The Frangible Pin Saga continues.....

Apologies, my head is still full of Badminton and something I wrote about last year has cropped up again, the Frangible Pin. Back then it was all about some bright spark at the FEI wanting to add penalty points for breaking one, as if it were showjumping, this time it's more about improvements.

They [Frangible Pins] are undoubtedly making a positive contribution to safety and a new design was tried out at Badminton Horse Trials in 2010 (see picture, courtesy of the Badminton website). The young Chinese rider Alex Hau Tain experienced the effect of these when falling off his first horse, Jeans, this year.

There is talk again of introducing penalty points for breaking these, which is of course a ridiculous suggestion. I notice 'The Captain' suggests £90 is expensive - Gatcombe ticket sales must be down on last year!

Improvements in safety are priceless, and it beats having to having to soften the courses any further.