Dressage Disaster: Catastrophic Crash For Carrie Schopf In The Grand Prix Dressage Ring

When the helmet rule came into effect for FEI Dressage riders a few years ago the argument was that none of these elite riders ever fall off at horse shows. Here we are in 2023 and we have two FEI riders come crashing off twice in one week. Someone needs to coin the marketing slogan “Helmets, For when you can’t fix bad horsemanship.“ Dressage riders have jacked up and trigger-stacked the FEI dressage horses so much that they are literally no longer capable of being a harmonious or even submissive partner in the dressage ring. The inception of bigger thigh rolls allows riders to be capable of riding higher levels of dressage than they are physically capable of. Riders are over horsed and it is not a good look for dressage. Carrie Schopf is 65 years old and probably as invincible as the young rider we saw crash in yesterday’s video. But at what point do we hold the team around these riders accountable for their safety. There is a coach, trainer, groom or someone