Falls of horse and of rider in competition will be reported in the class results of every U.S. Equestrian Federation competition beginning Dec. 1, the organization has decided, calling the procedure “a safety and welfare measure.”
In what can only be called a statement of the obvious, USEF explained, “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.”
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’ (standing for mandatory retirement), and rider falls will continue to be reported as ‘RF’.
General Rule 122 defines the fall of a rider or a horse in competition this way: “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.”
It will be interesting to see what having accurate numbers available will do in terms of preventing falls.