern eventing safety, thought it might be interesting to and thought provoking.

I was lucky enough to have had a very enjoyable and reasonably successful eventing career when I was a young man. Over the recent years I have also had time to reflect on how things have changed and have given a great deal of thought and deliberation on the human fatalities in our sport over the past few years. The following is not just based on my own thoughts but after long discussions with other coaches and competitors from the eventing world.
The first human fatality that really rocked the event world was a slow rotational fall at Burghley in 1999. Soon thereafter, the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) discussed making a rule against attempting to jump from a standstill; i.e. "jumping too slow." I can hardly wait to see what they say about "jumping too fast."
To claim that recent fatalities are because "riding too fast produces bad jumping" is to reveal an abysmal ignorance about what horses can do when trained in self-carriage and ridden in balance. Anyone who makes that claim needs to skip Badminton next year and watch the Maryland Hunt Cup in Virginia USA instead. The Hunt Cup is a timber race that covers more than four miles of natural country. Several fences are 1m 40cm, and most of the remaining jumps are over 1m 25cm. That is not a misprint... the third and the 13th, and the seventh and the 17th fences are all 1m 40cm and plumb vertical as well. The horses average more than 800 meters per minute, and most of them jump like working hunters. If you think horses can't jump well at speed, you need to continue your education. Speed is not the problem; lack of balance is the problem. (As an aside, I used to dream at night of riding in the Hunt Cup... now I have nightmares that I can't pull my horse up in time! Those are really big fences and the jockeys go really fast at them... successfully.)

"Steeplechasing" Over Solid Jumps
Whilst there is not much new in course design, the change in the format in 2004 certainly had an enormous effect on course design, and more importantly on how riders rode the course. When competing in the classic format (with steeplechase), most riders took for granted that they would accrue some time faults and judged their pace accordingly. In addition, because they had just completed a steeplechase phase, their horses had been given an opportunity to "miss" at a soft, forgiving brush fence. This reminded their horses to watch what they did with their footwork and to reawaken their initiative. Due to the change to a short format we now have a generation of horses and riders who have never had the chance to miss at speed and learn from it. This means that when they miss in competition, it will be at something fixed and immovable with drastic results. It is hard to draw a positive learning experience from a high-speed rotational fall. And there is no doubt that the speeds reached by short format riders are far greater than any classic rider ever experienced. How can we explain this: Riders are riding faster than ever, over courses that are, supposedly, specifically designed to produce "slower and safer riding"--yet falls are increasing in frequency and severity? In my opinion, the answer is simple. The more you make riders slow down to jump complicated, show jumping-like combinations, the faster they will ride somewhere else on the course in order to avoid time faults. The inevitable result of this is that riders are now jumping the plain fences at very high rates of speed. In effect the experts have designed a new sport, where riders steeplechase over solid jumps. Horses use their initiative to keep from falling. The problem occurs when we destroy our horses' initiative."
Destroying Our Horses' Initiative
It seems to me that the factors at work in these accidents are not that the course designers are wrong, or that the riders are riding too fast. The obstacles we are asking our horses to jump have been successfully jumped for nearly a century. For almost two centuries, racehorses have successfully jumped bigger fences at much higher rates of speed than we require. Our problems are not being caused by the cross-country test; they are being caused by the dressage and show jumping tests. Viewed from a historical perspective, the cross-country has not changed as much as the dressage and show jumping have in recent years.
We absolutely must practice our dressage, because dressage is the essential tool by which we communicate with our horses. Without it, we cannot control them. However, we have recently started to require collection from our horses, and I am sure this is where we have gone wrong. Certainly our horses are marvellous creatures, and they possess powers that leave us in awe. At the same time, just because a horse can do something is no justification for us to require him to do it. If we carry that logic to an illogical extreme, eventers would be performing a Grand Prix dressage test, an extremely complex cross-country course, and the same show jumping course as Grand Prix show jumpers. Crazy, right? But that has been the trend in recent years, to place increasing demands on our horses' performance. Possibly horses can do these things, but the question remains, should they?
Take collection, for example. Collection occupies a very specialized part of the dressage world. When a horse enters into collection he begins to surrender his body to his rider, and he begins to surrender his initiative as well. If when we train our event horse we go too deeply into collection then the horse will begin to rely too much on the rider.
Meaning that the horse will wait to be told what to do across country. Instead of using their initiative.
