Third prize Academic Student Promotion Award for Manon (2008)
"An absolutely wonderful experience!"
Manon Morsch (22) won the third prize with her thesis on accidents in eventing, a special branch of equestrian sports. "It was absolutely fabulous to receive that invitation and to be told that I had won an award. A surprise as well, since I've been employed for almost a year now. And to hear something like that about your thesis, that's just terrific," she says.
Castle
"The prizes were awarded during a very chic party in a sort of castle near Aachen, Germany. The organisers welcomed us at the drawbridge, there was a dinner party with table setting... all very official. Absolutely wonderful to be able to experience something like this. And at the same time an exquisite opportunity to do some networking, because a great many important people from the equestrian sports world were present!"
Treetrunks
"My thesis is about fatal accidents that happen during eventing. Eventing, also called military, is a branch of equestrian sports in which 'natural' jumps, such as water jumps and treetrunks are being used. Those treetrunks don't just fall of the jump if a horse bumps against it, as is the case with ordinary show jumping. So accidents may happen in which a horse gets 'stuck' with a certain body part behind a fixed part of the jump and makes a kind of head roll - also called 'overslag'."
Ground pole
"I investigated whether the risks of such accident change if you force horses to start jumping from a certain distance from the jump. You achieve this by putting a ground pole in place before the jump. With the help of among others the University of Luik we let 21 horses and ponies jump, videotaped it, and made a technical and statistical analysis. There appears to be a risk at a certain distance that an accident will happen if a horse touches the jump. If a horse touches a fixed object of the jump with a certain part, an 'overslag' (the 'head roll') of the horse over the jump can be the result."
Organisation
Manon studied Animal Husbandry and Management, majoring in Equine Management. This is a precursor of the major Equine, Leisure and Sports. "Currently I am employed as an account manager with an agrarian publisher, but I'm still very much orienting myself at the job market. My preference would be a job in organising events, especially in the equine sector. My work placement during my study was with EQ International Amsterdam, and I would love to start working in the organisation of large equine events."
The Academic Student Promotion Award is an initiative of Prof. Dr. Arno Gego of the School of Course Design in Aachen, Germany. The award is granted yearly in Aachen to students who have a special thesis in the field of equine sports.
Suzanne van Dijk, also of Van Hall-Larenstein, won the first prize with her thesis.