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 Safety
A
15-Year German Study on Equestrian
Accidents
With over 100,000 vaulters
and a tradition of vaulting as a children's
sport that dates back to the 1930's,
Germany's safety record underscores the
safety of
vaulting. It is of note that approximately
50 percent of riders holding competitive
licenses were vaulters in their early years.
 The results from
a fifteen-year (1975-1990) study on equestrian
accidents at the University
Hospital at Homburg/Saar were published
in the German equestrian journal St.
Georg,
August 1991 edition.
Vaulting accidents
were at the low end of the spectrum—representing
4.4% of the total accidents. Only in vaulting,
where a helmet is not required, the percentage
of head injuries was very low (5%).
The following is a translation and summary
of the contents of the St. Georg article:
During 1975-1990, 765 equestrian accidents
were treated at the University Hospital
at Homburg/Saar. Additionally, video tapes
from 536 falls at jumping events were analysed
to get more information about the origin
of the injuries.
Results:
The majority of the injured persons were
young female riders, more of half of the
victims were younger than 20 years. This
distribution of age and gender is equal
to the age/gender distribution of the members
of the German Equestrian Association. More
than half of the patients were riding for
less than 6 years. The absolute beginners
with less than one year were responsible
for one fifth of the accidents, giving
reason to ask whether better education
of the beginners could help here. Although
the young and unexperienced riders had
the majority of accidents, the heavy injuries
happened to the older and experienced riders.
Experienced riders seem to get more often
in risky situations.
Only 47%
of the patients had used a helmet at
the time of the accidents.
About one
quarter of the injuries here located at
the head when falling off the horse of
with the horse. 20% of the used helmets
were lost from the head during the fall,
27% of the patients had used a simple helmet
without any strap. The video analysis of
jumping events showed that 37% of the helmets
were lost during the accident. Only in
vaulting the percentage of head injuries
is very low (5%), a helmet is here not
required.
At the
accidents by hoof hits (happening mostly
when handling the
horse)
the number
of head injuries was as high as the
number of injuries of the lower extremities.
The part of head injuries was even higher
here
than at falls from the horse.
The number of accidents
at handling the horse were 29% of the total,
the number
of accidents during riding 63%.
 The percentual distribution of accidents
is:
Trail riding -- 27 %
Racing -- 5.4 %
Vaulting -- 4.4%
Dressage -- 10.7%
Jumping -- 10.0%
Military -- 1.5%
Riding at the lunge -- 2.7%
Loading the horse -- 3.6%
Watching horses -- 1.9%
Lungeing horses -- 0.7%
Dismounting -- 1.2%
Mounting -- 2.7%
Holding a horse -- 2.7%
Leading a horse -- 4.6%
Grooming -- 5.4%
Putting on bridle -- 1.2%
Putting on saddle -- 1.2%
Driving -- 0.5%
Breaking green horses -- 1.5%
Other accidents -- 7.5%
 Over
50% of the injuries were minor injuries,
26% were bone fractures.
Children
had less severe injuries than adults.
Only two of the 765 accidents were fatal,
both happened when handling a horse.
Most of the pleasure riders had accidents
when their horses bucked, the event jumpers
had accidents mostly when the horse got
stuck at an obstacle.
Conclusion:
The normal equestrian accident is mostly
minor, but a risk of 0.2% of fatal accidents
should be noted. Every fifth rider stopped
horseriding after an accident, but only
43% of the riders who continued after an
accident said that they are more safety
conscious afterwards.
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Vaulting