Riding into their final competition on Feb. 14-16, the Sage Hill Equestrian Team members were still discussing the designation of the sport as “perhaps the most dangerous in the Summer Olympics.”

According to Time Magazine, “…eventing [a type of horseback riding] is perhaps the most dangerous sport in the Summer Olympics—to both horse and rider. The slightest miscalculation in the cross country can cost them a medal, and possibly their lives.”

Members of the team agreed that riding horses involves high risk, but with experience and safety, one should not be concerned with the extreme dangers, such as death.

The article reported 12 deaths in a year and a half between 2007 and 2008 leading to banning the Olympic sport which has been a part of the event since 1912.

Team members disagree that the sport is life-threatening.

Jenny Wang, a sophomore on the team, believes dangers are avoidable.

“My trainer says that you can get hit by a car walking out into the middle of the street. That doesn’t mean you stop walking. Just because you fall off of your horse doesn’t automatically mean you will die,” she said.

The Time Magazine article said the sport’s risks have been a point of ongoing controversy. In 2008, the president of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, warned that equestrian sports might not make it into the London 2012 Games. But they are still included and planned for Brazil in 2016.

The International Olympic Committee “has very reasonable and legitimate concerns about eventing safety,’ she told Britain’s Horse and Hound magazine. ‘Walking away and saying ‘Thank God nobody died,’ isn’t good enough.’ ”

Rebecca Fudge, senior and co-captain of the team, disagreed with the article. She thought horseback riding definitely should be continued in the Olympics. “What sport was in the original Olympics? That’s right. Chariot racing. It’s tradition [to keep horses in the Olympics],” she said.