Nottingham Trent University – By Dr Heather Cameron-Whytock, an expert in equine sport risk in the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences.

Equestrian eventing is sometimes known as the ‘Equestrian Triathlon’. Luckily, horses aren’t required to swim, but the sport is composed of three distinct phases. The cross-country phase – which involves galloping across country, over logs, ditches, water and other obstacles composed of ‘natural’ materials – poses the biggest risk of injury and fatality to horse and rider, due to the occurrence of horse falls.

Horse falls typically happen due to the horse coming into contact with one of the cross-country obstacles whilst attempting to jump over it. If a horse hits one of these solid obstacles at speed then rapid deceleration occurs, sometimes causing the horse to rotate in a somersault motion over the fence and land on its back – and potentially on top of the rider. It is no surprise then that these incidents carry substantial risk of serious injury to both the horse and the rider, and in the worst cases even death.

In the past five years alone, there have been 13 rider and ten horse deaths worldwide as a result of horse falls at cross-country fences.

Nottingham Trent University – New research into equestrian eventing safety has assessed different types of fence and course design, and quantified their associated risk of falling for either rider or horse.

The study is published in the Equine Veterinary Journal, and has highlighted ten fence types which are at increased odds of a fall occurring when compared with square spread fences. Seven types of fence were found to be at reduced odds of a fall. Twelve other factors related to fence and course design were also identified as affecting the risk of falls occurring.

Eventing is a challenging equestrian sport including three phases: dressage, show jumping, and cross-country. Cross-country involves riding at speed over a course of fences and is the most dangerous phase because falls can happen at fences. Around 6% of starts result in a fall – with either the rider falling off the horse, or the horse itself falling. Falls can have very serious consequences, up to and including death for both the horse and rider. Since 2016 there have been at least 41 horse fatalities and at least 18 rider fatalities.

The study assessed fence eventing risk factors, covering aspects of fence design and course design. Researchers found that fence types were at increased odds of a fall occurring compared to square spread fences, and seven types were at reduced odds. Fences positioned with approach and/or landing downhill were more likely to have falls occur than fences on flat ground, and fences which were a jump into water were risker than jumps onto solid ground.

The study team, at the Universities of Glasgow, Bristol, and Nottingham Trent, analysed data from over 200,000 fences in about 6,500 competitions over an 11-year period, and, overall, found thirteen factors related to competition, fence, and course design that meant falls were more likely to occur.