How safe is SJ'ing?

F

flyingfeet

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 March 2006
Messages
8,073
Location
South West
Visit site
Are there any examples of anyone being killed or severely injured through show jumping?

The only one I could think of was Christopher Reeve, however on closer inspection that was actually the 3rd XC fence in a "Hunter Class", so was not a show jump.

Just wondering is SJ'ing really is safer (sorry PF!)
 
Well, I like to think SJ is safer... if not I think I will take up chess or something.
Sorry, not very scientific.
I suppose there is waaay smaller chance of a rotational fall.
I can remember some horse casualties, but not riders straight away...
 
[ QUOTE ]

Just wondering is SJ'ing really is safer (sorry PF!)

[/ QUOTE ]
LMAO!! I was just wondering how to answer this post....
grin.gif

Didn't Nick Skelton break his neck SJing?
 
Was that aimed at me?! Because i wasn't intending to be anti anything, but now i can see how it might have come across that way..
confused.gif
All i was saying was that obviously eventing is more dangerous than SJ because of the solid fences and speed. But clearly accidents can happen in any riding discipline.
 
I believe the stats show that SJ is much 'safer' than cross country but if you want to really get into it then horse riding itself or even being around horses is far from safe! Apparently there are more deaths from horse riding (not even competing necessarily) than motorbike riding...

But yes, because the fences fall down then horses are far less likely to have rotational falls - can still happen but not from such a great height generally. Thing is though that of course you get the odd serious injury / death from it because its often just luck as to how you land.

A guy I know locally fell off in a big way in a 2'3 SJ class - he landed badly and broke either his neck or back (cannot remember which), he actually stopped breathing as well and had to be revived there and then. He has been in a specialist hospital down south for a hell of a long time (year and a half must be?) and they never thought he could move (let alone walk) again. He's made an amazing recovery and I believe can now move. Terrible, but sadly these things happen. Hence why IMO I dont think I'm much more 'dangerous' jumping 1.20 than 50cm!
 
I can not off the top of my head name any rider who has been killed from a SJing accident. But if you think about it most XC deaths are from rotational falls, which are pretty hard to achieve with a knock down fence.

Having said that I don't know that it is much safer. There are quite a few top riders who have suffered back or neck injuries, which always have high risk of complication associated with them. I don't know the name of the rider but I saw a video of a rider coming out the side door head first into the wall of an indoor show, I don't know the outcome but she didn't get up.

I think SJ is most dangerous at lower levels, because people who don't nessecarily think they are capable of jumping a solid 65cm log will have a go at a 65cm SJ.
I have seen several nasty falls (maybe my RC is exceptionally bad?) by riders (mainly novices jumping 80cm or less) going head first into the wings, straight down on to the poles, or under the horse & poles. Mainly due to the horse being badly ridden into the fence and then running out or stopping at the last moment and the rider continuing on into the fence/wing.
Two of these falls resulted in back injuries to the riders.

Some of the injuries could have been (I think) prevented if the riders had been taught to fall (ie try to tuck & roll). The two spinal cases were due to the riders sliding down the horses neck after a refusal and looking up and keeping hold of the reins so that they face planted rather than tucking their head in and trying to land shoulder/arm first. I know this isn't always possible but in these cases it was, and I would rather break my collar bone than be told I have 2 fractured vertebrae.

So the summary of the rambling was I don't think SJing is safer, there may be less fatalities, but there are as many accidents they are just not as well publicised. How many press/ FEI officals attend your local RC fun day?
 
Christopher Reeve's accident happened at a xc fence, i am 99.9% positive.
Lionel Dunning had a fall where a sj pole hit him hard on the head and put him in a coma, iirc he 'died' at the scene and was resuscitated. He made a full recovery and always wore a proper crash hat from then onwards, v unusual in the '70s!
that, and Nick Skelton's neck-breaking fall, are the worst i can recall.
the thing is, most of the eventing fatalities have been from full rotationals, and those are pretty impossible in sjing. Also, sjers don't ride defensively so are thrown clear if a horse does have a fall, with pole between its legs etc (which i think is far worse than hitting a xc fence, it can do in a horse's confidence over coloured poles for good... i know a v good 4* horse who has never got over that happening to him.)
i think it's not the solidity of the fences that causes the fatalities xc, it's the over-security of the riders if the horse does start rotating...
frown.gif
frown.gif
frown.gif

i know what the statistics say, but give me a big xc track over a big sj track any day.
 
Hi Felicity,

My friend has had two rotational falls from SJ on her pony, both time she hurt her face, back and neck. She hasn't, however, hurt herself badly *touch wood* XC. I think the risk of rotationals are pretty debatable, as you have to look at the type of horse.

Sorry if none of that makes sense, I only just got up out of bed!
 
Golden_Match, i'm sorry to hear about your friend hurting herself, but are you sure they were real rotationals? (btw, at BE meeting last week one of the officials said some fence judges mark them down incorrectly too... horse hitting deck is not a rotational, horse doing a headstand, flipping clean over, and landing on its back is).
i have never seen one in sjing, that's all. i've seen horses scrabble along with pole between legs and hit the deck sideways, very nasty, but never flip clean over.
i know the rider can be hurt sjing, what i'm saying is that it is very very rare for it to be caused by the horse flipping over on them, more likely to be a 'fired into wing' kind of situation.
i agree about type of horse, especially those who don't lift their forearms high enough, but this isn't breed-specific, it is individual to the horse, and depends a lot on early training etc too.
 
nick skelton had a bad neck breaking fall (can't remember when) and lionel dunning had a very bad accident while showjumping a while ago. and i have seen countless clips of showjumping falls at high level and lower level where rider have collided with wings/walls/poles and been trodden on by horses and even rolled on...

sj is probably not ''safer'' than xc...but has a different range of usual accidents i.e. no rotational falls...but collisions with wings and being landed on/kicked by horses does happen in sj-ing

i don't think either are ''safe''...as being around horses is definitley not safe atall
crazy.gif
but ah well - we all love it too much to stop!
grin.gif
xxx
 
I agree with Kerilli re the difference in ridesr position having a major effect.
As a former event rider I used to sit very defensively over any type of fence. This resulted in a serious of injuries off young horses, as I was still in the saddle when they hit the ground.

