Eventing: 3 Disciplines Done Inadequately
June 9th, 2008 | by citizen.K | Print & Hang in the Barn
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Eventing has slowly been getting a bad rap these days. With the 12 rider deaths in the past year and a half with six horses dying in the sport just this year; no wonder 3 Day Eventing has been under scrutiny. Because of Eight Belles’ recent death at the Kentucky Derby, Congress is holding a hearing in June to examine breakdowns, medication use, and breeding practices in Thoroughbreds. I’m actually surprised there isn’t more investigation in the Eventing sport.
Not to compare Eventing with horse racing; racing has so many flaws with the most apparent being the poor, unsound, and over breeding of Thoroughbreds. The two industries just do not compare; but in so many ways, there are some similar questions about safety concerning horses that overlap in each sport.
Eventing poses a huge question of safety to the horses. There is no doubt that the fences are often too much for a galloping horse with no fear to conquer. Possibly, making some safety adjustments to certain obstacles could curtail the need to make the cross country phase “easier” with smaller or less obstacles.
Eventing riders are in serious need of some basic training.
The safety of the rider is not one I believe should be up for debate. I am unsure of the riding ability of the 17 year old girl that recently died, with parents now suing for “wrongful death”; but the parents were obviously supporting their daughter’s riding. Knowing that eventing is dangerous for riders, they need to actually take responsibility for deaths or injuries. I can only assume this family is located in California. People are able to make decisions on their safety and their willingness to put their safety at risk. Getting on a horse in the first place is taking your life into your own hands; same goes for driving a car, a motorcycle, skiing or snowboarding, just to name a few.
But the problem with Eventing, and the parallel to horse racing cruelty is the Eventing horse doesn’t have a say in the matter. The horses, especially the good horses, in Eventing, are fearless with a tremendous amount of heart. As Eight Belles was described, she ran harder than she was physically capable of. These Eventing horses jump obstacles that they may not actually be physically capable of. And yes, in a way, we are awed by their determination.
What’s more up for scrutiny though, is the capability of the riders piloting these generous, fearless horses. Of course, the best horseback rider in the world COULD fall off, could crash, and could DIE riding a horse. Ability and experience cannot make a lick of difference when it comes to bad luck or a bad ride, which every rider has. But, within Eventing, there doesn’t seem to be a very starting base for either horse or rider.
Now, I hate to be the person that lumps everyone into one category, but I have to say that out of the 200+ lower-mid level eventing riders I have seen, 195 are atrocious. I don’t know what it is, did they want to do hunter/jumpers but couldn’t cut it? Maybe dressage was what they started with and it was too tedious, or they wanted the adrenaline rush of jumping. All I know is that within the events I have witnessed, beginner-novice through training level were scary. Not only did the riders not have any right to even be cantering, but the horses under saddle were also green and in need of experienced riders. The exception to these bad matchups of riders and horse were the young kids on school horses, but let me say, from a safety standpoint, those kids STILL had no business jumping.
I guess I come from a background of earning the “right” to jump. And earning that right wasn’t easy. Lots of riding without stirrups, lots of two-point with and without stirrups, lung line lessons without reins and without stirrups: we paid for our horse jumping rights.
When I was a kid taking lessons, you had to be a solid rider on the flat before you started jumping. Trainers punished you before even letting you look at a fence. It forced hard work, because obviously, the ability to jump was the end goal. Riding for an hour and a half a day without stirrups was done without complaint!
There seems to be no guide, no earning your “wings”, or just plain common sense when it comes to Eventing. I can’t say it’s the riders fault, entirely. I have witnessed several lessons while boarding at a primarily Eventing barn with an Eventing “trainer” and primarily Eventing riders with many trailer-in lessons.
One lesson I saw was a woman on a somewhat green horse (a very honest, sweet green horse). This woman could not keep this horse in a straight line in the walk, trot, or canter; she was not able to keep a consistent stride in any of the gaits either, yet, when the jumping started, she wanted to jump 3’6”. The poor green horse had a hard time trotting an X since she couldn’t get there in a straight line, there was no release, and upon landing, the woman did not look where she was going, gave no cue to the green horse, and would just suddenly pull hard with one rein to turn her, giving absolutely no leg aids, all this about 3 strides after the X.