Other dressage experts, including the late great Reiner Klimke, have mentioned that when we truly and correctly collect our horses, we also subdue their initiative. Old time dressage experts used to say that the well trained dressage horse "appeared" to produce the movements of the test by itself. But the movements are in reality a result of the application of our aids, and the horse's response to those aids. Thus the recent proposal that we require our four-star horses to produce tempi changes at the collected canter fills me with foreboding. More collection, less initiative--less initiative, more falls.
New System of Training: You Can't Miss
The same loss of the horse's initiative has occurred at the other end of the event, with the recent mandated changes in the height, spread and design of the show jumping test. Accuracy of approach and presentation are being tested as never before. I often maintain that "accuracy" or "seeing a stride" is an overrated concept for most riders. They do not need it until they start to jump obstacles that test their horse's scope. I am sure that some people have heard the first part of my statement, but did not hear the second part. Let me say it again... The reason most people do not need accuracy is because they do not jump high enough.
However, the recent changes to the show jumping test have made accuracy necessary. There may be one or two horses around the eventing scene that do not have to be accurate to 1m 25cm oxers with a 1m 50cm spread, but those horses are few and far between. The vast majority of event horses are reaching the limits of their scope when they approach a show jumping fence of this size, and then the reverse of my statement comes into play. You don't need to see a stride over low fences for the same reason that you do need to see a stride to big fences. Low fences do not test your horse's scope.
Once you approach the limits of your horse's abilities, there is no other possible answer than to regulate your horse's stride in the approach. The only way you can obtain this regulation is for your horse to "wait" to be told where and when to take off. This works really well at slow speeds on level ground, and expert show jumpers do it successfully all the time. Unfortunately for our horses, they are not exclusively show jumpers.
The problem with that statement is that the designers have taken speed out of the approach to their combinations by using an ever-increasing complexity of placement and striding. This means that we are no longer even "show jumping at speed" we are just plain show jumping. Our speed in these situations must be, by design, the same speed that we use in the show jumping test. Now the remaining 50 percent of the cross-country obstacles must be ridden at extreme speeds in order for the rider to remain at all competitive. At these extreme speeds we must still regulate our horse's strides. Since we have caused our horses to surrender their initiative to us, we must now take responsibility for the placement of their stride at the correct take-off distance from the jump. A system of training such as this will work well... until you miss. When you miss with your horse, after you have spent months practicing in controlled circumstances and promising your horse you will never miss, the results will be disastrous and possibly fatal.
Solutions
It is clear in my mind: We now have an event that was designed by humans for humans rather than by humans for horses. Because of this, we have forced riders to cross the line between discipline and domination. It is sad to say, but all the changes our sport has recently endured have, each and every one, failed to produce the benefits that were predicted. I see no way back to the classic format, because the FEI is often in error but never in doubt, and the FEI makes the rules. In addition, our present bureaucracy is deeply and emotionally invested in the mistaken belief that there is some magic rule change, if only they can write it. For them to make a massive change in their mindset is too much to expect. I only wish legendary event horses like Charisma or Kilkenny had a voice in those committees to say, "Have you really thought about what you are asking us to do?" am afraid that all we have to look forward to is more press releases that sound like they were written by Deepak Chopra, and a growing sense of what we lost when we accepted these changes. We love our sport and we love our horses, but I sense people are growing hesitant to participate. Riders are starting to fear that they may become yet another statistic, leaving chat room forums to pick over the bones of the most recent disaster.
So what are we to do, now that we are caught between our love for the sport, and our concern for our horses? I have several suggestions:
1. First of all, don't even think of competing without competence. You are in this sport because you treasure the partnership the sport gives you with your horse. Work on your competence to the exclusion of any competitive desires. Bert de Némethy said, "A good feeling after the round is better than any ribbon." That statement is as true today as the day he made it, over half a century ago.
2. When you are training, make sure to include daily exercises in initiative and self-carriage. If you cannot finish your dressage periods with quiet work on long, soft reins, you are not riding your horse in self-carriage. Regularly practice jumping gymnastics on a long or loose rein and remind your horse that he needs to, in Eric Smiley's lovely phrase, "take ownership of the fence." Jump small banks and ditches on loose reins and find steep slides and hill climbs where you can remind your horse how to adjust his own balance without your dictation. Make him proudly independent of you so that he understands his job so well you merely walk the course and then show him the way. Tell your horse what you want him to do, and then allow him to do it.
