On one of the last quiet Sundays around Eventing Nation until next winter, let’s take a few minutes to check in with Leah Lang-Gluscic. As you know, Leah has quit an investment banking job in exchange for a life as an aspiring eventing professional and has kindly offered to share the ups and downs of her experience with Eventing Nation. Thanks for writing this Leah, and thank for reading.
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Become an Eventing Nation Blogger2011 FEI Rule Changes for Eventing
As the 2011 competition season starts to get underway, let’s take a quick look at the new FEI rule changes for 2011 that went into effect on January 1st. There are very few issues in eventing that can get people riled up as much as rule changes. Here in the US we are lucky to have fantastic leadership at the USEA who have guided us through very important safety rule change proposals, such as the mandatory helmet rule, without the conflict that often maligns rule proposals. The mandatory helmet rule is a very long way away from being approved and implemented at FEI competitions, but there are several important and, I think reasonable, FEI rule changes for 2011. I have selected a few of the more important changes for review:
1) The minumum distances and times for the cross-country courses have been reduced for all FEI levels. The minimums drop by about 10% across the board. For example, the minimum distance for a 4* has dropped from 6270m to 5700m while the maximum distance stays the same at 6840m. In some sense, the short format just got shorter, but it might allow several smaller venues around the world to host a higher level of competition.
2) The 2010 dressage simplification to bundle several dressage mistakes all into the category of ‘errors’ has been extended. Error of course, circling the arena while carrying a whip, entering the dressage arena with a whip, not entering the arena within 45 seconds after the bell, and entering the arena before the bell all are subject to the 2, 4, then elimination penalty system. This was implemented in 2010 and has now been officially extended.
3) Breaking a frangible obstacle or device has been changed from incurring 25 penalties to 21. Ground Juries will still have the option of removing the penalties at their discretion. I have no idea how the FEI came up with ’21’ rather than some other number. Somewhere in the FEI corporate headquarters there must be a dart board with a bunch of integers pinned on it. Kidding aside, the logic seems to be to punish breaking a frangible slightly more than a stop, but anyone with a stop at an FEI competition is probably going to have time penalties anyway, unless your name is Jessica Phoenix at Bromont.
4) A physician with advanced trauma and life support certification is now required to have access to the entire facility of the event at all times. Previously, just any physician was required to have access. This change makes a great deal of sense and is certainly worth the slight added hassle for organizers, although it is worth noting that many of these safety changes due increase the workload on organizers.
5) There are several rewrites to rules addressing conflicts of interest by officials. A conflict of interest is not permitted at the International Chamionship level, but the rules become more open to conflicts of interest if they are approved by other FEI officials as the levels decline. The only rider-judge connection that I can think of is from the Payne family, but Marilyn is such a professional that I don’t think that would ever be an issue as Doug starts competing in more international competitions. That said, it’s probably a good idea to have the rule in place to avoid the issue ever being raised.
[FEI 2011 Rule Changes via LD]
Like many riders, I understand the rules in a practical sense but I don’t know the details of the rules as extensively as I should, and so writing about rules always makes me slightly nervous. Thus, let me state the obvious and say that if you are an FEI competitor you should read through the rules and the modifications thoroughly. Go eventing.
The USEF 2011 Eventing Training Session Schedule
The USEF has just released a final list of dates for the 2011 training sessions with Mark Phillips. The USEF press release states that training sessions with Katie Prudent have not been confirmed. Like last year, Eventing Nation will visit as many of the training sessions as possible and provide daily reports.
February 3 – 5 Meredyth South, Ocala, FL
February 6, 8, 9 Three Runs Plantation, Aiken, SC
February 10 – 12 El Campeon Farm, Thousand Oaks, CA
February 16 – 17 Meredyth South, Ocala, FL
February 21- 22 Three Runs Plantation, Aiken, SC
February 23 – 25 Royal Oaks Farm, Thousand Oaks, CA
March 2 – 5 Three Runs Plantation, Aiken, SC
March 8 – 9 El Campeon Farm, Thousand Oaks, CA
March 10 Red Hills Horse Trials, Tallahassee, FL
March 16 – 18 Three Runs Plantation, Aiken, SC
March 30 – 31 Galway Horse Trials, Temecula, CA
April 5 – 6 The Fork Horse Trials, Norwood, NC
By location: Aiken, SC will host 4 training sessions, Ms. Mars’ farm in Ocala, which is also the location of the Canadian training sessions, will host 2 training sessions, Red Hills HT will get 1 training session, California will host 4 training sessions, and North Carolina gets one the week of The Fork. [via USEF Press Release]
Good News Friday: Injured Italian WEG Horse Fully Recovered
Iman du Golfe at Harpur’s Island farm in Kentucky
The Italian horse who was Kentucky.com via KE]
Phillip and Bobby on the Eventing Radio Show
Phillip Dutton and Bobby Costello spoke on the Eventing Radio Show this week, along with Eventing Nation’s good friend and sponsor John Nunn. I don’t always have the time to listen to the ERS, but I made a special effort this week to hear what Phillip and Bobby had to say about their joint Chef/Technical Advisor application proposal. Not wanting to tip their hand before the application deadline, the pair didn’t delve into the specifics of their plan, but they did expand on several points from their press release last week.
1) Phillip reiterated that he would retire from international competition if he got the job, but he mentioned that he would continue to compete and hone his skills as a rider. One point that the Search Committee made at the USEA convention open forum was the importance of avoiding a conflict of interest between business and the team selection, particularly with respect to large commissions on horse purchases. Mark Phillips’ current agreement, to my knowledge, allows him to receive income from coaching lessons but not commissions on the sale of horses. Both Phillip and Bobby have successful businesses and their proposal will have to address how each business will change to avoid a conflict of interest, but it’s exciting that Phillip plans to continue to compete to some extent here in the US.
2) Phillip addressed another big question for the Search committee by saying:
“The scope of the job and what we have planned and what we have a vision for I think requires two people and could be done better with two people.”
Since Mark Phillip first announced that he would retire after 2012, one big issue has been defining the role of Mark’s replacement. I have only heard of one other dual application being considered (by a European pair), so the final hiring choice will depend heavily on whether those involved with the selection agree with Phillip’s viewpoint that the job could be best done with two people.
3) With respect to the final selection, Bobby said that “the Active Athletes will have the biggest say, as they should.” Remember that the path to becoming the next US coach looks something like this: the selection committee will reduce the list of applicants to a ‘short list’ that will be recommended to the USEF’s Active Athletes Committee, which will make a recommendation in turn to the High Performance Committee, which will make a recommendation to USEF CEO John Long. The list of applicants is shaping up to be quite short in the first place, so it looks like all of the initial applicants might make the ‘short list,’ and thus that the Active Athletes recommendation might have the biggest influence in the process.
Listen to the full episode for much more. Phillip’s interview starts about halfway through the hour long show [Eventing Radio Show]
Buckle your seatbelts Eventing Nation; this is just the beginning of what is shaping up to be a very interesting process to choose the direction of US eventing for many years to come. Go eventing.
