My last post brought up some interesting comments about rider responsibility, including one about Darren's accident.
Let me start out by stating (once again), that I have always been a huge fan of Darren. I have seen him ride many horses, and have always been impressed by his professionalism and ability on course. Now that said, Baron Verdi - the horse Darren was riding at the time of his accident - competed in a total of 8 events PRIOR to Red Hills. This includes one Preliminary run at Rocking Horse earlier in March, two trainings (both in February of '08), then two novices in January of '08 and then handful of novices back in 2005. We are talking about a horse that less than three months prior to the accident was going novice. He fell on a Preliminary course. I'm sorry, but nobody can convince me that the horse's inexperience didn't play a role in it. I don't care how good of a rider Darren is, the horse was inexperienced. However, Darren is a big boy. He definitely has more experience riding than I do, so I am not going to point fingers and say that it is Darren's own fault. He (along with the owners) made the decision, for whatever reason, to push the horse along fairly quickly and got hurt. Shit happens, but he made the call to ride out of that start box onto the Preliminary course.
As far as other injuries and deaths in the sport, I believe that trainers play a huge role as well. Many people don't question their trainers. Perfect example: my first trainer/barn manager/horse role model didn't deworm or vaccinate their horses. My parents and I knew nothing of horses prior to what these people taught us, so we never knew enough to protest. It wasn't until I joined Pony Club that I was educated on other ways of doing things. My first horse died of colic with the most probable cause being worm infestation. That is on my parents and myself as the horse's owner. No, my trainers never told me to deworm the horse, but ignorance is no excuse. That is basically how I feel about people taking their trainers word for everything. These people are in it to make money. Yes, I know there are some honest, well doing horse trainers out there, but lets face it the horse industry is notorious for shadiness.
Say you have five trainers in one area. Four of the trainers have a moderate number of students who move up slowly, but are consistently safe. The fifth trainer has a large number of students that go from Beg. Novice to Training in one year and are competing Preliminary within two or three years of starting to compete. How is it not human nature to gravitate towards that fifth trainer, "because nothing bad has happened"...yet. The problem is, people use the excuse "well my trainer told me it was okay." So? The trainer wants to make money. Period. If that trainer doesn't have students moving up at a steady rate then people don't want to send their children to ride with them. So they are going to move people up, sometimes before they are ready. It is just by shear grace on God's part that most of the people out running around the Preliminary and above courses aren't dead.
Comment from yesterday's post: "I'm not saying rider responsibility isn't a good idea (everyone needs to put their ego on hold when dealing with horses), but by focusing on that to the point of ignoring other solutions is very counterproductive. Drivers have to be responsible on the road, but we also have speed limits, airbags and seatbelts."
What is that entire rulebook if not a metaphorical speed limit, airbag and seatbelt? Optimum times are pretty self explanatory to me, though most people ignore them now. What about the qualifications prior to moving up a level? My opinion is that people like this expect the organization to babysit them. They want to be able to blame someone else when something goes bad. In today's sue-happy society we think it always has to be SOMEONE's fault, though never our own. You have plenty of time to walk the course. You have infinite amount of time prior to the event to train and school at home and other venues. We already have all the tools for success that we need. However there is always somebody that is going to run 75mph down a mountainous road where the speed limit is posted 55...whose fault is that? Should the state have put in road blocks to prevent people from being stupid? No. The problem in today's society as a whole, and now it is leaking into the eventing industry, is accountability. Nobody wants to be held accountable for their actions. Grow up. I have no tolerance for this.
My final note:
People die. People get hurt. Shit happens. It is life. Whether you are driving a car, riding in a boat or walking across the street the risk is there to get hurt. We can make things as safe as possible: wear our seat belts, wear a life jacket, and look both ways before we cross, but nothing in life is for certain. Nothing in life is safe. This is life. If you don't like it, go check yourself into a padded room somewhere to rot to death. If you want to live and ride. Do it. Be safe and take the necessary precautions, but do it. If this is what you love, help it. Make suggestions. Don't proclaim that people should be doing something to stop it all and keep everyone safe when you are sitting on your ass not doing a thing.
My perfect solution to the turmoil in eventing: don't change a thing as far as the rules and such goes. Continue forward with the normal research in safety, but don't cater to these dumbasses who let their ego ride for them. Natural selection will take care of them. :)
