Tense In London Olympics Competition
This is the eve of London Olympics. Every competitor is standing ready to give the best in a race whose winner is named as the undisputed champion before the next races are held. The horses are ready to run and waiting for the whistle to be blown. The owners are wary of the chestnut logs, the trickiest part of the hurdles that a rider must jump. The horse course is slightly over three and a half miles and every competitor who wishes to be named a winner must finish the entire course and beat the rest of the competitors. The horses leap through a giant horseshoe, and this signifies the end of the race. The Competitive Aspect of Equestrian Sports.
This event is the equine of a triathlon. It puts together show cross country, jumping, and dressage. The sport is seemingly enjoyed by the wealthy people or those who are royal to the regime. However, this event is sometimes viewed by many as the one that carries highest risk. The participants must be very calculative and wary of the oblivious danger. The event endangers the rider and the horse as well.
A slight miscalculation can cost the horse and the rider the probable medal and their lives at the worst.
Show Jumping As Sports
The sport has been featured in subsequent Olympic Games since 1912 even though the risk of the game has been higher and higher every new season. The deaths of riders have been unusually high. Consider the twelve horse riders who died in a period of two years and a half – from 2007 to 2008. The riders died in the middle of the sport, and this made the rest of the riders voice their concerns of the dangers that come with the sport. Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, who was the leader of the International Equestrian Federation, issued a warning that the horse racing events may not be part of the medal games in the 2012 London games.
Haya Bint Al Hussein was of the opinion that the International Olympics Committee had legitimate and legal concerns. She further said that folding hands and pretending that nothing has happened is not commendable.
[Olympics: the most dangerous sport]
Rise Of Deaths and Injuries In Show Jumping
Responding to the deaths and injuries that the sport has caused, the governing bodies of the sport have now braced their guns on the ways to reduce the risks to horses as well as the riders. These bodies are now embarking on collecting data that indicates the number of injuries or deaths that have been suffered by riders. Moreover, riders are being encouraged to put on protective equipment such as inflatable vests. All the more, the British Eventing (BE) which commissions the sport in United Kingdom, has pioneered a research that focusses on frangible pins. The pins are aimed at protecting the rider from falls that happen at the point of rotation. They protect the rider in the event a horse somersaults over a barrier and falls on its back hence making the riders to have permanent disabilities. The pins have been used since 2006, and it has been observed that they reduce the weight that the horse carries through collapsing in case the weight is too much. The rider is thereby protected and the sport has become more interesting.
Since the year that these pins have been used, it has been reported that there are far fewer deaths (eight in number) reported in these events as compared to the earlier times. Though the number is still high, one cannot fail to recognize the improvement that has been made, hence the safety of the riders is assured.
Horses In Cross Country Events
The course of the cross country design has become a challenging one. Horses are exposed to risks such as breaking the back or necks which effectively rules them out of any sporting activity in future. Having lost over nine horses since 2009, it is time to assess the viability of the sport. Is it putting the lives of the rider and the horse in danger? This is the moral question that begs for an answer. In spite of the statistics that have been given to date, there is no single body that can claim to have the accurate statistics.