This comes amid a steady rise in the use of safety vests – including both body protectors and air vests – across a wide range of equestrian disciplines, and growing concern about the lack of independent data to support their effectiveness in reducing athlete injuries.
Chaired by Dr Mark Hart (USA), Chair of the FEI Medical Committee, the Working Group will first examine the current state of knowledge around thoracic and spinal injuries in equestrian sport, with a focus on understanding how and when these injuries occur, and whether safety vests play a significant role in reducing the severity of athlete injuries.
“While there is growing support for the use of body protectors and air vests in both sport and recreational riding, there is still minimal data to fully understand their effectiveness,” Hart explained.
“We lack critical data on how and what specific injuries occur during falls and how protective equipment performs under real-world conditions.
“Athletes and others in the community are asking important, constructive questions relating to how air vests perform in real-world settings, how they affect the athlete’s movement, and whether their use might influence the horse’s behaviour. These insights are essential and are helping to drive the discussion toward more effective and evidence-based safety solutions.
“This is why the FEI has tasked the Working Group with undertaking a comprehensive review of current safety standards and will include developing improved testing protocols that more accurately reflect the realities athletes face in both training and competition environments.”
The Working Group will operate through two dedicated international panels to ensure both scientific rigour and stakeholder engagement.
To support this structure, the FEI Executive Board has approved the appointments to the Scientific Panel and the National Federation Advisory Panel of the ESVWG.
The full list of the ESVWG members can be found here.
The Scientific Panel brings together a carefully balanced group of international experts from a range of fields, including biomechanical engineering, injury modelling, medicine, safety vest manufacturing, and international standards bodies. There is also diverse expertise in areas of the body most at risk during a fall, such as the head, neck, spine, ribs, and chest. Attention has also been given to ensuring representation across regions and genders.
The National Federation (NF) Advisory Panel is made up of members nominated by their National Federations and approved by the FEI. This group will play a key role in engaging with stakeholders by supporting open communication with the wider equestrian community in their regions. They will also help coordinate additional fundraising for potential research projects, working with National Federations, research foundations, government agencies, and private donors, in accordance with FEI guidelines on external funding.
As part of its mission, the ESVWG will also seek to collaborate closely with athletes, manufacturers, international standards organisations and other sports with similar injury risks, such as horse racing and motocross.
In collaboration with key stakeholders, the ESVWG will propose modifications or new testing protocols to promote safer vest design and encourage broader adoption of best practices. The Working Group will also make recommendations to the FEI and its member National Federations on how to improve data collection and reporting around injury events to better correlate fall mechanisms with injury outcomes.
The formation of the ESVWG builds on the success of previous FEI safety initiatives, including the work of the FEI Helmet Working Group. Findings from that research were recently used by the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab researchers to help develop its equestrian helmet rating programme, which marked a major step forward in real-world safety testing.
Source: FEI press release
