Hundreds back call for change after Olympic rider has ‘probably the worst fall of my career’

By Eleanor Jones and Jennifer Donald

Hundreds of riders have backed Harry Charles’s call for change, after he had “probably the worst fall of my career”.

The Olympic team gold medallist said he was lucky he and the experienced horse he was riding escaped serious injury after they fell through the second element of a vertical-oxer two-stride double in a 1.45m national class at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) at Wellington International, US. Harry had come in steadily, got a good shot to the oxer and “rode it perfectly”, but the 14-year-old gelding took off after only one stride.

Harry posted on social media afterwards about such doubles; he is concerned that having the oxer second means horses are more eager to take it on, so such combinations can be dangerous.

“Luckily both the horse and I are OK,” he told H&H. “I’ve torn a couple of muscles in my back.

“I didn’t realise how big a problem the vertical-oxer two-stride double was until I posted about it and I’ve had over 400 people reach out with stories of broken backs, necks and horses dying. A lot of riders here, top-level riders, agree that this combination is dangerous.

“There will always be people who disagree, but until something like this happens to you or someone close to you… I or the horse just needed to come down at a slightly different angle and it could have been a much worse outcome.”

Harry said horses have to make some mistakes to learn, but that risk has to be minimised.

“Getting rid of these doubles isn’t going to drastically change the sport; you’re not going to think, ‘I wish they had a vertical-oxer two-stride combination in this course’,” he said. “You’re still going to get the same result, you’re going to get great sport by minimising just 5% risk. Why wouldn’t you want to?

“Triple bars in the middle of combinations used to be normal and we look back and think goodness! Change is hard for some people, but all the feedback I’ve had has been strong and good, and the FEI have been great. I think we’re getting somewhere. I approached them. We have a lot of people getting behind it here.”

Harry added that he has checked all the Paris courses and such doubles did not feature, adding that the Olympic course-designers are the “crème de la crème and they knew what they were doing”.

Former Olympic champion Nick Skelton watched the class.

“It was too short inside the double and it was too long a run to it, so horses were gathering momentum,” he told H&H. “Harry couldn’t have gone any slower; he rode it perfectly and the horse just picked up.

“From experience, I’ve found that if horses are going to pick up off one stride in a two-stride double, it’s always at an oxer; they very rarely pick up off one stride to a vertical.”

Olympic rider Holly Smith had a similar fall, at a two-stride oxer-vertical combination in a 1.45m class, in Spain a few years ago.

She told H&H that when she saw Harry’s post, she realised it was the same type of fence.

“These doubles do seem to have caused a lot of nasty falls; mine and Harry’s horses were lucky,” she said. “But they are leg-breaking, rider-hurting falls. You can have accidents at any type of fence, but when there’s a pattern – the answer is to make them one-stride doubles. Data needs to be collected from all falls; that would be a good start. There might be other stuff that might be more dangerous. Of course we can’t ban shadows, but what we can do is eliminate what we can, based on science and data.”

Matthew Hoskins, an advanced level national and FEI level two course-designer, told H&H he does not believe the answer is banning this type of double..

“But it has to be done correctly,” he said. “The people doing my job have to make sure it’s long enough [between the two elements]. Harry is dead right; using it as a trap can be dangerous.”

Mr Hoskins agreed with Nick; that the distance in such a double must be longer if it comes after a long run, or a course built on open distances before that point. He added that he had been talking to one leading eventer who likes these combinations to “allow young horses to express themselves”, and another who had been at a show where the distance had not been lengthened between the 90cm class and the 1.20m – in which a rider had a lucky escape.

He said many elements have to be taken on board, including venue, surface, weather and horses and riders, to build correct distances, and that designers and riders must work together to ensure safety.

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years and distances now are probably 20% longer as we’re breeding horses with bigger strides,” he added. “Nick’s right; it’s down to course-designing, which is paramount in producing horses and riders.”

An FEI spokesperson told H&H: “The FEI is aware of the concerns raised by Harry Charles. The matter is being discussed with FEI officials and will be addressed by the FEI jumping committee at its meeting on 17 February. The FEI is continuously evaluating safety standards in equestrian sport and encourages feedback to enhance athlete wellbeing.”

A WEF spokesperson told H&H horse and rider safety is Wellington’s top priority.

“Wellington International invests extensive effort into hiring experienced course-designers, judges and technical delegates whose dedication to safety aligns with ours,” she said. “These experienced officials ensure that every competition is run with the highest standards in compliance with the rules and regulations of the national and international governing bodies.

“The fall of any horse and/or rider is cause for us to evaluate why the incident occurred and if there are suitable actions that need to be taken to prevent similar occurrences. Upon investigation, the element in question was heavily reviewed and determined to be built with the correct specifications for the event.”

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