Once a month, this woman actively COMPETED at training level Eventing.
On one particular day, I continued to watch this lesson followed by two more just the same. Not only was I watching in awe of the absolute disregard for safety, I was also watching because, with this being a lesson, nothing else was being taught besides what fences to jump. Needless to say, every lesson included people who should not have been jumping riding horses that needed guidance of an experienced rider and fences being jumped way too big for either horse or rider’s ability.
Those problems, to me, are the trainers fault. Mind you, this was considered a very reputable Eventing trainer who had competed through the upper levels of Eventing, and I was told by many people outside the barn I was at that she was REALLY good. I never actually saw the “trainer” ride, so I can’t judge her riding, only her teaching, which was horrifying. This trainers’ teaching was not only irresponsible to the rider, but also irresponsible to the horse.
Why not set everyone up for success by teaching the basics first?
The worst part of the above was going to an event to watch the people in the barn ride. Now, I never opened my mouth on how scary the training and riding was. No one asked, I’m not going to criticize, it was not my place. But, I was sure once we got to the event, the poor and reckless training would be proven by the results.
In horse riding, riders used to have to “earn” the right to jump. Most Eventing riders “earn” their right shortly after the lesson fee is paid.
The scary thing was, that while each one of the barn riders jumped every fence on the cross country course without releasing, almost fell off at many (if not most) of the fences, and barely navigated the stadium course by not hitting a good distance ONCE, knocked down fences, and wove all over the course, they then went into the Dressage ring only to look like the were riding a horse for just the second time, ever. You know what beginner horse riding looks like; over corrective steering with the hands only, too much (obvious) leg for upward transitions or pumping the body to make the horse go, and of course, leaning forward to slow down. Yeah, and the worst part of it; the gals at my barn were some of the BETTER riders there!
Am I a snob to expect good riding? I don’t think so. Eventing is already getting a bad rap for being dangerous for horse and rider. Maybe it’s the ability of the people riding in these events; perhaps a qualifying section before anyone can even ride in the beginner-novice is in order. I’m not talking about qualifying enough just to be able to stay on or even win, I mean qualifiers, yes, possibly judging, just on safety aspects that requires riders to be able to REALLY ride.
Don’t get me wrong, Equitation is boring, but it serves a good purpose. You can’t be a loose, ineffective rider if you have great equitation; I’m not talking the stiff, rigid, smile at the judge crap, I’m talking solid leg, good position, good hands, and good use of eyes, head and shoulders. Maybe there should be some sort of Equitation over fences or something.
Sure you can have good equitation and ride poorly. But, many event riders need to learn how to adjust their horse (collection), how to effectively use their body, leg, and hands, and most importantly, RIDE to a jump, over a jump, and away from a jump. Not every Event rider is a bad rider, but people need a reality (safety) check before moving up levels.
I have not ridden a cross country course (well, once, but it was under 2’), so I am not in a position to give ANY kind of suggestion on how to better ride a cross country course. I do know that you can’t ride a cross country course if you can’t competently ride through the three basic gaits on the flat, keep a solid 2-point, ride without stirrups, or have an understanding of your body, leg, and hands and how those three components effect your horse.
Eventing has always seemed like a cool sport to me because the “community” of the eventing world appears so much more laid back than the stuffy Hunter/Jumper or Dressage worlds. I hate to think the laid back attitude is because most of the riders suck. I mean most of the Hunter/Jumper riders aren’t good, technically, but they look good and are usually at an appropriate level, and worst case scenario, they’re on a push button horse. I know push button horses suck too, but no horses OR riders are getting killed when a green rider sits atop a puch button Hunter/Jumper or Dressage horse.
Please, someone get Event riders to learn how to ride, not just hang on for their lives. So far, Eventing is just three disciplines done badly; let’s try to excel at maybe two of them.
Or instead, let’s just get the walk, trot, canter down.
