Death of fifth rider shocks eventing into crisis reforms

REELING FROM the fifth death in their sport in as many months, administrators of British eventing yesterday agreed a range of emergency measures to try to cut the numbers of accidents and fatalities.

Most dramatically, they are to try using "knock down" or collapsible fences, as opposed to solid obstacles such as telegraph poles that have previously been seen as virtually defining the sport.

Strict time limits are to be relaxed for advanced riders, meaning that they can complete a course at a slightly slower pace without incurring penalties. Tougher stewardship of competitions is also to be introduced, which will increase the number of officials on a course, and allow them to disqualify riders for reckless or irresponsible riding which is judged to be making them a danger to themselves or others.

Course designers will have an extra technical adviser to review their plans before a competition. Previously, this was done by one other expert, but now there will be two - giving "an extra pair of eyes" to see potential problems, officials say.

The setting up of a joint British/international committee was also agreed with a wide remit to look at the whole state of the sport, and this is expected to start work by the end of this week.

The new measures were agreed during an emergency telephone conference yesterday afternoon between directors of the British Horse Trials Association (BHTA). It was organised following the death of Peter McLean, 20, who died in hospital following a fall during a competition in Suffolk on Sunday.

Yesterday should have been one of celebration, and considerable relief for the sport. In the equivalent of an English football team overcoming earlier disasters to secure last-minute qualification for a World Cup, Britain qualified for the Sydney Olympics by completing a storming win in the European Three-Day Event Championship in Germany on Sunday. As icing on the cake, Pippa Funnell, in her debut for the senior team, won the individual gold medal.

However, eyes were instead directed towards the far more humble competition at Somerleyton Horse Trials in Suffolk, where Mr McLean fell on the intermediate course. His death was the more significant because, unlike the other four fatalities this summer, he was a relatively inexperienced competitor who came to grief at an uncomplicated parallel rail fence on level ground.

His accident mystified officials, already stunned by the rising deaths for which they can so far find no explanation. "The simple fact is that we don't know what is wrong at the moment," said Mike Tucker, chairman of the BHTA's standing committee on safety and the main BBC commentator for the sport, who took part in yesterday's discussions. "There is nothing to say that any of these accidents have anything in common."

But it was clear that further platitudes about this being a risky business where accidents will inevitably, if tragically, happen, were no longer going to be enough. Something would have to be seen to be done.

Mr Tucker was far from certain that the measures being introduced would make any difference. "It's not an answer that is necessarily going to achieve our aim, which is to reduce fatal accidents to an absolute minimum," he said.

After this season, it is hard not to have sympathy with this view, and share the mystification. The death rate has been by far the worst since 1993, when four riders died and moves were taken to modify a certain class of fence. The last death was in 1997, there was one each in 1995 and 1994. But virtually nothing has changed since to account for the sudden rise in fatal falls.

Some critics point to the introduction of a new system of time penalties at international competitions, which in some circumstances might encourage competitors to push harder. But only two of this year's accidents took place under the new rules, and on-course investigations immediately ruled this out as a possible cause.

No doubt yesterday's move to ease the time penalties was in part aimed at this area of worry. But by cutting the distance that needs to be covered from 600m a minute to 570 hardly seems radical.

"We were just trying to relieve the pressure a bit between now and the end of the season, because people are understandably becoming a little jittery," said Mr Tucker.

Others talk of the increased technicality of some jumps, where the horse and rider are asked to go through a combination of obstacles one after another. If something goes wrong half-way through, there is often nowhere to go, so a fall becomes almost inevitable. The introduction of the "knock- down" fences could prove to be far more significant in this area.

All those killed this year died after their horses fell on them, and many put this down to the insistence on using solid obstacles. Unlike in show jumping, where the poles are dislodged when hit, a horse hitting a solid cross-country obstacle can somersault over it - ejecting the rider in the process before coming down on top of them. With horses weighing an average of half a ton and with added momentum from the fall, this is rarely survivable.

The new fences were first experimented with at Blenheim, in Oxfordshire, earlier this month, but a full trial is now planned for the Weston Park competition in Shropshire next month. For a sport that has its roots in the testing of chargers for French army officers, however, there will no doubt be some who think this is going too far.

For Mr Tucker, who is a former international competitor and a course designer, the thrill involved in successfully negotiating a cross-country course means that the increasing numbers drawn to the sport will keep coming, whatever the changes.

"It is a tremendous buzz. The thrill of actually doing it is something that is so special," he said. "When things go well, it's like a drug."

What he and other administrators must now do is find is a way of cutting down on the number of overdoses.

THE LEAGUE OF DANGEROUS SPORTS

Horse riding is seventh on a recently published list of dangerous sports - surprisingly ranked below fishing for the average risk of fatality. Air sports, including aerobatics, parachuting and gliding, top the league of dangerous activities, with motor sports coming second and water sports third, according to figures compiled by David Ball, professor of risk management at Middlesex University.

At the bottom of the table were sports not usually regarded as high-risk such as golf and badminton, which still claimed four lives in England and Wales between 1988 and 1992.

Activity Deaths Total annual Risk of

(over participation death five by adults per 100m

years) (millions) participations

Air sports 51 1 1000

Mountaineering 51 4-8 100-200

Motor sports 65 11 120

Boating and sailing 69 23 60

Swimming and diving 191 370 10

Fishing 50 37 30

Horse riding 62 39 30

Soccer 14 128 2

Rugby 2 12 3

Hockey 2 9 4

Cricket 2 20 2

Running/jogging 9 200 1

Tennis 1 45 0.4

Golf 1 110 0.2

Badminton 3 59 1

Gymnastics 1 14 1