United States Equestrian Federation National Safety Officer and eventer Jon Holling has issued a plea to raise funds for much-needed frangible technology for cross-country courses following the tragic deaths of Canadian Katharine Morel and her mount Kerry On at a horse trials at Rocking Horse in Altoona, FL, Feb. 29th. The pair suffered a rotational fall on the intermediate course, which is the leading cause of fatalities in the sport of eventing.
Frangible tech, which employs pins and hinges that break or swivel down on impact, have been proven to reduce the risk of a serious horse-and-rider fall. Legislation passed in 2018 by the United States Eventing Association now requires all rail fences above Training level (oxers, gates, corners) to be equipped, either through new construction or retrofitting, with these potentially life-saving mechanisms. The cost can be prohibitive, however, averaging about $1,000/jump. While the USEA currently supplies $26,000 in frangible technology grants annually, much more funding is needed.
Holling has teamed up with Leslie Law, Kyle Carter, Emily Holmes, Andy Bowles, Doug Payne and Robert Kellerhouse, setting a $500,000 target ensure all prelim-level and above tables are outfitted with MIM collapsible technology before 2023. This will include the roughly 440+ tables on prelim, intermediate and advanced tracks in the US, with a plan beyond that to outfit all oxers, gates, and post-and-rail jumps. The group’s GoFundMe page can be accessed here; as of March 5th, nearly $68,000 has already been raised.
Watch Jon’s video plea here:
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