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Lexington, KY − The USEF/USEA Safety Summit took place on June 7-8, 2008 in
downtown Lexington, KY. More than 250 people from all corners
of the country and all levels of the sport of Eventing showed up to listen,
voice their concerns and work with fellow members of the Eventing community
to find solutions to the safety issues facing the sport.
Attendees included
spectators, coaches, riders from every level, officials, trainers,
veterinarians, horse welfare advocates, media, medical professionals, safety
product manufacturers and course designers. The goal was to develop some tangible
next steps in a number of different aspects of the sport to make Eventing as
safe as possible. The determination made at the beginning of the meeting
proved true: there is just not one answer.
USEF President David
O’Connor made the focus of solutions very simple, “The goal is to reduce the
number of horse falls in the sport.” Although very rare, horse falls
dramatically increase the chance of injury to horses and riders, thus being
the most important thing to decrease. Horse welfare and safety are the top
priority in making any decisions going forward as the sport changes. USEA
President Kevin Baumgardner agreed, urging all Eventers to put aside their
differences, find common ground and work together to ensure the sport is as
safe as possible for horses and riders alike.
Although it cannot be
mandated, rider responsibility was a major theme at the Summit and was defined as putting the
safety and welfare of the horse before anything else. A huge part of this is
rider awareness. A shift in culture recognizing that Eventing is no longer a
sport based on experience, but instead will become a sport based on
education, is also a critical aspect of rider responsibility.
The summit was broken
down into four break-out sessions: veterinary/medical, cross country course
design, qualifications and education. Significant discussion surrounded each
topic and that discussion produced some significant action items. In every
aspect of this discussion it was reiterated that we need more data to help
guide the sport in the future.
Below are the key
action items to which the USEF and USEA are committed:
Cross
Country Course Design:
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The USEF determined that it will subsidize the cost of frangible pins to
anyone who is approved to install them by the USEA education
department and requests them from this point forward. The specifics are as
follows:
– Any frangible pin installed before Monday, June 9, 2008 will
be billed by the installer to the organizer in the traditional manner.
– Any frangible pin installed on or after Monday, June 9, 2008
that is from the current inventory of a pin installer will be billed to the
Federation by the person who purchased the pin. The event organizer for which
these pins are installed must be cc’ed on the invoice to the Federation.
– Any frangible pin purchased after Monday, June 9, 2008 will be
supplied by Mick Costello and he will be reimbursed by the Federation for
that pin.
•
There is also a commitment to continue research and development of deformable
technology. Captain Mark Phillips, a member of the U.S. Course Advisor
Program and the Technical Advisor for the sport of Eventing in the U.S.
stressed that deformable jump construction must be based on
engineering.
•
The USEA is currently setting up a series of seminars to certify more course
builders in the installation of frangible pins beginning at events in July.
Mick Costello, Dan Starck, Eric Bull and Tremaine Cooper are offering their
services free of charge to the USEA and the USEF to teach these seminars. The
goal is to have more available pin installers for organizers. Please see
www.useventing.com for more information.
•
The USEF Fall Form has been updated to track more detailed information on the
kind of jumps that cause falls.
•
The USEA Course Advisor Program is going to be extended to the Training level
and the organizations are going to look into the specifications and
philosophy for training level set forth in 2002. The definitions for courses
are going to be developed so they can be rated more accurately and
consistently in the Omnibus.
Veterinary/Medical
•
Dr. Catherine Kohn feels that mandating necropsies on any horse that suffer a
fatality at a USEA recognized competition is vital in gathering data and
understanding accidents and trends. The USEA will assume the full cost of
these necropsies. This is an example of both organizations commitment to
developing consistent, usable data.
•
We need more information about the cardiopulmonary function of horses; Dr.
Catherine Kohn recommended that this be the focus of our
veterinary research going forward and is working to develop a mechanism to do
so.
•
Medical records need to be more available (without violating privacy laws) to
ensure that riders are fit to compete.
•
Standards need to be developed to objectively evaluate the performance and
fitness level of both horses and riders.
•
The USEF/USEA was presented with interesting research surrounding the issue
of speed on the cross course. Providing funding to continue that research was
met with approval on all levels.
Qualifications
and Education
•
The USEA is dedicated to certifying 500 ICP Instructors by 2010. Currently
135 people are certified.
•
A Watch List is being instituted which will allow people who meet certain
qualifications (currently being determined) to put riders on notice that they
are riding dangerously. These riders will be contacted by a designated
spokesperson and will be made aware of the situation. The specifics on
removal from the list are still be finalized.
•
The USEF is drafting an outline to have Technical Delegates work directly for
the USEF rather than the Event Organizer.
The USEF and the USEA
are deeply committed to safety in the sport of Eventing and industry-wide.
Although some of these action items are very specific to Eventing the
consensus throughout the weekend that from a philosophical standard, much of
this can be the starting point of discussion in other breeds and disciplines:
the safety and welfare of the horse and rider must guide every decision we
make about all of our sports.
ENDS
For more information
please contact USEF High Performance Communications Manager Joanie Morris at jmorris@usef.org.
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