Vince Wilfork’s Friday Reader from Pennfield
New England Patriots defensive tackle and human mountain Vince Wilfork will be playing against the rival New York Jets this weekend in an NFL divisional playoff game. While most of his team is exchanging taunts and veiled foot references with the Jets, Wilfork is talking about a possible career training racehorses after his football days are over. Wilfork told a harness racing site, Harnesslink.com that “In the offseason I plan to spend time learning the trade of training. Maybe in my post-football career I will become a trainer.” Wilfork currently owns a harness horse and a racehorse that his wife gave him for Christmas. When asked if he would like to try driving a harness horse someday, he said “I would love to,” but at 325 pounds I think he’s going to need two harness horses. It’s just a shame that the Patriots are going to get crushed this weekend. Now for some eventing news and notes…
–The USEA has closed a considerable loophole by requiring that online transfer or ownerships must be accompanied by a bill of sale. Previously, literally anyone could submit to change ownership of a horse to anyone, and there have been multiple instances where ownership was illegitimately changed either for malicious or entertainment purposes. The flip side of the coin is that now we have to mail our bill of sale to the USEA, which could raise privacy concerns with respect to the price and terms of sales. It might be more private to simply make a USEA change of ownership form that can be downloaded and signed by both parties, because ultimately the USEA will be relying on a signed document either way. That said, the new system is definitely a step in the right direction. [USEA]
Friday Morning Update: The USEA has updated the press release by adding the sentence: “Please blackout price or any other private information you don’t wish to share.” (see above link) This is a simple and easy solution to address the privacy concern.
–Canada has released their 2011 eventing dressage tests. Get to memorizing those tests Canada so you can be ready to practice them when the snow melts in June. [Equine Canada]
–Ocala HITS will be broadcast live online this year. Lots of eventers, including Buck, usually like to go over to the jumper show to school their horses. We’ll let you know if any eventers are going to be on the online video and you can watch them have their warmup jumps stolen by egomaniacal jumper coaches. [Hunter Jumper News]
–Holly Hudspeth’s 4* horse “Stewie” is settling in quite well at Boyd’s. Boyd, of course, is riding Stewie while Holly is pregnant. Boyd says that Stewie is extremely fit and that they are working hard on the dressage. Stewie’s first event is the Pine Top intermediate in February. Incidentally, Boyd rode Stewie at Pine Top last year on his path to Rolex while Holly was recovering from a wrist injury. [Boyd’s Blog]
–The Colin Davidson memorial gathering is coming up this weekend. Remember that if you can’t make it this weekend, donations can be sent to: The Colin Baird Davidson Charitable Fund, The Fourth Floor, 1205 North Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801.
—Best of the Blogs: Best fashion of 2010 from 3D3W
–Remember Paul the German octipus who became a sensation in 2010 for picking World Cup games and then died a few months later? Well the Germans have found their next animal sensation in a cross-eyed opossum. I’ll just let the video explain…
But seriously Germany, leave the poor animals alone
That’s all for now. Coren has arrived in snowy Aiken and is working on getting her internet sorted out, but we can look forward to her rejoining us with our Saturday morning links post tomorrow. I’ll be back throughout the day with a healthy dose of ridiculousness. See you soon…
The US Eventing Pipeline
At the USEA’s annual convention in Phoenix last month, Sara Ike gave a presentation as part of the USEF’s rider development open forum. Sara is the managing director of eventing for the USEF and you might recognize reading her name most recently from the helmet symposium last weekend. As I wrote during the convention, Sara’s development presentation was entertaining and insightful, and the open forum that followed led to some good discussion. The theme from the meeting was that the basic skeleton of a good rider development program is in place, but we need to improve communication and programs at all levels.
The above image is my favorite slide from Sara’s Powerpont presentation. As the slide points out, the good news is that we have many sources of excellent talent here in the US, but these sources are unorganized and uncoordinated. One big question that needs to be addressed is what about the riders out there who are extremely talented but haven’t found their way into one of these sources that feed into the pipeline? Surely there are brilliant riders out there who aren’t with a big name trainer, haven’t found the right horse yet, and aren’t competing at a high enough level to be discovered by the Developing Riders program. In other words, we need to make sure that the “comes from left field program” catches as many good young riders as possible, and then we need to help those riders get plugged into a good development program. Go eventing.
10 Months with Ingrid Klimke
Simply put, Europe is really good at producing event riders. The economic, geographical, funding, competitive, ownership, and sponsorship circumstances in Europe create a fertile environment for growing young eventers. At the same time, the economic pressures on our best developing riders in the US is making it harder and harder for them to travel to Europe to train for an extended period of time. As an aside, I think we will see a return to Europe from at least a couple of our top rider this spring and summer. To give everyone a taste of Europe, an EN reader and eventer, Erin Feedman, has just returned to the US after spending 10 months with Germany’s Ingrid Klimke, and she has generously written about her experience for Eventing Nation. Thanks for writing this Erin and thank you for reading.
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From Erin:
At 25 years old, I was at a crossroad in my career. Since I had competed at upper levels competitions in eventing and competed at the FEI level in dressage, both eventing and dressage were destined to be an important part of my burgeoning equestrian career. After college, I had a rewarding learning experience as a working student, and I was privileged to build my own client base as a dressage and eventing trainer. Through these experiences I became determined to ride, train, and compete in both disciplines professionally. I then had to ask myself how to best reach my goals; Should I start my own business? Find an assistant trainer position? Go to Europe?
I decided that if I wanted to be at the top of my disciplines, I should learn from someone who was already at the top. Ingrid Klimke had been my hero for as long as I could remember–and she is arguably one of the best multi-disciplined athletes in the world. An internationally ranked 3 day event rider and dressage rider. Though I knew getting any position in Ingrid’s barn would be extremely competitive, I sealed my resume and video up in an envelope and sent it on its way to Germany. I was lucky enough to have some wonderful friends who were able to make sure that my application made it into Ingrid’s hands. 
 To my delighted surprise, Ingrid invited me to Münster for a ten day riding interview. The interview was tough, and Ingrid really tested my mettle on some challenging horses, but in the end I was accepted into her program to be a part of Team Klimke for ten months. I had one month to go home and pack up my life for the move to Germany. While it was a no-brainer to accept the position at Ingrid’s, it was extremely hard to leave behind my talented up-and-coming young event horse who had just won her first one star. I also had to sell my FEI dressage horse who had been with me for 13 years. Though he went to a great new owner, he had been with me since he was six months old. Thankfully, I was able to put everything in order on time, and I headed off to Münster with a few pairs of breeches and my faithful dog Zhoe.
Ingrid was more wonderful in person than I could have ever imagined, and what I learned from her has greatly impacted my training methods and style. She is surrounded by wonderful people and horses–a true testament to her character. There are several aspects of her program that I think are important in training the well rounded, schooled and conditioned event horse.
