Is racing more dangerous for the rider than jumping?

Question

Flat racing vs. cross country jumping (not steeplechasing.) And why?

Answer 1

Well, let me answer it this way. Horse racing is the only sport where a human ambulance follows the racing horses and riders around the track from start to finish. Every fall has the potential for catastrophic results due to the speed at which they are going and the chance of being hurt by other horses in the race.

Answer 2

just wear a helmet.  both are dangerous. but flats ,the speed is much more dangerous.

Answer 3

well in flat racing if you fall and you're at the front, it doesnt look good for you b/c u could get run over by what, 6 other horses? and in cross country its just you and ur horse

Answer 4

Racing is more dangerous for the rider than cross country jumping for a number of reasons:

First and foremost, racehorses on the flat are going a good bit faster than cross country horses are.  At best, the eventers are doing a good working hand-gallop during the cross country phase, not a flat-out fast-as-you-can-go run.  Eventers need to be able to collect their horses to make the jumps properly and also need to make sure their horse doesn't tire early in the course.  And of course after they finish the cross country phase, they still have another day to go, and must pass the vet check.  So the rider wants to finish the course with the horse in good enough shape to do the stadium jumping phase.

Speed translates into energy, and the faster you're going the harder you're going to hit the ground if you fall.  That's simple physics.  A rider who hits the ground from a horse that's moving at 30-35 MPH is going to hit harder than a rider who is thrown from a horse moving at 15-17 MPH.

Second, racehorses are running in the midst of a pack of other horse, in very tight quarters.  If a horse or rider comes down, there's a very good chance that someone is going to fall over them or trample them, with disasterous results.  In Eventing, there is enough time during the cross country phase to keep a rider who comes down from being trampled by other horses still on the course.

Third, even though falls over some of the jumps in three-day event are quite spectacular, the rider usually has at least some warning that disaster is coming.  When you watch eventing, you can usually tell a stride or two from a fence that a horse isn't meeting it properly-- sometimes you can tell even further from the fence.  The rider has at least some time to try to minimize the damage from the fall.

In racing, there is no time and usually no warning.  When a horse breaks down, or clips heels with another horse, or gets shut off and falls, there isn't time for the rider to try to save himself.  

Overwhelmingly the danger is with the jockeys who ride in races.  Eventers have their share of falls, some of them very nasty, but you rarely hear of an eventer being killed in a fall.  Every year their are jockeys (or exercise riders, who the public rarely hears about) who get get killed or maimed for life in falls.

Answer 5

Hmmm depends on the rider and the horse.  I have had more falls hacking around than training racehorses!!Steeplechasers rarely have much training! They are just wild.  I far prefer cross country work.

Answer 6

Both have some risks. Howe ever, flat racing is far more dangerous. In flat racing, you have up to twenty horses all going h**l for leather around a track. If one horse goes down all the horses behind have no time to pull up or swerve. There are a lot of really nasty accidents that have happened in flat racing. Just look at how many jockeys have broken multiple bones on several occasions. .

In cross country the fences are solid - they don't come down when you hit them which increases the risk of injury. Still, horses are spaced out on the course. The horse and rider only have the stationary obstacles to worry about. There aren't a bunch of other horses right up against them. Also, cross country is ridden slower. It is done at a gallop but honestly, you can only go flat out on the open spaces. The jumps require some collection and timing which requires a slower pace.

Answer 7

girl that jumping is a cold sport, but you can excell and do great things. its all about that timeing, ya dig? stay ready.

Answer 8

Racing is, as a whole, far more dangerous than eventing because of the speeds involved, as well as because the horses who race are young animals whose bones' often can't take the stress put on them by extended periods of work at high speeds. Most eventers, on the other hand, are mature horses with years of careful conditioning and training behind them, and they run at much slower speeds. When a young racehorse breaks down at high speed, the results are often catastrophic for BOTH horse and rider, and because there is often no warning, the rider has no chance to prepare or try to minimize the impact. With eventing, there is almost always at least a little bit of a warning for the rider, and  indeed, many of the top event riders in the world are EXPERTS at getting themselves and their mounts out of dangerous situations. Our own Olympic team has MANY such individuals competing on it all the time.

Even given this, however, eventing is still a high-risk, dangerous sport that is NOT for the faint of heart. There is NO truth at all to what  Karin said about event riders never being killed, or killed only rarely. I feel I must ask her, what planet have YOU been on for the last 10 or 15 years?  Eventing was the sport that Christopher Reeve ( of Superman fame) was participating in  when he fell and broke his neck. He lived as a quadraplegic for 9 years, and then died of blood poisoning from an infected bedsore. There have been a lot of years in which not one, but MANY riders DIED in eventing related accidents world wide- and the worst of those years that I can remember was the '98-99 competition year, when there were 17 human deaths worldwide in eventing competitions. 5 of those people died in Britain ( in fact, the British eventing team lost 3 of its 4 members to accidents that year) 4 in the US, 1 in Germany, and a few more in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Canada.

Eventing is one of the only Olympic sports in which there is always an ever present risk of a fatal accident involving horse or rider- there are REASONS why eventers are REQUIRED to wear helmets, body protectors, and why horses have to wear protective boots and special shoes. There is also a reason why all major 3 day events have ambulances stationed on the grounds for both horses and people alike, and why there are normally at least 1 paramedic unit and a couple of vets on the grounds as well, even at the Olympic 3 days. One reason is simple,Karin- it's because even with the best preparation and training in the world, things can sometimes go terribly wrong, and the result is an accident in which horse, rider, or both get hurt. Horses can snap their legs while being ridden cross country- there have been lots of cases where that has happened.

Many if not most of the riders who either are competing for the US in this sport, or who have competed in it in the past,could tell you many stories about the narrow escapes that they have had, or about the falls and injuries they have endured. The same is true of most jockeys, who are exposed to even more danger because of the speeds they must ride at in order to win or even stay in contention.  Can either sport be made safer? Absolutely. Will they ever be entirely safe ? NO, probably not, but it is possible to keep the risks involved at a managable level, which is why our equestrian federation has convened a study group to look at the question of eventing safety. This group, which is due to present its information in the near future, is comprised of experts from inside and outside the sport. One of the major reasons why this group came into being, in fact, is because over the last couple of years, there has again been a series of serious accidents in which riders ( and sometimes, their horses) have been killed. This group was formed to deal with the issues raised by these deaths.  

I hope that this answers your question.

Answer 9

It depends. When flat racing with other horses, if one trips and you go down, horses can trample you or you can be dragged or seriously hurt.

In cross country, there are giant soild objects and if your horse leaves long and doesn't have enough strength to get across that bridge, pray you'll come out okay. Also if your horse refuses, you can be on the other side of the jump pretty quickly with out your friend.

Honestly, I do not do any of them, but I do do hunter/jumpers.

Answer 10

Horse jumping is a litle more dangerous the racing, but it depends.

Answer 11

Flat racing has the highest incidence of human mortality in all of sports.  Jumpers may be more likely to fall off and have minor injuries, but jockeys suffer major injuries when they come off.