It wasn't till I moved to Holland for a year and Albert Voorn, Olympic medalist started helping me. He changed my position completely.

Now if I fall off, I am usually thrown clear, as are the vast majority of riders I see.

I think that it is also worth a mention now, that SJ materials have become alot lighter, some poles planks can be lifted with one hand. And also the invention of the safety breakaway cup on the back bar of oxers. The worst fall SJ I ever saw was when a horse misjudged the fence and tried to bounce an oxer. Because of the older heavier materials and old cups the horse flipped completely in a true rotational fall.
 
It was 2000 when Nick had that freak accident. Friends of mine who were there said it seemed to happen in slow motion.
Original medical instruction was to retire but thankfully a consultant later gave him the all clear to start riding again in 2002. I was at the Greater London Show when Lionel had his accident in the mid 1970s. Really scarey, and he was sidelined for quite a while and suffered various problems including double vision. He later wrote a book about his life: Dead Lucky. I can't think of any high-level fatalities.
 
crikey, The_Last_Word, i hope she wasn't paralysed.
thanks SJFAN, i thought someone would know more than i did about Lionel's fall.
i agree with mbequestrian about the lighter poles now. i've never seen a rotational sjing and pray i never will.
frown.gif

lucky you, training with Albert Voorn.
i sjed as a kid and have never lost that forward position. i use it xc too, and event trainers hate it (LG said i "wasn't safe to ride at A level"... i didn't have the nerve to tell her i already had, without more than the odd problem!) but i'd rather be pretty secure for most xc situations, and deliberately insecure if a horse is going to start rotating. the over-defensive position is the killer.
 
QR

Its horse riding. and thats dangerous.

Getting on an animals back full stop is dangerous and I have seen people come through A&E and end up dead, from accidents walking around a quiet lane, being kicked, generally horses are dangerous!

Lou x
 
No she wasn't... she was lucky tho, she fractured 2 vertebraes and crushed 1. She came out the side door landed on her back and rolled up over her head onto her front so was lucky not to break her neck as well. It was a RC showjuming quals quite a few years ago but it took the ambulance 45 minutes to get there and the woman on the collecting ring wanted her moved so they could continue the jumping, it was only the fact that I refused to let them move her that she was kept still till the paramedics arrived and I am glad I did!! She made a full recovery I am glad to say
smile.gif
 
Peter Charles broke his neck as well didn't he and then designed that motocycle helmet as a result. A little girl died last year sjing at Milton Keynes - there is a very sad memorial for her on their stables.
 
Heck - how did I forget Peter's accident? That I think was an accident with a young horse, whereas Lionel's and Nick's were in big classes albeit with horses which were not absolutely top-class. I sa a young rider have a horrible fall in Helsinki years ago. She hurt her neck and was obviously in agony at the time, and I feared it could be really serious, but she was able to jump again later on in the week! Show jumping falls are usually of course at a slower speed that cross-country or NH and that must be a significant factor.
 
Hi I am "the last word" friend who broke her back...... as said I made a full recovery
laugh.gif
thank god, I was very lucky and yes someone up there was obviously watching over me.
So yes SJ can be dangerous but its like with many sports there is always a risk.

Kaz
smile.gif
 
Oddly enough someone that I know (used to teach me) had a very serious fall many years ago eventing and, amongst other things, shattered her pelvis in several places. I had always assumed that it was XC but found out recently that it was at a SJing practice fence.

Maybe that doesn't count though, as it's eventing SJing which is different (defensive) jockeys to the true SJers?
 
Peter Charles had a nasty fall in the Grand Prix at Dublin today, the horse put a foot in the water and stumbled and he was thrown off. He looked pretty shaken and got a bad bang in the face. Anyway it made me think is showjumping any safer for horses than xc? I remember Robert Splaine having a lovely mare at Dublin who did something very similar to what PCs horse did today, however she broke a leg and had to get put down. I would guess that as the fences aren't fixed it probably is safer but then they are being asked to jump huge obstacles and sometimes a moving pole can actually cause alot of damage if they get caught up in it.
 
I know of 3 broken backs, 2 broken pelvis' and 3 broken skulls all SJ

I had a rotational(ish) fall where I ended up underneath the horse the far side of the fence - although horse did touch down in front before flipping over - scarey although I wasnt injured

Don't know of any deaths other than Lionel's short term loss of essential function in the 70's
 
I think i'm right in saying that Nick Charles (Peter's nephew ?) also broke a bonme in his neck in a SJ'ing fall
tongue.gif


Also, wasn't Billy Twomey badly injured a couple of seasons ago when his horse (Pikap) broke it's leg on take-off ?

Interesting to hear people's comments about the forward seat too...i was one who was trained back in the early 80's by a disciple of Albert Voorn's...and i too was always taught to ride in a forward seat. I still do today...much to the disgust of many who have since tried to get my bum in the saddle lol! It's a long standing 'debate' i have with my wife to this day...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top