First, for Ingrid, it is important that every horse in her barn has a cross-training element to their program. For example, many of the pure dressage horses would be taken over jumps or ridden around the fields once a week, while the eventers were schooled like dressage was their sole discipline on their dressage days. Further, instead of only taking her eventers to combined training competitions, she takes them to dressage shows and jumping shows regularly, where they can continue to improve each aspect of the three-day event. These strategies allowed the horses to be able to focus on each aspect of the event, because their competition experience wasn’t limited to the event schedule, which the horse can learn to anticipate. This way, the horse and rider develop the mentality to ride each phase individually.
Secondly, in Germany there are special competitions that only involve a cross-country course. These competitions allow developing event horses to become comfortable with the cross-country questions that will be asked at their level. At these competitions the young horse does not have to deal with the other aspects of an event. While we do not currently have access to these exact types of competitions in the states, it can still be useful to create the same situation in order to build confidence in young event horses in the same way that confidence is built through Ingrid’s multi-disciplinary approach.
Finally, Ingrid carries on the cavaletti system from her father, the great Reiner Klimke, in order to enhance the rideabililty of her horses. Ingrid uses cavaletti for her dressage and event horses to encourage forward and upward training. Various cavaletti exercises can be helpful in working on tempo, flying changes, balance, engagement from the hind-quarters, and evenness. The focus on evenness through cavaletti exercises is especially important because not only is evenness a vital aspect of dressage, but it also positively effects control and precision in the jumping phases.
Now that I have returned to the states, I am excited to put these training methods to good use as I continue with my own business, EBFSporthorses. I am fortunate and grateful to have received the opportunity to learn from Ingrid Klimke, and I look forward to maintaining my relationship with Team Klimke in the future.
Appeal Court Revives Suit by Parents of Girl Thrown from Horse
Wikimedia Commons
Remember how the lawyer speaking about equine liability at the USEA Convention said that one problem with equestrian litigation is that the judges often don’t understand anything about horses? A Los Angeles legal newspaper is reporting that a California appeals court has revived a negligence case between the family of a 17 year old daughter who was killed during the cross country at a 2006 event against their daughter’s riding coach, Kristi Nunnink, a respected 4* rider and member of the 2010 USEF High Performance list.
Since it was filed, the case has become remarkably convoluted. But, the quick version is that the Erikssons originally sued claiming that the horse (which they owned) was injured and “unfit to ride” and that “his condition was concealed from them, which increased the risk of harm to their daughter.” A previous judge dismissed the case, but earlier this week an appeals court revived the case, according to the Metropolitan News Enterprise:
“[B]ased on the evidence proffered by the Erikssons that Nunnink’s role encompassed the authority and responsibility to determine whether Mia’s horse was fit for competition and that Nunnink had assured them [the horse] was capable of performing, [appellate court Justice Jeffrey King] reasoned the Erikssons had demonstrated the existence of a triable issue of material fact…
Although the Erikssons had executed a release of liability in favor of Nunnink, King opined that ‘the disputed facts as to the unfitness of [the horse] in conjunction with disputed facts as to Nunnink’s knowledge and the representations she made to [the parent], triable issues exist as to the presence of gross negligence,” which would place Nunnink’s conduct outside the scope of the release.“
This is a ruling on an appeal; it is not a ruling based on the weight of evidence, it is just a decision that there is an existence of a “triable issue of material fact.” But, the point is that apparently the courts in California could hold a trainer responsible for not stopping a student from riding a horse, even despite the existence of a signed liability release.
[Metropolitan News via M]
Eventing Nation buried in snow
There is a foot of snow on the ground here at the EN corporate headquarters, but the writers and Chinchillas are all snug and cozy thanks to the electric bill being paid by our sponsors. The problem we have is that the rest of Eventing Nation is covered in snow. When we don’t ride and other people don’t ride, there’s not a lot of inspiration for writing. By the way, my mouth is nearly frozen the other day and I tried explaining to someone how I both “ride” and “write” and how “our writers are riders.” It was ‘who’s on first?‘ all over again. At any rate, the National Weather Service said that there was snow on the ground in 49 of the 50 states (including Hawaii). Florida is the only state that has been spared so at least our friends in Ocala will be out riding today. For the rest of us, it’s all about checking the water buckets and having snowball fights. [CNN Blog via Mickey] How much snow do you have outside? I wonder who in Eventing Nation has the most snow on the ground?
Charisma’s Wednesday News and Notes from Ecogold
We try to start your mornings off right by beginning every single News and Notes post with a brief discussion about an interesting/relevant topic, usually related to eventing. Today we get to take a look back at, in my opinion, the greatest event horse in history. Charisma, who stood just 15.3 hh, was mostly thoroughbred (a tiny part Percheron), and he was nicknamed “Podge” because he loved food. Apparently, Charisma would eat any type of bedding except for newspaper.
Mark Todd started riding Charisma in 1983, and they finished second at Badminton just a year later and then scored shocking victory at the LA Olymics in ’84. Charisma placed second again at Badminton (’85), second at Burghley (’87), and then dominated the 1988 Olympics, winning Gold by 10 points. Charisma was the second event horse in history to win back-to-back individual Olympic Gold medals, after Charles de Mortanges and Marcroix (NED) in 1928 and 1932. In one of my favorite quotes ever, after Charisma retired, Mark Todd said “he is so tiny, I wonder how he achieved so much.” One of my dogs is named after Charisma (‘Chrisy’ for short) because I was reading Mark Todd’s autobiography, So Far, So Good when I bought her. Chrisy turns 9 years old today. Now for some very quick eventing news and notes…
–Matthias Rath has announced that Moorlands Totilas will be staying at Paul Shockemohle’s barn to stand stud until the spring. Rath is regularly traveling to ride Totilas but he will have to wait until later this spring to compete him. As Annie mentioned over the weekend, the first time the public will get to see Rath riding Totilas will be a February 6th exhibition. [H&C]
–A New York woman has been arrested for stealing a saddle. Like most criminals, this woman was caught because she is stupid. And if there is one thing I hate more than criminals, it’s stupid criminals. So let’s take a quick moment to guess how the saddle thief was caught by looking at the top three mistakes by stupid criminals:
A) She left her wallet at the scene of the crime
B) She sold her stolen goods online
C) She forgot about the security cameras
The answer is B; the shop owners noticed the saddle for sale on an online auction site. The woman was working at the store at the time of the crime and she faces felony larceny charges. [Poughkeepsie Journal]
–Newly engaged Zara Phillips will start the Golden Button Challenge, which is a three mile cross-country horse race in Gloucestershire. Zara will also start a human running race which follows right after that. Yes indeed, the news is just that slow this morning. [Horse and Hound]
–Courtney King-Dye didn’t make it to the helmet symposium on Saturday because she was feeling ill. [Courtney’s website]
–VIDEO from Riders4Helmets: [Allison Springer], and [Sara Ike]
—Best of the Blogs: 100% stone-cold scientific evidence that Eventing Nation Karma exists
–Four police horses who were laid off (can horses be ‘laid off’?) due to budget cuts from Newark have found new jobs working for the newly reinstated Philadelphia mounted police. [Philly.com]
–I’m the kind of guy who never realized that yesterday was 1-11-11 until just now.
