In December 2020, Dr. Erin Contino, a practicing veterinarian and an active eventer in Area IX, gave a presentation at the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Virtual Convention on advances in safety in the sport of three-day eventing.
Her presentation, which is geared specifically towards veterinarians, begins with an overview of the sport of eventing, for those who might be unfamiliar. As veterinarians, animal welfare is of paramount importance, and so they too are concerned with trying to reduce the inherent risk of the sport. Contino shares national and international statistics on horse falls and fatalities, as provided by the USEA and FEI.
After Contino has defined the problem of safety in eventing, she moves on to share data and information on a number of initiatives that have taken place over the last 30 years to make the sport of eventing safer for horses and riders, from changes put in place to mitigate hot and humid climates, the cardiopulmonary research group, air quality index considerations, increased awareness of footing and conditioning, and rider education and awareness. She also talks about how rules affect horse safety and how the EquiRatings ERQI uses data and analytics to assess safety.
Contino then provides information about a few studies that have been done surrounding horse safety. The first study looks at risk factors associated with horse falls. The study collected data over a five-year period and recorded over two million jumping efforts. The second study looked at how a horse's dichromatic vision could be accommodated to improve jumping performance. The third study looked specifically at the efficacy of frangible devices in preventing rotational falls.
The United States Eventing Association (USEA) is pleased to announce the athletes selected for the 2022 USEA Emerging Athlete 21 (EA21) Program. USEA Young Rider program members aged 21 and under are eligible for the program, which aims to creates a pipeline for potential U.S. team riders by identifying and developing young talent, improving horsemanship and riding skills, and training and improving skills and consistency.
The USEA American Eventing Championships (AEC) presented by Nutrena Feeds are just two months away. The AEC moves to the mountains this year, taking place at Rebecca Farm in Kalispell, Montana across a long Labor Day weekend.
Are you following along with the action from home this weekend? Or maybe you're competing at an event and need information fast. Either way, we’ve got you covered! Check out the USEA’s Weekend Quick Links for links to information including the prize list, ride times, live scores, and more for all the events running this weekend.
Last month we began a four-part series on mental preparation and the many kinds of pre-ride routines you can perform to control your emotions so they don’t take control of you. If you recall, the purpose of these routines is to give your brain the perception of predictability and control because as soon as your brain loses these it senses threat and stress which weakens your confidence and strengthens your jitters and fears.