9 Responses to “Eventing: 3 Disciplines Done Inadequately”
By Bonnie on Jun 9, 2008 | Reply
Okay, you got me. I actually started to get defensive when I first read the title to this article. Only because I just started doing some eventing about a year ago and I really like it.
With that said, I have to agree with a large portion of this article. I don’t think I could agree had I not traveled and seen as many “events” as I have.
I started riding at an event barn about a year ago. I moved my horses there because the turn out was spectacular and the atmosphere is laid back. I keep one of my jumpers (the one I compete on) at a hunter jumper barn, but my other horses all moved to an eventing barn. I didn’t plan on getting into eventing at all. I hacked my horses out on the cross country course and took one of them over some of the small fences. So the trainer asked if I was interested in getting more involved. I started riding a few of the horses and the trainer started coaching me on how to ride some cross country fences. This barn is filled primarily with teenagers and adults, most of which started in the hunter ring. They either couldn’t afford the hunter jumper shows, didn’t like the politics, or liked the adrenaline rush of the cross country. There is a large population of younger kids, but they all start out with the hunters. So, this barn has a good foundation and everything I witnessed was good riding.
Then I traveled to Montana for work, I was lucky enough to be there when a big 3-day event was going on. I witnessed some terrible riding. Not to blame the riders, the trainers were over facing riders and horses. It was just as described in this article. These riders didn’t have the basics on the flat down, but they are galloping around a cross country course with 3′ fences. It was scary.
I also saw two other events, one in Washington and one in California. The same poor training. The riders weren’t good, but not because they didn’t have the ability or talent, they were just being misguided by trainers.
There should be some sort of qualifying I guess. I have not been to an event yet on the East Coast, my only judgment is the barn I’m at. All the riders are competent, riding at the level they should be and the level their horse should be, and many could win an equitation class (well, besides the bad judging!).
It’s not that all event riders can’t ride, I think it’s that many event trainers don’t teach their students the basics and allow them to ride at a level they aren’t ready for.
By Bonnie on Jun 9, 2008 | Reply
BTW - I love the picture
By Barb B on Jun 9, 2008 | Reply
The sport has seen 8 horses killed recently. 14 riders. The real issue (in the west) is that Trainers will take anyone to an event. They go out monthly to an event… and maybe do 1-3 more cross country schooling days inbetween. The riders can’t ride and what is more.. they don’t finish the competition courses! There need to be trainer certification and data collection so it becomes clear that traniners are packing students along to events for the fees… not cuz they are ready. Events should NOT allow schooling at the end of the event for anyone who did not complete the course in competition!
By Kay on Jun 10, 2008 | Reply
I ran a barn in Missouri once where I ended up doing eventing just because the place had 2 cross country courses and all the people at the barn were in Pony Club. I can say that Pony Clubbers are good riders and definitely take a safety-first approach to everything. I also heard something a few years back about the USEA revising some of the bigger cross-country fences so that the will breakdown under the weight of a horse, but I don’t know if that actually went through or not.
All that being said, I am currently at a barn that is mainly filled with event riders because the trainer there is an eventing/combined training rider. The people that I see ride at this barn are pretty bad–mainly because most of their horses have obvious comformational problems that prevent them from executing correct dressage movements or jumping round. I have repeatedly seen this trainer encourage riders to PULL UP in front of a fence MULTIPLE TIMES and CIRCLE OUT in front of fences. This seems extremely dangerous to me because, if I were jumping solid objects, I wouldn’t want my horse to learn that jumping a fence is a “maybe” occurrence.
I think combined training is a great discipline and I enjoy combined training shows as a schooling opportunity. Combined Training is just the Dressage phase followed by a Stadium phase. No cross country. I have great respect for GOOD eventing riders, but the bad ones really freak me out.
By Elana on Jun 11, 2008 | Reply
The US Eventing Association (formerly USCTA) has taken a very proactive role in Instructor Certification. They are at the forefront of establishing that trainers have riding credentials AND teaching credentials (compared to other disciplines. Besides dressage, I’m unfamiliar with any national-level certification programs worth the paper they are printed on).
Lots of people are attracted to eventing because it “doesn’t matter how you look” when you ride, forgetting that form follows function and that without proper equitation, they won’t be able to safely navigate terrain.
