Eventing and frangible pins

[npage123]

After reading about the very sad news of another Eventer who passed away after a rotational fall:

How many jumps nowadays are made safe for horse and rider by using frangible pins (or other ways of making it a collapsable fence instead of a solid one)?

Shouldn't this become mandatory across all levels of Eventing nowadays or will this be too expensive or impractical to do? If so, should we not argue that in that case, all solid fences should be demolished?

 

[Shay]

Solid fences are the point of eventing - if they all fall down its called show jumping!

BE take safety very seriously. Any death is too many of course. But this is a dangerous sport. MiMMs clips and frangible pins only work in some types of fences. They are expensive to fit and require someone able to clear / re-set them if broken. Forcing every venue running BE to use them would send many out of business and put the entry fees up far beyond their already high level. Plus it won't touch RCs, PCs and unaffiliated.

There is a really sophisticated rating system, minimum eligibility requirements and a step down requirement. These are more effective that being able to put a collapsible device on the fences. It is far better to have horse and rider trained and qualified for the level they want to compete at than just to be sure some types of fences fall down. BPs, air jackets and modern hats also do much to help - but at the end of the day you are riding nearly a ton of animal at speed.

Eventing is not the only source of accidents. If we want to live in a risk free world it would be more effective to give up horses I'm afraid! Even dressage riders suffer catestrophic injuriese, and occasionally deaths. Deaths have also occured when just catching a horse in a feild. Hacking. Riding on the road. All carry risks. We cannot de-risk life.

 

[npage123]

Thank you Shay. You've explained it all very well in a well-balanced post. Thanks for the much needed education on the topic.