Eventers call for broken frangible pin rule to be scrapped
Hundreds of eventers are calling for the scrapping of a rule that imposes penalties for breaking a frangible pin in international horse sport.
Frangible pins are fitted to some cross-country jumps and break if the fence is hit with a certain amount of force. They are designed to reduce incidences of horses somersaulting and landing on riders.
A request for riders’ views on the rule has amassed almost 300 responses and a proposed amendment will be submitted to the FEI this week.
It suggests that if a competitor breaks a pin without falling, the rider continues penalty-free. Then there is an enquiry by the ground jury and technical delegate who assess the video footage.
They must prove the horse and rider would have received a fault had the pin not broken – for example, a fall or stop – for the 21 penalties to be awarded.
Event Riders Association chairman Francis Whittington said: “The FEI has in place a rule giving 21 penalties for breaking a frangible pin. It is the feeling of many riders competing in FEI eventing competitions, from CIC* to CCI****, that this rule should be removed.”
Fellow eventer Stuart Higgins, who rides at two-star, added: “It is only fair to penalise riders when they break a pin if the pins are changed every time a horse taps a fence.”
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Mike Etherington-Smith, chief executive of British Eventing, said the organisation has always opposed penalty points for breaking pins.
“There is a mechanism to deal with occasions when fences are broken due to irresponsible riding,” he said.
“The rule as written discourages the use of pins and gives course-designers a moral dilemma, when they should be encouraged to use frangible devices wherever appropriate.”
An FEI spokesman said the issue would be discussed at a meeting of the eventing committee this week.
This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (17 May 2012)
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.