–Last but not least, check out Ecogold’s Secrets of Success in 14 Steps.
That’s all for now, check back with Eventing Nation throughout the day for much more. See you soon…
Tuesday Night Video Break
Sometimes we get emailed a video that is just too good to pass up. This is certainly not one of those videos, but I thought we would post it anyhow. In a country as cold and snowy as Russia, I can understand why horses would take up painting as a hobby to pass the long winter months.
The UK Coaching System
EN guest writer and our UK connection, LEC, was kind enough to write for Eventing Nation about the coaching system in the UK. In the US, we spend a lot of time admiring the success of the UK rider development program, and a big part of developing good riders is developing good caches. I was particularly interested in thinking about how the UK system compares to the USEA Instructor Certification Program. Thanks for writing the LEC and thank you for reading.
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From LEC:
Trainers
At the moment, thinking about trainers and training is at the forefront of my mind. In a sport where safety and confidence is vital, having a good trainer is absolutely critical. I thought I would just write about the UK system and take a brief look at training and trainers.
In the UK we have two systems to become a trainer. There is the traditional British Horse Society (BHS) route and also the newer but increasingly popular United Kingdom Coaching Certificate (UKCC).
The BHS route is the classic route to become instructors. There are three stages you have to pass in stable management and riding. The final aspect is something called the Practical Teaching Test (PTT) which is about you being able to communicate and actually teach. Previously, you also had to complete 250 hours of teaching. Once you have passed all the stages and assessments, you gain a qualification called Assistant Instructor (BHSAI). The next level that can be achieved is Intermediate Instructor (BHSII) and followed by Instructor (BHSI).
The BHS has many advantages because it’s a consistent system and all the basics are in place before people can get the qualification. It’s also worldwide recognised as a standard. The problem is that just because someone has their AI does not mean they are very good instructors and actually have done enough to pass the exams without having any true depth or experience. To be fair to the BHS, they are trying to improve with the times, but progress is sometimes slow. For example, many instructors stop progressing because they have to jump 1.20m to reach BHSII and they do not feel confident enough to do this, but they are good instructors. The BHS is changing this and allowing potential trainers to just do flatwork instead of jumping. I could go on and on about the pros and cons, but I have deliberately kept it simple!
The UK Coaching Certificate is fairly new programme and is all about developing coaches. The UKCC came out of a review of coaching and coaching qualifications within all major sports across the UK. Key findings were:
1) There are many capable and experienced people involved in coaching/teaching and instructing
2) There is a lot of variation in the quality of coaching and coaching qualifications across sports
3) Sports are inward looking and don’t work together
4) We can all learn from each other and looking at other sports
5) Significant Government support for coaching–The BEF is endorsed to deliver (in partnership with our member bodies) at UKCC levels 1, 2 and 3 and equestrian is a priority sport being supported to implement the UKCC.
UKCC principles
· Puts Riders at the heart of what coaches do
· Flexible qualification for all in all coaching environments; technical pathways for riding, driving, vaulting and discipline specific such as endurance, RDA, dressage, show jumping and eventing at different levels.
· Builds on existing good practice and provides a career structure.
· On-going opportunities for training and development.
· Aspiring Coaches can be assured of standardised qualification.
Source: www.bef.co.uk
One of the advantages of the UKCC is that riders and trainers who are currently not BHS registered have a pathway into correct coaching and rider development. British Eveting is putting a lot of time and effort into promoting the UKCC, and all the top coaches within BE are expected to have done it. Coaches need to be able to teach at FEI 2* level but for their portfolio are allowed pupils who are aiming fro FEI 1* level. In order to pass you need to complete a portfolio of coaching and also attend an assessment day.
Once you have your UKCC level 3 you can become a BE accredited coach and also go on the BHS register.
Accessing Trainers–In the UK one of the advantages we have is the wide range of trainers available at all levels. There is no set system for producing horses and riders–unlike outrcontinental neighbours in Germany who have a very rigid structure, there are many different approaches and most good trainers take the best bits from everything.
BE over the years has made a huge push in getting riders more educated. There are now several programmes in place which any rider can access coaching from top class trainers.
Schemes for the average rider include:
Coaching Development Training Days – these are held throughout the country and different locations. Riders normally pay £75 for a days training which includes normally a 90 minute group lesson on your horse in an arena, and you go through cross country training – how to ride skinnys, corners, dog legs etc. In the afternoon there is video sessions about cross country, discussions over nutrition, balance and fitness and other aspects of the sport.
Grassroots Showjumping – This is a competition where you jump a course and are watched by a qualified trainer. When you have finished your round you are given feedback and helped in the warm up. You then jump another round and given feedback again.
JAS – This stands for ‘Jumping and Style.’ BE wanted to earn extra income during the winter months and devised JAS which is held in an indoor arena. This is a competition where you jump a round of show jumps then go immediately onto simulated cross country fences. The times are quite tight and you are given marks for Style by a BE coach. There are several qualifiers throughout the country then a final.
EHOA – The Event Horse Owners Association runs training sessions throughout the country. It costs £20 a year to join and part of that is a £10 voucher to use with a trainer. Trainers include William Fox Pitt, Pippa Funnell and Yogi Breisner. Any member can also apply for a training bursary of £200. Any rider of any level can apply for this and they hand out 11 awards a year.
U18 Training – There is a large programme of training for U18s. They have regular sessions with top trainers in order to educate and get the best out of them.
On top of these methods individual trainers will organise clinics which are advertised on their websites or on the BE website.
Costs
One of the things I am always horrified about is the cost of training in the USA. I think in order to promote safety and encourage good standards, good training should be easily available for anyone who competes or wants to compete. Just because I am not on a list to get on a team does not mean I do not want the best training I can get.
A lesson with Yogi Breisner privately for 45 minutes will set you back around £60. Getting ahold of him is another matter because he is normally all over the country running sessions and training the different teams.
A lesson with William Fox Pitt is about £40 if you travel to him. Again it’s a case of finding a time he can do it. I have a friend who had a few lessons with him and thought he was fabulous. He then really helped her when she saw him at an event. I have seen a clinic at a local cross country being advertised with him at £125 for a 90 minutes group lesson which is extortionate. So someone somewhere is making good money out of that!
The average rider can access two days show jumping training with former World Champion and Olympic Silver Medallist David Broome for £75 (two lessons a day) including stabling.
My trainer, Jo May has, competed very successfully at 4* level including coming 4th at Luhmuhlen and charges £35 if I travel to her. As she is only 20 minutes away this is not too much of a hardship. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have such a good trainer on my doorstep.
Finally, in the UK there are a huge number of equestrian centres who run clinics with top riders. A 2 hour group lesson with Mary King is about £60. Lucinda Green is the most expensive at around £75 for a 2 hour group lesson.
