Falls, frangibles and concussion in the eventing safety spotlight
Are concussions being under-reported, should we be looking deeper into falls not at cross-country fences – and how can we make sure that frangible devices are activating correctly?
These were the major talking points at the FEI Eventing Seminar (31 January to 1 February), led by FEI eventing committee chairman David O’Connor and FEI risk management steering group chairman Stuart Buntine.
The pair summarised data from events globally, including starters and fall statistics, saying the general picture is “positive”.
“It’s really important we look at a lot of these statistics, not just for what happens this year, but we actually take a 10-year look at the direction,” said Mr O’Connor.
FEI figures show the percentage of rotational horse falls has decreased from roughly one in every 664 starters in 2016 to one in every 1,336 in 2025. Non-rotational horse falls have also decreased – from 1.24% of starters in 2016 to 0.85% 2025.
Mr O’Connor said the reductions show “a lot of the work we are doing is working”, giving examples of frangible technology, course-design, understanding of how horses see and minimum eligibility requirements.
“We want them to continue that road, to go down even farther. That is no question. But it does say these decisions that have been made over the last 10 or 15 years are working,” he said.
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The FEI sets maximum horse fall targets for each level, which it aims to be below each year. The percentage of falls came within target at all levels, with the exception of CC3*-L (at 1.56% in 2025, compared to a target of 1.5%).
Mr O’Connor explained that the targets were set 15 years ago and questioned whether they are still appropriate “or can we push a little harder now to judge ourselves in a harder way?”
In recent years, the FEI has also improved the data it has collected on where falls happen at competitions, and on concussions.
Between 2018 and 2025, unsurprisingly most falls (75.21%) were at cross-country fences. But that means around a quarter of falls in this time occurred elsewhere – 6.69% on the flat across country, 11.08% in the showjumping, 6.92% in warm-up areas and 0.1% in the dressage. In 2025, 27.8% of falls were not at cross-country fences, including 10.22% in the warm-up.
“I think that is an important thing for us to realise, not that we’re letting ourselves off the hook for the cross-country falls,” said Mr O’Connor. “The one that surprises me is that 10% of the falls are actually in the warm-ups, getting ready for the competition.”
This sparked questions – in 2018, only 4.36% of falls were in warm-up areas and Mr Buntine asked if that increase can be accounted for by better reporting. Others asked whether there is a correlation between warm-up falls and falls on the cross-country, which has not yet been analysed.
“We are now at a place where the statistics can bring these questions up,” said Mr O’Connor, explaining how the data can lead to more analysis. “We just need to keep asking what the next questions are.”
British Eventing (BE) gave H&H a detailed breakdown of British figures, in national and international classes.
In 2025, there were 1,282 falls in total (FEI and BE); 923 on the cross-country, of which 838 were at a cross-country fence and 85 on the flat across country; and 359 elsewhere (not on the cross-country).
Following her presentation on BE’s engineering innovation competition (news, 18 December) on the second day of the seminar, BE chief executive Rosie Williams brought up the number of falls away from the cross-country course.
“We are looking into why is that happening, when’s it happening, what was the weather, was the horse shod… Because we need to reduce those falls as much as possible,” she said.
Eventing safety: are concussions being reported accurately?
Concerns were raised that concussions are potentially under-reported.
The FEI changed how it accounted for concussions in 2018, giving them a separate column in its injury reporting table.
In 2025, a total of 11 serious concussions were reported in international eventing worldwide. In the explanatory notes accompanying the FEI’s risk management data, the FEI states that “22 concussions were reported, 11 combined with a serious injury and 11 with a slight injury”.
Mr O’Connor said he believes the number of concussions is “under-reported” in international eventing.
“I don’t know if that’s an accurate number, though I do believe that number will become more accurate over the years – as we have found out through the data collection process [in other eventing safety statistics], it was probably eight or nine years before we started to get really reliable data,” he said.
“Now we’ve had what we think is fairly reliable data in most things since 2013, so it does take a while and I think this is one of the places we are looking to increase the reliability of that number.”
Frangibles: ‘We have to make sure they deploy correctly’
The risk to safety and sporting fairness when frangible devices are not fitted correctly was highlighted by Mr Buntine.
“If we’re going to use these [devices], we have to make sure they deploy correctly,” he said, referring to the situation in general rather than to any specific country, as was the case throughout the seminar.
Mr Buntine showed examples of where fences have moved when hit by a horse, dissipating the force and meaning that a device has not activated. And he cited cases where measurements involved in fitting a frangible device have been incorrect, which again means it has not worked as it should.
He said it is both a safety and an integrity issue if frangible devices do not deploy correctly.
“Athletes must have confidence that the technology is correct and it works in the correct manner,” he said.
“We need to make sure these fences do work – and work when you want them to work, so they do save falls. But also that they don’t activate too soon, because we don’t want to be issuing penalties when they shouldn’t be there.
“They’re there to prevent or reduce rotational or bad falls, and that’s their role, but not to activate early. So I think as officials, if we can just keep a focus on that, it would hopefully help some of these wrong activations from happening.”
Falls not at cross-country fences: the German picture
The German federation has dug into its own data and found that most falls in its national competitions are not at cross-country fences.
“We see in our national competition an unbelievable number of 75% of all rider falls happen without even jumping the fence,” said Philine Ganders-Meyer, of the German federation. “It’s enormous, and we are still working on it. It is, in the end, [about] rider fitness and rider education.”
The German data from 2025 shows these unseats are on the flat, and in situations associated with approaching a fence. It also showed that 16 of its 30 horse falls were either on the flat (15) or “without jumping the fence, but combined with the approach” (one).
“I think there’s a couple of things maybe to look into, because it’s a surprisingly high number,” said Mr O’Connor.
- To watch the full seminar, visit: https://inside.fei.org/fei/disc/eventing/risk-management/seminars-2025-2026
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.