I was lucky. Not only did I get the Pony Club step-wise introduction to cross-country riding, but my parents weren’t afraid to let me go out and ride and learn with my (SAFE!) pony. We kept our horses at home where we did not have a ring, so all our conditioning and training for all disciplines, including dressage, was on the trail. Seeing how students are over-supervised, micro-managed, and hyper-litigious today, I consider myself a dying breed. True “old school.”
It seems so much more obvious that trainers are mis- or under-educating thier clients in eventing because the speed is greater and it seems like more a spectator sport. I don’t think there are a higher percentage of bad trainers or bad riders in eventing, they are just doing more obvious things. For example, no one goes “Oh No!” in the audience when a kid chips at a 2′3″ vertical on the diagonal in a hunter ring. You might get a gasp in a Low Jumper course, but people like watching jumpers make near-misses because the rails come down. But screwing up the take off on a jump with a drop will put anyone’s heart in thier throat.
From a style perspective, it’s an equal sin to screw up a simple jump as a tough one (maybe worse, considering easy jumps are, by default, easy).
I don’t think riding is safe. Nor is motorcyle racing, nor crab fishing. That doesn’t mean one can’t choose to do them, as the author mentions: own your risk-taking.
Hunter/jumper and dressage horses very rarely die in public. But don’t you tell me they are any healthier, safer, or better-trained. I’ve seen dressage horses ruined to the point of thier owners euthanizing them because of injuries sustained during training (2 horses, same trainer, go figure…) Perception is related in part to visibility. An event horse crashes at the water hazard and everyone with thier camera has it on YouTube in 20 minutes. A horse gets put down in the dead of night from equally catastrophic injuries, no one hears about it.
By Cara on Jun 11, 2008 | Reply
This article caught my eye, at first i was a little bit deffensive however after getting into it i started to realize that what was being said was very very true. I started out in the hunters when i was a little girl. I remember trainers making me jump with my eyes shut to feel my horse beneath me to know what take off and landing should feel like not look like. I remember if i complained about doing no stirrups that i had to ride even longer without them.. same went for 2point without them. I had to be a truly solid rider before I was allowed to jump A JUMP let alot an entire course… I’ve witnessed some of these eventing men/women at shows who do truly look like its there third week on the back of a horse heading for a x-country jump without looking like they will make it.
I started eventing my older gelding back in 2001 and I was only allowed to do Avago for the first season with him until i was schooled enough and had enough confidence to go up a level.. it takestime and hard work, true riders that event are not so scarey to watch.. but there shouldnt be the allowance for too green riders with too green horses to event.
By Kay on Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
Hey, here’s a question–I’ve seen a lot of event riders who don’t close their hip angles when releasing over fences. Their release seems to be all in the arm. Why is this?
By Elana on Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
Kay, it’s a defensive position. They are trying to keep thier weight behind the motion so that if something goes wrong, they won’t get flung over the horse’s head.
Now, that’s not to say that it’s the RIGHT way to anticipate a rough landing, but instinctively, these riders are riding very defensively.
This is exaggerated with the rider-back, reins-at-the-buckle release going down drop jumps, same concept writ large.
We can go round and round about how the BEST, ideal way to absorb shock and stay with the motion of the horse is to sink into your heels and close all your angles over the saddle. But when you’re afraid you’re going to hit the dirt (this probably ties into some riders jumping fences beyond thier comfort level or training) you will not be soft!
Also, I like to ride cross country with my stirrups very short (and my heels way, way down, feet, frankly, a bit ahead) so I’m already pretty “closed” from the leg up. For me to drop my shoulders and push my seat back more over the top of a smaller fence ends up being too much release for something < 3ft.
When you ride to stay on, you learn accidentally what ring riders are taught without appreciating why they are taught it. It’s a funny dichotomy: the riders with the best, most functional equitation probably never ride up or down hill!
By Kay on Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
Elana,
Yeah, I understand the position when it comes to cross country but I see it in the Stadium arena as well. I think cross country it makes total sense but in the arena, I would think the safety issue is eliminated so why not close the hip angle during the stadium portion?