There are also a large number of BE accredited trainers who riders can access and who are widely published on the website and the rule book.
Final Thoughts
The one thing I have learned with horses is that there is no single right way but that a good trainer will keep you safe, inspire you and give you confidence. Not every coach suits every rider but a good coach will train the brain of the rider to train the brain of the horse.
A good coach is interested in you and not just in your money. They want you to do well and will look at the small details to make sure you are going to reach your goals. There is nothing more demoralising than turning up and just being told “good job” when you know it’s not that good.
A trainer/coach who has made the effort to get qualifications is a coach, who wants to be a good coach, will have good foundations and will be an effective coach. Often riders make excuses saying their trainer is not qualified but has a really good competition record or that they have a lot of experience but personally I will not ride with someone who has not made the effort to get qualifications. I am protecting myself and my horse from a bad experience. I am not saying all qualified trainers are brilliant or that all unqualified are a liability just that if you know they are qualified then you have a solid foundation, they will be insured and first aid qualified.
I also think its vital that trainers/coaches are not just standing still as a trainer and that they are attending conferences, auditing top class trainers, and pushing their learning because a trainer who is not open to new ideas or suggestions will always be limited. Thanks for reading about the UK coaching system.
Auburn’s Tuesday Reader from RevitaVet
Congratulations to the Auburn Tigers for winning the college football national championship by beating the Oregon Ducks early Tuesday morning. For our European readers, college football is pretty much exactly like European football, except for the fact that the players don’t wear shin guards and the referees don’t carry flags. Oregon fought valiantly, but ultimately they were not able to compete with Auburn’s payroll talent. The victory by Auburn makes it 5 national championships in a row for the SEC, and means that the national championship trophy will stay in Alabama for another year. Now for some eventing news and notes…
—Burghley Horse Trials: there’s an app for that
—The British Eventing board has elected Amanda Ratcliffe as their new Chairman. Amanda is a former 4* rider and a successful businesswoman. I could give the quote from the press release, but it’s boring and says exactly what you would expect it to say. [BE happy]
–The Talking Horse blog has posted an interview with Mike Tucker, who is in many ways the voice of eventing on TV. Mike Tucker has commentated for Badminton, the Shetland Pony Grand National at Olympia, and 4 Olympic Games, and he’s the voice you think of when you think “eventing on TV.” [Talking Horse blog]
–European vets are collaborating find ways to improve long-distance horse transport, by improving regulations and ensuring their enforcement. In Europe, horse transport regulations have a big focus on horses sent to slaughter. A guiding principle is that horses transported for slaughter should receive the same treatment as competitive and pleasure horses, but of course is this is not always the case. [Eurodressage]
–The Riders4Helmets website has posted quite a few video interviews from the helmet safety symposium on Saturday, including interviews with USEF CEO John Long, Ilse Schwarz, and Dave Halstead. [Riders4Helmets]
–Speaking of helmets, the helmet debate continues to ripple quietly through the media. [The Jurga Report, On The Line] But, the issue has still gotten unfortunately little coverage from the ‘mainstream’ media. Step your game up and write about helmets guys. #WearYourHelmet
Update: Late is always better than never, and the COTH has jumped on board with an article about the symposium Tuesday morning by Erin Gilmore, who writes the aforementioned On The Line blog for Sidelines. [COTH]
–Is your horse too heavy or too thin? I’d say that, speaking in general, event horses tend to stay at a much healthier weight than most other disciplines because eventers have a high degree of awareness about our horses’ care and because event horses get a lot of exercise. However, if you have trouble keeping weight on your horse, TheHorse.com has published this article with some tips.
—Best of the Blogs: Chelan Kozak has sent in her application for the Pan Ams
–Most of the southern US eventing community is still digging itself out from the blizzard on Monday. I spoke to someone in Aiken who said there is a few inches of snow on the ground, but that there is a thick sheet of ice underneath the snow which is making the roads perilous. But fear not Eventing Nation, there are plenty of fun ways to pass the time with horses in the snow:
That’s all for now. I’ll be back throughout the day with all your professional bocce ball and curling news. See you soon…
An Aiken bias?
Max Corcoran, who is master groom and gatekeeper to all things OCET, writes a very insightful, sometimes controversial blog for Equisearch. Max’s post from today is definitely worth a read. It raises some very interesting points about differences in the US and British spring training models, and then it looks at the US High Performance spring training schedule. From Max’s blog:
“But here is something that doesn’t quite look right –
4 – number of High Performance riders in Ocala
7 – number of High Performance riders in Aiken
2 – number of High Performance riders in CA
1 – number of training sessions in Ocala, total….
4 – number of times Katie Prudant is planning on going to Aiken…. not including Mark Phillips and Oded’s trips there.
Not sure on the numbers for West Coast….
What is not right in that balance – how is it that the Ocala developing and high performance crew get the short stick? Where has our sport gone? How is it that a group can punish those who choose to live in Ocala? It shouldn’t be about where we are, it should be about what we do and what we need…. as it should be in life in general. People can say what they want about the quality of riders in each area, but last I checked, no one produced at the Worlds or Olympics from either place – After the debate between the two areas – The West Coast is the only area that has produced Worlds and Olympic medals in dressage and eventing in the last 4 years.” [Max’s blog]
Certainly, there are a lot of factors that go into training session scheduling, such as location availability, the schedules of the coaches, riders, and support staff, and target competitions. But, Max’s post highlights the problem of trying to operate a High Performance program in a country much larger than Great Britain, where our top riders train hundreds and thousands of miles apart. Either way, I don’t think anyone is doing any high performance training other than snowball fights in AIken today. Go eventing.
Update: I have received word that one Ocala training session is being rescheduled due to a conflict with the annual derby cross and that several training session dates are still being revised. The final dates will eventually be released in a press release.
William considers retirement after 2012
William Fox-Pitt gave a recent interview to the British Horse magazine in which he said that he was considering retirement from eventing after the 2012 Olympics in London, according to Horse and Hound. William has been eventing for 25 years and over that time he has won 8 four-stars (Burghley x5, Badminton ’04, Luhmuhlen ’03, Rolex ’10). Really, the only prize William does not have in his trophy case is an individual gold at an international championship. The toll of countless weekends competing away from home will eventually wear down even the most natural eventer, and William said “I want to have more time with the children and [my wife] Alice. I want to have a bit more of a life.”
Whenever William does retire, he will likely be sought after as an international team coach. But our US readers shouldn’t get too excited about the prospect of William taking the reins from Uncle Mark–most indicators suggest that William is thinking about a career training racehorses. The article quotes William as saying “Eventing will be a hard habit to break, but there are other things I want to do, like training racehorses.” [Horse and Hound] Go eventing.
