The U.S. Hunter Jumper Association announced July 24 that it will pledge $100,000 towards a $450,000 Helmet Safety Research Campaign to support the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab’s research to improve helmets used by the equestrian community.
The USHJA will be hosting an informational webinar with lead researcher Dr. Barry Miller on Wednesday, July 29 at 5 p.m. ET for individuals and organizations interested in becoming involved with and supporting the campaign.
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“The importance of helmet safety, as we all have come to understand it, is of the highest importance to our health and well-being and that of equestrian sport,” said Mary Babick, president of the USHJA. “Our pledge to this campaign is not only a commitment to furthering research and technology in this field but also a commitment to our equestrian community to help make it safer for all involved.”
The USHJA Board of Directors approved the funding in December 2019 at the USHJA Annual Meeting after Dr. Miller’s presentation on helmet safety and the research the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab has undertaken. This research program will study head impact and concussion risk in an equestrian environment. Research will be conducted in lab settings and field video data on a variety of equestrian events with significant attention to jumping, where many injuries occur. This project will set the framework to better understand concussive biomechanics in the equestrian industry and better inform helmet manufacturers for improvement with environment-specific design.
