Bennet Euan David, Cameron-Whytock Heather, Parkin Tim D H
Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford Campus, Bristol, UK.
School of Animal Rural and Environmental Science, Nottingham Trent University, Brackenhurst Campus, Southwell, UK.
Equine Vet J. 2023 May;55(3):463-473. doi: 10.1111/evj.13863. Epub 2022 Aug 9.
The equestrian discipline of eventing tests athletes' and horses' skill over three phases: dressage, jumping and cross-country. Falls during cross-country can be particularly serious and result in serious or fatal injury for both horse and athlete. Cross-country course and fence design are crucial contributory factors to safety.
To provide descriptive statistics and identify fence-level risk factors for horses competing in Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) events worldwide.
Retrospective cohort study.
Data were collected for every horse start worldwide in all international (CI), championship (CH), Olympics (OG) and World Equestrian Games (WEG) eventing competitions between January 2008 and December 2018 and univariable logistic regression, followed by multivariable logistic regression were applied. The final model was built in a stepwise bi-directional process, with each step assessed by the Akaike information criterion.
Risk factors were identified at the fence level covering aspects of fence design and course design. Ten fence types were at increased odds of a fall occurring compared with square spread fences, and seven types were at reduced odds. Fences with an approach downhill (odds ratio [OR] 1.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.19-1.52), with landing into water (OR 1.82, CI 1.62-2.01), frangible devices (OR 1.28, CI 1.15-1.41) and later elements of combined obstacles (OR 1.33 CI 1.25-1.42 for the second element, OR 1.21 CI 1.10-1.32 for later elements) were associated with increased risk of falls occurring.
Although the dataset covers every international competition worldwide, it does not include national-level competitions.
It is recommended that the most challenging fences are placed near the beginning of the course, and not in downhill or water settings. The complexity of individual elements in combined fences should be reduced. Adopting evidence-based course design is a crucial intervention for reducing the incidence of horse falls and associated serious and fatal injuries to horse and human athletes.
三项赛的马术项目在三个阶段考验运动员和马匹的技能：盛装舞步、场地障碍赛和越野赛。越野赛中的摔倒可能特别严重，会导致马匹和运动员受重伤或致命伤。越野赛路线和障碍物设计是安全的关键因素。
提供描述性统计数据，并确定在国际马术联合会（FEI）全球赛事中参赛马匹在障碍物层面的风险因素。
回顾性队列研究。
收集了2008年1月至2018年12月期间全球所有国际（CI）、锦标赛（CH）、奥运会（OG）和世界马术运动会（WEG）三项赛比赛中每匹马的参赛数据，并应用单变量逻辑回归，随后进行多变量逻辑回归。最终模型通过逐步双向过程构建，每一步通过赤池信息准则进行评估。
在障碍物层面确定了风险因素，涵盖障碍物设计和路线设计方面。与方形伸展障碍物相比，十种障碍物类型导致摔倒的几率增加，七种类型导致摔倒的几率降低。接近时为下坡的障碍物（比值比[OR]1.35，95%置信区间[CI]1.19 - 1.52）、落地进入水中的障碍物（OR 1.82，CI 1.62 - 2.01）、易碎装置（OR 1.28，CI 1.15 - 1.41）以及组合障碍物的后续部分（第二个部分的OR 1.33，CI 1.25 - 1.42，后续部分的OR 1.21，CI 1.10 - 1.32）与摔倒风险增加相关。
尽管数据集涵盖了全球所有国际比赛，但不包括国家级比赛。
建议将最具挑战性的障碍物放置在路线起始附近，而非下坡或水域环境中。应降低组合障碍物中单个部分的复杂性。采用基于证据的路线设计是减少马匹摔倒发生率以及马匹和人类运动员相关重伤和致命伤的关键干预措施。