Snow’s Monday Morning News and Views
The past few weeks have been prime migration time in the US eventing community as many riders have traveled south, presumably to ride in better weather. But on Sunday night a winter storm of snow and freezing ice hit much of the southern US, and accumulation of up to three inches is predicted from Atlanta to Aiken, SC and Southern Pines, NC. Having experienced a 4″ snowfall in Aiken last year, I can assure you that there isn’t a snowplow within 100 miles of South Carolina. If you are bored, I suggest going to the Aiken Walmart and watching the locals stock up on canned goods, powdered milk, and shotgun shells. Now for some quick eventing news and notes…
–The first US horse trials of 2011 wrapped up on Sunday at the Florida Horse Park. Kylie Lyman and Dauntless Heart finished on their dressage score to win the Open Intermediate. The courses rode pretty straightforward–only 8 out of just over 70 Intermediate and Prelim cross-country rides had problems. The lowest score of the weekend goes to Megan Johnston and Rapport in the Training Rider with a 23.2. [Full Ocalal HT Results]
–Congresswoman Giffords, who was tragically shot in the Tucson, Arizona shootings on Saturday has a background with horses. She cleaned stalls for riding lessons as a child and has continued to ride throughout her life. Six bystanders were killed in the shootings and the Congresswoman was listed critical condition as of Sunday night. [Horsetalk]
–In our latest edition of the media being terrible, an Australian news site is reporting that “Two of Australia’s up-and-coming supermodels have been left traumatised after witnessing a horse being euthanised.” A poor horse died during a polo match and all anyone can write about is that two supermodels suffered emotional distress? They’re not even that good looking by supermodel standards. [ninemsn.com.au]
–A barn owned by country music legend Charlie Daniels burned down in Wilson County, Tennessee on Friday. The Daniels family was in Colorado at the time of the fire and investigators are unclear what started the blaze. 11 horses and a bull reportedly died in the fire. [WSMV.com]
–I’d like to give a big thanks to Samantha for traveling down to Wellington to cover the Riders4Helmets Safety Symposium over the weekend. Getting so many leaders of the riding world together with the purpose of exploring and promoting helmet awareness is an important step forward for helmet safety. But, to some extent, anyone can stand up at a meeting about helmets and talk about how important helmets are–the true test is if all that talk translates into real world results. It will be interesting to see if more riders are wearing helmets at the first few FEI events of the year and if our dressage and show jumping counterparts start taking steps toward mandatory helmet rules. I’m also pretty disappointed in the lack of media attention the helmet symposium has gotten. The only other site I have seen writing about it is the Riders4Helmets website itself. [Samantha’s Interview with David]
—Free roaming ponies in Wales may soon have to wear identification collars. Hundreds of horses in South Wales are living on community (common) land and the government, quite reasonably I think, might require that owners identify their horses to reduce instances of abandonment. The sad reaslity of our bad economy is that there is often more of a problem with owners denying horse ownership than owners falsely claiming to own an unidentified horse. [Horse and Hound]
I’d like to give a big thanks to Annie, ESJ, and Samantha for holding down the EN corporate headquarters this weekend. Coren has just been extradited arrived home from her trip to France and we can look forward to hearing from her again soon. We’ll be back throughout the day with eventing fun and news. Stay warm and see you soon…
La Biosthetique Sam’s Heart Murmur and Friday Views
Reports are coming out of Germany that La Biothetique Sam was found to have a heart murmur during a prepurchase exam performed by the German Olympic Committee (DOKR). Several German equestrian sites, including Reiter Revue are reporting that negotiations for the purchase of Sabine Kreuter’s 60% share of the WEG Champion took a turn when the German team vet Dr. Carsten Rohde discovered a heart murmur in Sam, which was apparently confirmed by a specialist. The article explains that the murmur does not necessarily prevent Sam from competing internationally, but it could possibly be the precursor to complications.
The DOKR reportedly responded to this finding by proposing a lease-to-own agreement to Ms. Kreuter which would involve the payment of 230,000 Euros to Ms. Kreuter for half of her shares at the end of 2011 and 230,00 Euros for the rest of her shares at the end of 2012 if Sam was at least able to make the long list. However, Ms. Kreuter rejected the agreement, claiming that she wanted to get rid of the risk of owning Sam and that her vet didn’t feel there was any problem with Sam’s heart. So, the Sam situation rolls on without resolution, and one of the world’s best horses still has an uncertain future. [Reiter Revue via LD via Google Translate]
Incidentally, the proposed arrangement would value Ms. Kreuter’s 60% share of Sam at 460,000 Euros and therefore the entire horse at around 760,000 Euros–not a bad deal for buying an 11 year old WEG champion if you ask me. Furthermore, it appears that the DOKR and Ms. Kreuter were a lot closer to an agreement than previous reports had suggested. I do think it is very suspicious that word of the heart murmur reached German media, and I wouldn’t put it past the DOKR to leak the information in order to put pressure on Ms. Kreuter or deter potential purchasing competitors. The German reports are unclear as to when exactly the prepurchase exam was conducted. For what it’s worth, I know several advanced horses who compete with heart murmurs and they have never had an issue. Now for some other eventing news and notes:
–Our good friend Fran Jurga writes that the horse slaughter debate creates strange bedfellows. Interesting enough, Fran’s article quotes the FEI Veterinary Director, Graeme Cook as saying “The FEI is not opposed to the slaughter of horses (for human consumption), but believes that slaughter should be as close as possible to the place of origin, and that slaughterhouses must remain open.” Fran is one of the only equestrian journalists who really knows her stuff and I regularly check her blog. Fran was also kind enough to chime in with a comment on our Thursday Reader post–I always like it when people aren’t afraid to jump into the conversation.
–Police in England are defending the use of 18 shots to kill a stray loose horse in September of 2010. According to the Horse and Hound, an eyewitness said at the time: “It should not have been dealt with in the way it was — like fun target practice.” After a review of the incident, police have said that no police rules were broken, that the incident only took 5 minutes, but that there are “lessons to be learned.” Yeah, lessons like figuring out a way to not spend 5 minutes shooting a horse 18 times. [Horse and Hound]
–John Lechner, know to Eventing Nation as “ESJ,” has written a great post on his blog about two important eventing safety meetings in the next two weeks. The first is an FEI meeting of select UK, European, and US experts about creating industrial standards for frangible fences, and the second is a gathering of all the National Safety Officers at Greenwich. ESJ’s hope, and mine, is that the findings and plans made in meetings will be made more transparent to the eventing public. [EventingSafety Blog]
—Thursday at the George Morris Horsemastership Training Sessions [COTH]
–A new high-speed rail line in England will cut through Stonleigh Park, home of the British Equestrian Federation, as well as the cross-country course at Aston-le-Walls. Dozens of hunts would also be affected by the proposed route and they are banding together in protest. High-speed trains and horses don’t mix but so far the government seems to be taking the side of the trains. [Horse and Hound]
—Badminton 2011 is expecting a big Easter crowd. The event will run during Easter weekend (April 21-25) this year because Easter is uncharacteristically late and because Badminton and Rolex reworked their schedules to avoid occurring on the same weekend. [Badminton Blog]
—Let’s send some EN Karma to clb, a longtime EN reader and commenter, who is having a tough week. Hang in there clb. [clb‘s blog]
—World Equestrian Brands has posted a job opening for a territory manager position on SHN. The job description says: “Interest in or knowledge of saddle fitting a must. Must be computer savvy and have good phone skills. Position holds plenty of variety, limited travel to various shows and customer visits. This is a great opportunity for someone interested in working with some of the top brands and top riders in the US.” Speaking of SHN, 4 horses were sold through the site in December alone–and that’s just the ones we heard about. [Sport Horse Nation]
—Cavalor has added a new feed store for our readers in the Aberdeen, NC area. I spent some time riding with Holly Hudspeth in NC a few years ago and I consider that Southern Pines area one of the top 5 places for eventers in the US. Aberdeen Supply will be offering Cavalor’s great products starting soon. [Cavalor Dealer Directory]
–I realized yesterday that another problem with being a guy and liking Firework by Katy Perry occurs when you are driving in a car, the radio volume is turned all the way down, and the radio display shows that Firework is playing but you don’t want to show the person you are driving with that you like the song by turning the radio up–it’s painful. I’m just saying. I really do have a good taste in music, I promise, but Firework is my one weakness.
