Riding dangers – BBC Report

If yes, how often

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Mr_Ed

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I don’t know if any of you saw/read the BBC Inside Out Report - Riding dangers – that mentioned “Air ambulance crews had to be scrambled to help the victims of serious riding accidents in rural Yorkshire and Lincolnshire nearly 150 times in 2006”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/yorkslincs/series11/week9_horse_riding.shtml

We hear of some nasty accidents on this forum sometimes, but 150 times for serious accidents sounds a lot. If that’s just a couple of counties it makes you wonder what would be the number if extrapolated nationally.

Do you think that the number of equestrian related accidents is on the increase?

If so Why?

Does anyone know of any data on equestrian related accidents?

Thoughts?

Mr Ed
 
While safety is paramount I can`t help but feel there is an element of scare-mongering in that article. It did go into the why/what fors of how society has changed with relation to risk.
 
er.. But looking at the facts, and one trusts the BBC to get it right, air ambulance -150 times in one year for serious injuries in just two counties seems an awful lot.

Scare-mongering or not that' rather a lot of serious accidents happening. Why has to be the question?
 
I haven't read the article.. but just an idea as to why more serrious falls might be happening..

In todays 'health and safety' society, i don't think people learn to ride the old fashioned way at the school of hard nocks.. I was Always falling off as a child and told not to make a fuss (and even shouted at the times i did make a fuss) and had to get back on again.
I think today riding schools/instructors have to wrap pupils in cotton wool for fear of the insurance company, that way people are being taught to ride but not actually learning to ride.. therefore when things do start to go wrong, they don't know how to control the situation/damage limitation.. they probably haven't had that many 'easy' falls, and wouldn't know how to fall off, because people are to frightened of falling off now a days.
for ref. of this, see a reply to a post i made in comp. riders, to someone who thinks they are good enough to seek SJing sponsorship, but is too frightened to ride in a group of 3 across a field just incase she gets bucked off.
 
I second the well said!

(If we had a voting system for quality postings you'd get a vote from me!)
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I would like to know more about what they consider to be a 'serious' riding fall. I have variously broken digits, fractured my skull (hairline crack), twisted my pelvis and broken my hip over the years..and never called an ambulance. In fact apart from the hip and pelvis injuries which hurt A LOT I have always got back on the horse and ridden back to the yard, on the other two occasions I hobbled back...then I have taken my self to hospital.

I think we are totally brainwashed with first aid protocols now so that if anybody falls off we don't dare move them - there is a place for that of course. The irony is that the one time I did have a car accident and went to hospital on a spinal back board by ambulance they failed to identify the displaced discs in my neck and a broken collar bone - and I have significantly reduced use of one arm as a permanent consequence
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It's bound t be on the increase because more people than ever own horses now. So proportionally the risk increases.
 
IMO more accidents are happening due to the fact that more inexperienced people are taking on horses - the number of people that walk through our yard having just purchased a horse even though they don;t even know how to muck out is amazing! Inexperienced riders need guidance and help but because they are being wrapped up in cotton wool at the riding schools they go out and buy something hugely unsuitable to have a go themselves on. If they end up in the right yard they can be helped but how many do? (This is not a dig an inexperienced owners as such, we all have to start somewhere!)

The other factor I think is the number of cars on the road. People don't have time to slow down anymore! I should imagine a large % of the accidents in that article are road related.
 
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It's bound t be on the increase because more people than ever own horses now. So proportionally the risk increases.

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And possibly the reason for more people owning their own horses is the closure of so many riding schools because of H&S red tape and spiralling insurance costs...
 
Horses are more accessable now, people can afford them more now because of loans, shares, livery etc so the ownership of horses has increased thus number of accidents has increased. I learnt the old fashioned way and when you fall it off, its not a big thing, if you can walk you can ride and get back on, saying that i ahve only fallen off twice in my whole life but i think that may be the super glue
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Also, in really rural areas, like Yorkshire (and Devon and Cornwall and presumably the lake district) any accident which would normally need attendance by an ambulance will need an air ambulance because otherwise the casualty will be in the ambulance for 40-50 minutes just to get to the nearest hospital with an open A&E department.
 
Plus, when you ring 999 and state that you're vaguely in the country and that someone's fallen off a horse, they just call the Air Ambulance when in fact it would be easier for the road ambulance to get there.
 
I agree with everyone above - there are loads of contributing factors. More inexperienced people who do not pay proper attention when hacking out and don't consider the dangers, because they've only ever ridden in riding schools where you are wrapped in cotton wool. I went for a riding lesson a week or so ago and wanted to take my coat off. I thought the instructor was joking when she said I had to GET OFF to do it! I mean, how OTT can you go? Fair enough horses can spook, but surely you should learn to be careful and take that into consideration, not just get off at every opportunity! Also, more and more BP's are being taken over by trail bikes, paintball, loose dogs that are out of control, lunatic kids in cars - the list goes on! I could go on all day, honest! I agree with a comment above, too - I have fallen off LOADS of time over the years and have learnt how to protect myself on landing, how to balance the horse as best as possible whilst hurtling toward the ground, and how to get back on agian without calling the lawyers! I realise that there are serious accidents that cant be avoided, but if people dont learn how to fall off in riding schools, how are they going to cope if they get their own horse? Sorry for the rant - I feel better for getting that off my chest though
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A million and one reasons for those statistics I would imagine.

