Photo by Tilly Berendt.
The safety and welfare of horses and riders at US Equestrian-licensed competitions continues to be of paramount importance to stakeholders at all levels of equestrian sport. It is well known that minimizing the occurrence of horse and rider falls decreases the risk of injury to participants and our equine partners in competition. To inform change, evaluate risk, and implement risk mitigation strategies in our sport, accurate data pertaining to falls is needed.
In an effort to collect uniform and actionable fall data across all levels of competition, beginning December 1, 2023, US Equestrian will require falls of horse and falls of rider occurring in competition to be reported in the class results at each competition.
Horse falls will be reported as ‘HF’ in the competition results and rider falls will be reported as ‘RF’. This requirement will be for all licensed breeds and disciplines, excluding eventing. For eventing competitions horse falls will continue to be reported as ‘MR’ in the competition results, and rider falls will continue to be reported as ‘RF’.
General Rule 122 defines the fall of a rider or a horse in competition. A rider is considered to have fallen when they are separated from their horse, that has not fallen, in such a way as to necessitate remounting or vaulting into the saddle. A horse is considered to have fallen when the shoulder and haunch on the same side have touched the ground or an obstacle and the ground.
If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please contact Katlynn Wilbers at [email protected]