With that, I think it’s time to wrap up what is probably the longest News and Notes post in EN’s history. Congratulations, you have nearly survived the first week of 2011. Just 51 more to go before 2012. I’ll be back soon with more insanity and, until then, put your game face on. Go eventing.
Thursday Night Video Break
Sometimes we find a video that is just too good not to post. I’m not sure if this is one of those videos, but it certainly made me laugh. I take back everything I have ever said about the British sense of humor.
[via Pennfield’s FB fanpage]
Go eventing.
Let’s Discuss: Unwanted Horses
The BLM helicopter roundups are inhumane
The tragedy of unwanted and neglected horses is always hard to talk about, but it is perhaps the most import issue facing the horse world right now. Over the past few days we have been linking to the sudden increase in coverage that the national media has been giving to the US horse slaughter debate. At the risk of a vast oversimplification, the issue for me boils down to one question: is reopening slaughterhouses the best option for helping the thousands of unwanted and neglected horses in the US? As I have written several times before, I hate the idea of horse slaughter and I have to think that there is a better option. The most important step in my mind is to prevent horses from being unwanted and neglected in the fist place by finding a way to stop breeders from producing so many horses that won’t have loving homes throughout their lives. Everyone hates taxes, but a one-time tax on each horse that is born would help deter excess breeding. That being said, the problem for horses that are already unwanted and neglected is that many of them are being shipped inhumanely to Mexico and Canada for slaughter or rounded up and put in pens by the Bureau of Land Management. If the media’s recent tone towards horse slaughter is any gauge, it sounds like slaughter advocates are closer than ever to getting Congress to allow slaughterhouses to reopen. So, I pose the question to you Eventing Nation…
Go eventing.
Sally Cousins – Jump Schools
It’s a quiet Thursday afternoon around Eventing Nation, but fortunately Sally Cousins has sent in the latest article in her series about eventing. Sally Cousins is a well known rider and coach here in the US and Sally has been a good friend of Eventing Nation from our early days. To learn more about Sally, check out her website. Sally will be guest writing a series of short posts on various eventing topics for Eventing Nation over the next few weeks. This is the sixth of her posts and it covers jump schools. Our East coast readers are used to seeing Sally at one-day events with 49 horses and most of them typically finish in the top 2. Sally’s experience provides great insights for riders from the beginners to the pros. Thanks for writing this Sally and thank you for reading.
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Link: Previous Articles from Sally
From Sally:
It is important to have a plan for a jump school before you get on to ride. It may involve moving jumps before you start and arranging to have someone there to set jumps. Most of my horses jump at least once a week. It keeps them from being silly when I do jump them. The babies will usually jump twice a week since they need more education. I also try to keep the number of jumps per school to a minimum.
Whenever we jump it is important to be focused on the technique of both the horse and rider, but there are some schools where the focus is mostly educational for the horse. For example, when I am first teaching youngsters to jump through a combination, they might get a little rushed or flat because they are worried about the question. It is important to recognize when the green horse is mentally tired because that may happen long before it is physically tired. The first school when I introduce something new often will not produce the horse’s best efforts. Over time, and with additional schooling, it will get better. I will often do a second school just to confirm what the horse was taught the last time, but the next school would be about getting the horse to jump round and relaxed over his fences. If you constantly just teach the horse new things without giving it time to relax in some schools, it can cause the horse to be tense and worried in its work. Rarely does that produce good jumping form.
In some schools I would work on angling jumps, bending lines, or related distances. The last school before an event should be about technique. If the last phase your horse did at his last event was cross country, chances are you will need to have a quieter school to get the horse round and settled again. Sometimes, if I have had a problem at the event, the next school would be to work on fixing the problem. If the horse had stopped cross country or struggled trough the triple in show jumping I would hope to school that within the week following the event. That would give me an idea how big a problem I had and an idea of how long it will take to fix it. I would still try to go to an event off a quieter school. Having said that, I have had horses that competed best off an aggressive school so they carried that discipline into the event. I have also had horses that did a water school right before the event to keep it fresh in their minds. You need to know your horse and train it in the way that will produce the best result at the event.
Except for cross country schooling, I have two different types of schools that I do: one focuses on the horse’s technique the other focuses on exercises designed to help with the horse’s education.
A typical technique school for me would involve working with placing poles before after a fence to encourage the horse to jump rounder. Some horses that land too shallow after a fence would work on wider oxers or long combinations. I will often canter a grid with raised placing poles to help the horse be more deliberate in regulating it’s stride. If I have a horse that is a little slower with one forearm, I may practice jumping on a circle to get him quicker with his front end on that side. I also work on how I ride the horse to experiment with different aids or a different way of using my position to help the horse jump better. A different release or maybe sitting taller in the approach or maybe using a lighter seat.
A typical educational school would be working on any problems that came up at my last event or introducing something new. I will often set up exercises that focus on related distances and turning questions. I think working on related distances is a great way to get feedback on your use of your aids and the horse’s response to them–when jumping a related distance you either used the correct degree of aid or you didn’t, you either read the jump into the line and judged what you needed to do next or you didn’t. Sometimes the degree of aid was correct and the timing of the aid was off–we get immediate feedback. Additionally, it is a great way to find out the different ride you might need off of each lead. I will also work on turning exercises that will give riders an idea of the degree of aid needed to get a certain type of turn done. Again, it is important to work evenly off of both leads as the aid needed may be different on the other lead. Angled jumping exercises will give us an idea which way we are vulnerable to a run out and what combination of aids we need to use to keep the horse straight.
Unless you get to jump a lot or compete regularly, most schools will be a combination of both educational and technique schools. If I have introduced something new, I will try to finish the school on something that the horse finds relatively easy so he goes back to the barn in a good frame of mind. The younger horses will need more educational type work, and the upper-level experienced horses may just need light schools to keep them sharp. Each horse is different, and our jobs as riders and trainers is to find what works best for our horse!
