A new worldwide Eventing Risk Management Policy and Action Plan aimed at reducing cross-country horse falls was launched at the third annual FEI Safety meeting in Malmö, Sweden, Jan. 17. Based on a six-year statistical study of the sport, the plan will be used to monitor risk factors in eventing, and to streamline international data and ideas to further understand the root causes of falls.

This is the first time that a statistical database has monitored the sport on a global basis.

The FEI Eventing Committee has set the target to reduce horse falls by 10% (and 20% at 4-star level) over the next three years. Already, data for the period from 2004-2009 shows that, despite a significant increase in the popularity of the sport–a 35% increase in the number of competitions and a 22.5% increase in the total number of starters–the percentage of horse falls has decreased from 2.02% to 1.73%.

"Eventing is and will remain a risk sport. Our duty is to manage that risk," said Giuseppe Della Chiesa of Italy, the new chairman of the FEI Eventing Committee and the FEI Eventing Risk Management advisor. "Our major goal was to have a professional system to monitor and manage the risk in the sport and we now have that. This is not an emotional reaction, it's a structure that provides a systematic approach to managing the risks involved in our sport. There will still be accidents, but we can use this system to better manage the risk and keep it within acceptable and accepted levels