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FEI Eventing Risk Management Statistics Report 2011-2017

 

The FEI Eventing Risk Management Programme has just released the latest Statistics Report covering data from 2011-2017

The four parts of the FEI report cover Competitions, Starters, Falls and Injuries and provide some interesting insights into the growth of the sport and comparative risks since 2006, although the data from 2010 is considered more reliable for the assessment of injury types

The governing bodies are making big moves to improve risk management whilst growing the sport but there are still some sobering facts such as the final statistic of 1 fatal fall every 14,369 starters

Eventing Risk Management will again be in focus at the FEI Sports Forum taking place on 26-27 March 2018 at the International Management Development Institute (IMD) in Lausanne where sessions are scheduled for the second day

 

Key findings from the report (view full report here)

Competitions

  • Total number of competitions has grown by 70% increase from 2006 to 2017
  • As from 2011 the total number of competitions include multiple sections
  • Pony competitions are not included
  • The distribution between the competition formats shows for 2017 an increase of Short format (CIC) versus Long format (CCI) with 65% of Short format (CIC) competitions versus 35% of Long format (CCI) competitions as opposed to 59% for Short format (CIC) and 41% for Long format (CCI) in 2006.

 

Starters

  • Total number of starters has grown with a 51% increase from 2006 to 2017. The average number of starters per competition is 30
  • As from 2011 the total number of competitions include multiple sections
  • Distribution of starters per star level remains basically unchanged with an average of 49.6% for one star, 32.1% for two star, 16.7% for three star and 1.6% for four star.
  • The starters at one star level represent nearly 50% of the total number of starters in FEI competitions and together with the two star level make up 80% of the total number of starters.
  • Within the overall increased number of starters the distribution between format shows a trend of increased participation in Short format (CIC) with 68 % versus 32% for Long format (CCI) in 2017

 

Falls

  • For 2017, the overall percentage of falls (5.34%) has remained stable compared to 2016 (5.34%), it is slightly lower than the 2011-2016 average of 5.49%
  • The number of falls on the flat has increased for 2017, passing from 12.78% in 2016 to 15.99% in 2017. The average over the period is of 8.76%
  • The average for the period is of 3.89 unseated riders for every 100 starters (1 unseated rider every 26 starters) and 1.60 horse falls for every 100 starters (1 horse fall every 63 starters)
  • The distribution of falls per competition format shows an established trend with a higher percentage of falls in Long format (CCI) with an average for the period of 4.93% for Short format (CIC) and 6.48% for Long format (CCI)
  • Figures for 2017 show a decrease of the percentage of unseated riders. Horse falls have also slightly decreased from 1.40% in 2016 to 1.38 % in 2017. The percentage of horse falls is below the average of the period.
  • The percentage of rotational horse falls (higher risk of injuries for horse and rider) has decreased from 0.37 horse fall every 100 starters (1 rotational horse fall every 268 starters) in 2006 to 0.17 rotational horse fall every 100 starters (1 rotational horse fall every 572 starters) in 2017.

 

Injuries

  • The numbers and statistics in this section need to be assessed with due care as the reporting on injuries has not always been consistent. The reporting of the type of injury sustained was originally left to the fence judge that could only base his judgment on a “first impression” which could often be misleading. An improved follow up procedure on injuries has been implemented as of 2010 in order to have more reliable information on the exact injuries sustained by the riders and horses
  • Therefore, figures from 2010 to 2016 should be considered more reliable, particularly if not compared with the other years. For 2017, out of the 43 serious injuries, 18 were concussions. The injury categories will be reviewed for 2018 to increase the accuracy of the athlete injuries categorization. The distribution of falls per competition format shows an established trend with a higher percentage of falls in Long format (CCI) with an average for the period of 4.93%forShort format (CIC) and 6.48% for Long format (CCI)
  • Nevertheless the average values for the period indicate 4.94% falls with no injury every 100 starters (1 fall with no injury every 20 starters), 0.35% falls with slight injury every 100 starters (1 fall with slight injury every 284 starters), 0.19% falls with serious injury every 100 starters (1 fall with serious injury every 524 starters) and a 0.0070 % fatal falls every 100 starters (1 fatal fall every 14,369 starters)