Medical malpractice for eventers
If there are two things I have learned from the recent contract disputes over event horses, such as the Henny situation, it’s that eventers don’t know enough about the important legal issues and that such ignorance has the potential to cause us major problems. Fortunately we have a longtime eventer and EN, Kate Shearer, who is a law student at the highly decorated Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor Law School. Kate has agreed to write a series or articles about legal issues for EN specifically tailored to eventers. All of Kate’s articles have been proofread and approved by at least one of her professors, but of course you should consult your own lawyer for any specific legal direction. This first article deals with the issue of medical malpractice. Please submit your questions and ideas for future posts to Kate as comments on this post. Thanks for writing this Kate and thank you for reading.
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From Kate: Medical Malpractice/Injury-What happens when something happens?
Medical malpractice and injury is a very interesting area of the law. Often, the negligence involved may be very minimal. However, in extreme cases, a doctor’s negligence could result in the amputation of the wrong limb. Medical malpractice and injury is a vast field of law, and there are many policy reasons behind the continuous reforms of the law itself. In addition, medical malpractice claims tend to deal with substantial amounts of monetary damages (many of times in the millions and multi-millions), as well as potential compensation for pain and suffering!
I thought this would be an interesting area for us to explore, because the reality is, most of us will end up in the emergency room at some point in time due to horse related injuries. Not the most pleasant thought, but a reality nonetheless. Today, while I was sitting in class (Medical Malpractice/Injury Law), I realized….how many times have you or I ended up in the emergency room and been sent home with a misdiagnosed injury, or a missed injury? While I do respect most doctors, they are all still human, and make mistakes. Unfortunately, a doctor’s mistakes can cause a lot of damage. For example, when my father fell and his horse rolled on him, he was seen for his broken arm and crushed chest/lung (He had to be air-evacuated, scary!), but the emergency room physicians missed his separated shoulder. This injury was readily apparent in the x-rays taken by the emergency room staff; however, it wasn’t until almost six weeks later they realized his shoulder was separated. By that time, scar tissue had formed so my father was forced to go back under the knife to fix it. As a result he had to go through eight months of physical and occupational therapy. This kind of oversight happens often, and in all hospitals–it is fact of life. So can, what, and how does a person handle such an issue?
Medical malpractice/negligence relies on the basic principles of tort law, specifically negligence theory. To build a case, one must normally show that there was a duty owed to you (by the doctor, the hospital, the employer, etc), that the duty was in fact breached, and that the breach did in fact cause or amplify an injury (either through proximate causation, or cause in fact), in addition to proving the extent and nature of your damages. Negligence is often defined as the failure to act as a reasonable and prudent person would under the circumstances. The “standard of care” is what a reasonable person would do under the circumstances.
In medical malpractice/negligence cases, the reasonable person standard is based on what is customary for doctors in that field. 99.9 percent of the time, proving your claim requires the use of “experts”, who are fellow doctors specializing in the same field. The other 0.01 percent of the time, cases can be argued on the basis of res ipsa loquitor (“the thing speaks for itself”). In these types of claims, the injury could not have happened without some sort of negligence. For example, a patient wakes up from surgery for an appendix issue with neck pain and paralysis (See Ybarra v. Spangard).
Medical malpractice/negligence cases can be quite expensive to pursue though! Thankfully for the plaintiff (injured person), cases are brought on a contingent fee basis, with a typical lawyer’s fee being around 40% of the award. I KNOW that seems high, but the lawyer pays for all the costs involved. This means your attorney bears a good bit of the financial risk, so if the case is not won, he or she is out that money, which can sometimes be in the seven figures!
The larger point is, medical malpractice/negligence happens all around us, all the time. Doctors make mistakes, and we run these risks. Fortunately for us eventers, sometimes we have an avenue of reimbursement for those injuries. This in no way means we should all get “sue happy”, but if there has been an unjust act or injury due to the negligence of someone else, I believe it should be brought to attention and something done about it.
The Apocalypse’s Thursday Reader from RevitaVet
The latest sign that the world is ending comes courtesy a recent CNN poll. Over the past several days we have been discussing the recent attention that the national media has been giving to horse slaughter. I have been surprised at how positively the media has written about horse slaughter, but a recent CNN poll shows that they might just be reflecting the mood of their readers. CNN.com asked their readers if they would be willing to eat horse meat, and the responses were as follows:
I have and I enjoy it – 9.65%
I haven’t, but I would – 28.38%
Only under dire circumstances – 19.74%
I could never do that – 42.23%
Where should I even begin? Who exactly are the one in ten respondents who ‘have eaten horse meat and enjoyed it’ and what about their barbaric freak friends who have eaten horse meat but didn’t enjoy it? Furthermore, if 28% of CNN.com readers would be willing to try horse meat but just haven’t had the opportunity, then an argument could be made that McDonald’s should start offering a horse sandwich. I’d bet that less people would be willing try tofu. [CNN Poll Results] If the world is ending, we might as well go out with a few eventing news and notes:
–Aside from the horse slaughter debate, the talk of the town this week is helmets. Starting this spring with Courtney King-Dye’s tragic accident, there has been a growing movement in support of helmets throughout the sport horse community. Eventing scored a major victory when the mandatory helmet rule proposal passed through the USEA Convention with little resistance, and, as I have said, I expect that rule to be ratified at the USEF’s annual meeting later this month. But there is still much work to be done in other horse sports. The Rider4Helmets organization is holding a Helmet Safety Symposium in Wellington on January 8th. There are a lot of big name speakers and Samantha will be there to tell us about all the details and inside info. Our good friend Monty White learned from experience to always wear his helmet.
–The 2011 George Morris Horsemastership Training Sessions are going on this week. The Chronicle has good coverage of Wednesday, or you can watch the sessions live online in the mornings at the USEF Network.
–Speaking of horse videos online, a website called Watch Free Live Sport Online has published Buzzterbrown’s WEG video. I’m not sure that WEG videos on Youtube from October are precisely ‘live,’ but they are free and it’s good to see eventing getting some love.
—Apparently dressage riders do have a sense of humor after all [via LEC]
—Foxhunting can be dangerous, but apparently so can watching foxhunting. A 61 year old man in Scotland was thrown from his horse and severely injured while watching a foxhunt when his horse tried to follow the hunt. The man, who was not wearing a helmet, later died at the hospital. [BBC]
—It’s good to be Penny Rowland
–Buckingham Palace has announced that in Kate Middleton’s wedding to Prince William, the future princess will travel to the wedding in a car rather than the traditional horse drawn carriage. Horses everywhere feel scorned. The royal couple also recently said that they will forego servants in their new home. How very democratic of them. [Time.com]
—The first US event of 2011 starts this weekend at the Florida Horse Park.
Annie is busy with school stuff this week and Coren is somewhere in France, probably reminding the French why they hate America. But, fear not Eventing Nation because Samantha has just arrived home from the Holidays and we have some great guest articles lined up. See you soon… #WearYourHelmet
