USEF Wants to Hear from You: Body Protector and Air Vest Survey

Jan 06, 2025

USEF Wants to Hear from You: Body Protector and Air Vest Survey

By Edited Press Release

The U.S. Equestrian Federation is asking for feedback from members about body protectors and air vests.

As a part of the survey, you will see several instances of “your/your child” in the questions. This language was used with consistency in mind, whether it was an adult competing member filling out the survey or whether it was an adult completing the survey on behalf of their child. This language allows for us to uniformly evaluate all responses.

This survey is intended for USEF participants who ride or drive and parents of children who ride or drive. This can include grooms, trainers, riders, and drivers whether or not you are actively competing. If you are an owner who doesn’t ride or drive or do not have a child participating you do not need to complete the survey.

Click here to take the survey.

All information collected is confidential. After completion of the survey, you will have the opportunity to enter to win a $300 gift certificate to ShopUSEF by entering your email. (Your email address, when entered for the gift certificate, will not be tied to your survey submissions)

Survey closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on January, 31.

Letter from Dr. Mike Hart, Chair of the USEF Human and Equine Safety and Wellness Committee:

At US Equestrian, safety for horse and rider is a consistent strategic focus point. If you and your horse are not safe, the sport suffers.

To that end, the USEF Human and Equine, Safety, and Welfare Committee consistently strives to improve safety protocols. Over the last several years, the Committee has examined the use of protective equipment in equestrian sport, and in particular the use of body protectors and inflatable vests. While the benefits of helmets have long been established through a wide range of research and testing, body protectors and inflatable vests are newer and less commonly used. Therefore, the data surrounding the effectiveness of these types of equipment is more limited.

In an effort to better understand the driving factors behind the use of this protective equipment throughout all disciplines, US Equestrian is asking for your time to complete the survey below.

The data from this survey will help us improve the safety for all participants in equestrian sport and inform future decisions in research.

We greatly appreciate you taking the time to complete this survey.

USEF

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