A few are:

Accident classification - I've known of some alegedly 'serious' accidents, where the air ambulance has been scrambled, and the victim is often released from hospital a few hours later, after being patched up in A&E.

The location - the areas mentioned have a high concentration of rural and fairly inaccessible locations. Add to that the fact that on a horse, you're more likely to have an accident in a more remote place, ie in a field, on a bridle path.

The rider - Red tape and H&S issues, have made it nigh on impossible to get the broad riding education of yesteryear. No bareback gallops through fields or woods any longer.
Nowadays, we are taught in controlled environments (sand schools), and many riders are simply unprepared for the hazzards of riding in the open countryside or on the roads. Not their fault.

Horse ownership has also increased dramatically, and owning your own horse is more accessible now than it ever was. Spiralling costs of riding lessons, due again to red tape, means that it can be a cheaper option to own your own horse, rather than have regular lessons with a good instructor.

In short, the world has gone mad....
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im not to sure if they are on the increase in general, maybe just more are being reported and due to the nature of the world now people are being much more paranoid about the accidents. however i dont think there are some people who buy horses to early and have not had enough experience to own horses and know how to deal with them.
 
i think that there are probably as many as there ever were, but because of all this 'suing' culture now, people panic and more horsey accidents are reaching the media etc.
 
"I went for a riding lesson a week or so ago and wanted to take my coat off. I thought the instructor was joking when she said I had to GET OFF to do it! I mean, how OTT can you go? "

Wait till you've seen someone bolted because the horse was spooked by flapping clothing.
 
"I think we are totally brainwashed with first aid protocols now so that if anybody falls off we don't dare move them "

What would you prefer.... 99 people unnecessarily immobilised for an hour or so, or one person incorrectly picked straight away up and crippled for life ?
 
As well as what everyone else has said I also think the quality of horses is so much better now. People are breeding super animals who are so athletic and can be highly strung. Pair them up with people who are not experienced enough to handle them and it doesnt take a genious to work out what happens.
People nowadays are always looking for someone to blame.

Are we slowly losing tough riders who know that falling off comes with the job?
 
I have seen people who are quite capable of getting themselves up lie down for ages getting cold and uncomfortable and panicking because they think they shouldn't move. I know of cases (car accidents) where people have died of positional asphyxia because nobody dared to move their head or neck to clear an airway. It is down to the casualty to determine what treatment or help they need and be given help accordingly if they are conscious, like the guideline that a motorcyclist can take off their own helmet but you should never take it off for them (unless they are not breathing).

Of course there are circumstances where spinal injuries should not be moved..but many very minor cases are over treated. so to answer your question, if they want to get up, have movement and feeling in their limbs and can get themselves up, then I think they should be allowed to do so
 
I suppose you can get an Air Ambulance unless you happen to be in 1 of the 3 counties in the UK that does not have dedicated Air Ambulance cover, Herts, Beds and Hampshire!

The Herts appeal was launched on 26th April and along with my OH (he is a trustee of the charity and a helo pilot, we now spend our free time working for the appeal.
 
" I know of cases (car accidents) where people have died of positional asphyxia because nobody dared to move their head or neck to clear an airway."

First Aid protocols are very clear... control airway and bleeding first. Then the rest.
 
"if they want to get up, have movement and feeling in their limbs and can get themselves up,"

Unless there is a doctor around, surely the principle is that it's safer (I'll say it again, safer) to wait for a medical checkover ?
 
I have read the article.... some of it is misleading!

"Imagine a motorbike that does 180mph, 0-60 in three seconds.

In the wrong hands, a horse can be lethal - an accident waiting to happen."

The above is incredibly misleading - imagine a motorbike etc etc that really does sound like they are implying that a horse does speeds like that!

And going on to say that the air ambulance went to more riders then motorbike riders in a year - that has to be down to location of riding horses compaired to motorbikes. Most bikes are ridden on roads - easy reach by ambulances. Most horses ridden off roads (so we don't get run over by those motorbikes!!) and are not easily reached by car....air ambulances are the obvious choice!

I don't think much thought has been put into the writing of that article!

As to if more accidents are happening. Probably yes. People aren't being taught to ride as they used to be. More people can afford them and think after a year in the safety of a riding school that they can ride and buy a horse. They then buy a horse not suitable as 'they don't want to get stuck on a plod' and accidents happen.

sadly I don't think it will change until they bring back the riding schools of our youth
 
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Wait till you've seen someone bolted because the horse was spooked by flapping clothing.

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That's the whole point of my post above.. unless minor problems happen with horse (which are unpredictable animals at the end of the day), like taking your coat off while sat on the horse, and something happens, how are you going to learn how to deal with a horse that moves suddenly.

What happened to the old saying.. "you have to fall off X amount of times before you're a proper rider" (i was always told 7, then it became 12, so i think it's different for everyone hehe)
 
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