Riding Kills Horses, Too
Corrected on 4/11/08: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the location of the event at which two horses died in March. The event was at Red Hills.
While it is nothing short of thrilling that the New York Times placed a story about eventing fatalities on its front page yesterday, it is nothing short of infuriating that the report missed or bypassed a most important point.
Yes, riders are injured all too often on artificially pumped-up courses. Some even die. But equine athletes—the horses themselves—die trying to get through these courses. Unlike human riders, these horses do not knowingly undertake the risks. It is high time we stopped sacrificing horses' lives to massage human egos seeking unnecessarily tougher athletic tests.
I wrote about this two weeks ago in my Scripps Howard Newspapers column. And I should mention that I own seven horses and compete in the hunter ring.
Eventing is a three-phase Olympic sport that tests horse and rider teams in dressage, stadium jumping, and cross-country. At a horse trial in Florida last month, an Olympic rider, Darren Chiacchia, was seriously injured, and two horses were killed trying to complete a course that could easily have been made equally challenging yet less dangerous. Chiacchia's injury, the Times reports, provoked an eruption of online discussion in the eventing community about the excessive difficulty of some course designs.
The dangers posed on cross-country courses come in two forms. First, huge wooden fixed fences that horse/rider teams must jump do not come apart when horses stumble and hit them. Second, horses are sometimes forced to maintain speeds at the gallop that their hearts simply cannot abide. The two horses that died at Red Hills last month both died of heart attacks. This proves the inaccuracy of the common saying "healthy as a horse."
Cross-country is by far not the most dangerous horse sport. We all know Barbaro's sorry tale. Young horses are regularly "euthanized" at the track after breaking legs and sustaining other injuries. Many of these injuries are also easily averted.
Challenging athletes is one thing. Pushing them to inhuman extremes is another. It's time to make eventing and all equine sports safer for the horses, too.
Tags: sports | animal cruelty | animals
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Reader Comments
Joanne, thank you!
I just heard about Rolex and I'm going to quote you in a new blog entry for tomorrow/Monday Ap. 26th. Bonnie
Too many horses dying....
I just returned from the Rolex 4* Three Day Event, my 5th trip, and my heart is breaking for the two young, healthy, beautiful horses whose lives were cut terribly short from being asked/forced to perform in an event which is seemingly killing more and more horses and riders as the years go by. Add them to the list that continues to grow.
I have tremendously enjoyed attending the Rolex to witness the magnificence of these brave, outstanding, horses and their riders but it is most certainly not worth the thrill when so many innocent animals are dying. Yes, I feel for the riders who are injured but they know the risk, they continue to compete by choice, the horses do not. I have second thoughts about attending The Rolex next year. As a spectator I am supporting this abuse when I pay for my tickets. I can't, in good conscience, continue to do so.
I am not an eventer but I have ridden horses and competed for years in a different discipline and my daughter is now doing the same. We have a love and respect for these animals that goes beyond our selfish need for excitement and thrill.
The people "at the helm" of eventing and those responsible for organizing the competitions have a responsibility, not only towards the riders, but towards the horses. Without these willing creatures there would be no eventing!
I'm tired of hearing of all the horrible accidents and deaths, I'm tired of leaving The Rolex knowing another steed lost it's life. There are most definitely ways to make this sport safer. I don't want to hear any more excuses.
For all of you reading this who have the same opinion, write letters and consider boycotting these events until improvements are made. If the spectators take a stand, thereby affecting the profitibility of these events, maybe someone will take notice!
Boycott Rolex
Today is Monday after the Rolex Kentucky 3-day Event, and I have been at a loss about how to respond when asked, "how was your weekend?" I think to myself, the horse park was beautiful; the weather on Saturday afternoon turned out to be lovely; the shopping at the trade fair was great ... oh, and two horses got killed. On one hand it would break my heart not to go again next year, but on the other, it feels pretty sick to buy a ticket to a sporting event where horses (and riders) appear expendable. Would I participate in a boycott to send a message to the eventing world that fans expect safety improvements to prevent horses (and riders) from being catastrophically injured in cross-country competitions? Yes.
Sponsors should pullout
I agree there should be a spectator boycott until tangible safety improvements are enacted, but a sponsor boycott would apply even more pressure! I think I'm going to avoid products from eventing sponsors from now on.
eventing/deaths
i agree whole heartedly with bonnie.erin,jenna and felicity. this is not my cup of tea, as far as horses are concerned. im barely able to stand the horse races anymore. i think that the sport of eventing should be toned down far beyond the fencing construction and made a humane competion. it sounds to me like a death sport. i love my horse and though he is no athlete his welfare and safety come first. as far as boycotting, i wouldnt even watch this on t.v.
Couldn't agree more
Jenna, you said exactly what I have been thinking and feeling over the last few days, except I was there to see Lainey Ashker's fall as well. It was clear that Frodo would not survive after he got up only to fall again moments later, legs convulsing. Lainey is still critical, but thankfully she should recover. I also witnessed the death of the horse Titleist in 2002 after a fall during the event.
I have been composing a letter today to send to everyone I can think of (Equestrian Events, inc who put on the Rolex event, FEI, USEF, USEA, Rolex, etc.) and I encourage all of you to do so as well. I second your sentiment, Jenna, about going next year. And what bothers me the most is that NOTHING was said prior to Sunday's portion of the competition about these 3 athletes who were injured. Someone even posted a you-tube video of Ms. Ashker and Frodo's fall and whether you agree with it or not, it is interesting to note that it has been taken down while videos of the falls of other riders from that day (Boyd Martin, Heidi White, etc.) are still available. Wake up USEF!!! and take care of both horse and rider or the future of eventing will be short lived.
cross country is a beautiful sport, it not only tests the horse, but the rider as well. it is horrible what is being said after the terrible accidents that happended! these wonderful animals were just trying to please their riders and if they really didn't want to, they wouldn't. these people as well as animals should be in our thoughts and prayers and should be respected after what horrible thing has happened
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Bonnie Erbe has covered Washington politics since God was a baby. Because of that, and the fact that she's a native New Yorker, nothing much surprises her anymore. She has covered Congress, the Supreme Court, the Justice Department, and occasionally the White House for radio and television networks. She also hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, 
Riding Kills Horses, Too
Two more 4* horses killed over the weekend at the Ky Horse Park, it's absolutely sickening. We were standing right next to jump 13 when The Quiet Man crashed, critically injuring himself. Both wrecks were "rotational". It is very frustrating for me to see this time and time again, hearing only lame excuses from the sport's leaders. The courses leave no margin for error, and the penalty for mistakes is often either death or serious injury to horse and/or rider. No living thing is perfect, we have no right to put an animal in the position where one mistake of either itself or its rider will lead to death. The time has come for the eventing world to accept that the fences need to be able to come down. Ensuring that the fence can come down safely when necessary and not crush a downed rider/horse is a simple mechanical engineering problem, not exactly rocket science. There's no excuse for rotational falls, they CAN be avoided!
Now of course this will take money, just take it out of the flower budget... Along with building safer fences, they also need to reduce the max width allowed and the number of fences on the course. 20-25 should be sufficient. If the sport wants to test endurance more than this will allow, then require the riders to run a marathon after they finish their ride. that way, if anyone keels over with a heart attack, it will be the human, who has the free will, if not the intelligence, to decide what is appropriate risk.
Apr 27, 2008 20:54:22 PM [permalink] [report comment]