3. This last part might be a little bit my fault, and I apologize. Due to the recent increased importance of dressage and show jumping to the competitive outcome, I have stopped telling people to find a horse with the “eye of the tiger” Horses who are successful in competition these days are extraordinary movers and powerful, careful show jumpers. But finding one who combines all this with the eye of the tiger is nearly impossible. Thus when we compromise, we must compromise on the horse's movement, not on his agility. I now recognize that more than ever these are the qualities we need, qualities of the horse's spirit. Certainly we need great movers and powerful jumpers, but above all we need a partner, not a slave. We need horses that are supremely courageous, fiercely independent and phenomenally agile.
Find such a horse and treasure him. Teach him that you will trust him with your life. Give him the education he will need, and then sit quietly and keep out of his way while he does the job you have very skilfully and very patiently taught him. He won't let you down. We owe all this and more to our horses. As Jackson Browne says, "There are lives in the balance."

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Comment by Jackie Cochran on June 14, 2009 at 12:47pm
Knowing the human desire to test all limits, I do not see this improving anytime soon. Horsemen (and women) may finally have to vote with their feet. I do not see the point of fences and combinations that kill horses and riders (oh--I'm such a great rider, I survived fences that killed others?) I've seen breeds ruined going for the max in breed type and movement, and the people involved get in deeper and deeper for their ideal whatever, and however much anyone protests for the sake of the horses, they are silenced by the statement--that is what we have to do to win.
But in eventing, is it really worth your life and the life of your horse?
If I could jump I would much rather compete in the Maryland Hunt Cup than a present day cross-country course, and I suspect that a lot of eventing horses would agree.
Comment by Katie W on April 22, 2009 at 10:02am
Hi Ernest... A very useful comment on a debate close to all of our hearts. While I have heard all the points you raise commented on before by others, I think you have pulled the arguments together in a very cogent and useful way. Not sure where we go from here, however :-(
Comment by William Micklem on April 22, 2009 at 9:39am
Hi Ernest...great that you have made this excellent contribution to this debate. It echoes many of the thoughts which I have been talking about in my blogs and articles. The point about the right type of horse is crucial and it worries me greatly that many riders are using horses that instead of having a cross country 'fifth leg' appear to have barely three good legs! Of course having and developing a fifth leg is to do with the brain of the horse and this is where I am so lucky in working with so many Irish horses. Keep up the good work. William.
PS...the phrase 'take ownership of the fence' is one you will find in most of the articles I have
written about cross country riding for the past 20 years...it is part of what I call the 'contract' between the horse and rider, with each having their own responsibilities. Delighted that others are now using it.
Comment by Geoffrey Pannell on April 22, 2009 at 8:07am
Hi Ernest, While I agree with most of the content of this blog, there are a few items that need more examination. I don't agree that the horse must necessarily surrender it's initiative in collection. In training Show jumpers we teach the horse the craft by doing grid-work, so the horse is learning it's own take-off spots without interference from the rider. The rider's job is to produce a rhythm that harnesses the power of the canter and its that rhythm that gets the take-off spot. Thus, through the grid-work training the horse is using it's initiative in finding it's spot at take-off, and so in collection, not having the horse surrender but creating the power for the horse to use it's initiative over the jumps. A partner, not a slave. You are right on the money with your comment about events being designed by humans for humans, in fact at the elite level, designed by humans for TV!! Blame the I.O.C. for that. Most of the deaths, as I understand it, in the U.S.A.& the U.K. have been at the lower levels of competition where there has never been a steeplechase phase. It is hard to pin-point any single cause for these accidents, as you say is it too fast or too slow? How do we get riders to slow down and be prepared to accept some time faults. Do we need some penalty for those riders coming in under time after refusals. The elite riders must take some responsibility for the trickle down effect that their speed has on younger riders. Just as the F.E.I. must take the same responsibility in regulating the sport so there is not the need for such speed x-country. They pay lip service to the idea of welfare of the horse, and yet in the lower levels nothing is done to discipline those who appear to value speed and ribbons above all else. There is no easy solution, however, the more we ,as a community, speak out the more likely a solution will be found. So ,thank you Ernest for bringing this topic out once more. Cheers Geoffrey

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