FCE Rider Safety Survey Part II

Ok let's dig into a few more data elements from the survey. Starting with identifying our actual response group. Unsurprisingly, the survey got the most responses on the first day it was published (114 of 288 responses).

Over the next couple days it picked up a few more both from this blog and from those of you who shared the survey elsewhere (thank you!) - netting another 74 after two more days. Eventing Nation shared the survey to garner 84 new responses, and the rest (16) trickled in over the remaining days before the survey closed.

By the nature of 'Fraidy Cat Eventing's audience here, and the share from Eventing Nation, the survey received responses primarily from eventers, many of whom dabble in dressage. Nearly a third are h/j riders, and there were many write-in responses for western disciplines (including reining and breed shows), trail riding, and fox hunting.

It's notable that some of the answers on the gear question from Part I can be explained by the distribution of preferred disciplines among survey respondents.

For example, full seat breeches and rubberized reins elicited more responses than knee patch breeches or laced reins - likely due more to their popularity and common use with eventers and dressage riders. Tho there is a slight difference in proportions, it's not actually as large as that chart would make it seem.

I was curious to see if this variation in preferred disciplines would play a role in how riders choose new helmets.

The survey asked: On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the most important, what is most important to you when purchasing a riding helmet?

This was particularly interesting because these results stayed the same regardless of preferred discipline. It was a close race between Fit and Certification / Approvals, but those two factors hold a strong lead over any other choice.

Of note: the only measure in which this helmet priority order shifted was when considering age.

Riders in the 65-75 and under-15 age groups ranked Price as "least important." Perhaps because the under-15 riders aren't paying the bills? Or the 65-75 riders are beyond pinching pennies? Either way, those two age groups were very small and therefore subject to higher degrees of skew.

And the race between Fit and Certifications / Approvals was closest in the 25-35 age bracket.

More helmet tidbits:

• 91% of survey respondents wear a helmet every ride
• 98% wear an ASTM/SEI approved helmet (when they wear one)
• And 58% research their helmets beyond learning whether they are ASTM/SEI certified before purchasing.

Survey respondents also reaffirmed what we already know: To ride means to fall.

I should clarify that just one person reported having never fallen off - so while I think it's safe to say that person was probably an outlier, they're included here for the sake of transparency in reporting. Otherwise we might expect to see this stat reading "100% of riders have fallen off."

  

Regardless, basically all riders have fallen off, and just over half have done so within the past year.

What surprised me, tho, was how few report a fall-related injury in the past year - just 16% (44 respondents). I'm not sure why I expected that number to be larger, and I'm not trying to say that 44 injuries is insignificant by any means. It's interesting, tho.

And of those survey respondents who were injured in a fall,

• 19% believe that different equipment could have reduced the impact of the fall.
• And 10% believe that different equipment could have prevented the fall.

These stats further reaffirm what we already know: When riding horses, accidents will happen. And sometimes those accidents will result in injury. Safety gear and equipment are not enough to prevent accidents from happening, but they play an important role in risk mitigation.

Stay tuned for still a little more to come - mostly as it relates to rider opinions surrounding different behaviors and activities. 

FCE Rider Safety Survey Part I

Thank you to everyone who completed the 'Fraidy Cat Eventing Rider Safety Survey! The survey is now closed and am I thrilled with the 288 unique respondents.

There's a lot of rich data that I'm hoping to parse into meaningful insights. In particular, I love the commentary adjoining most questions. For example, the following cloud is built off your comments from the question digging into the various pieces of gear you have used that have been directly involved in an accident (for better or worse).

Actually - the commentary was pretty telling in that particular instance bc many of you scratched your head at the question, observing, 'This is all just regular gear, I don't understand the point of this question!'

While other comments were more along the lines of 'Oh girl, grab yourself a cup of coffee and sit right on down bc I have a little story to tell you!'

That difference, right there, is exactly why I conducted this survey. We are programmed to learn through experiences. We know what we have lived. And as our individual experience with horses grows (86% of survey respondents have been riding for 10+ years), we naturally tend to give more weight to our own experiences, while discounting the likelihood of things that haven't already happened to us. The more we have seen, the more we think we've seen it all.

The following chart looks at the number of responses for each piece of gear listed, distinguishing where respondents felt like the gear caused an accident or contributed to the severity (grays) or instances where the gear prevented an accident or reduced the severity (blues).

  

A lot of time could be spent unpacking the above chart - what does it mean, and what are the implications? How can riders use this information to make better choices about gear?

My three key takeaways from are as follows:

• The old faithfuls require care and attention too. Bits, girths and stirrups are most commonly involved in accidents, for better or worse. These are arguably the critical components of standard gear, regardless of discipline. Survey data reaffirms that problems with this gear can and will lead to an accident, while simultaneously demonstrating that they also play a key role in keeping riders safe. Bottom line: be conscientious about the basics. 

• Neck straps are a winning proposition. Neck straps are the single piece of gear exclusively cited for preventing or reducing the severity of an accident, with over 40% of survey respondents giving them credit. As there is no apparent downfall to riding with a neck strap according to this survey, riders may see real value in adding one to the standard getup. 

• Riding gloves make life better. Or, at least according to the survey, riding gloves prevent things from getting worse. A full quarter of survey respondents claim that riding gloves reduced the severity of an accident. These are an easy and cost-effective method to diminish risk.

***

More thoughts to come on the survey and resulting findings soon. In the meantime, the participation contest winner has been drawn via Excel's random number generator.

Congrats to Hannah R - you should receive your $25 Riding Warehouse gift certificate via email today! 

Safety & Risk: A Survey

Happy August everyone! Don't be fooled by the recent lull in activity around here - there are thoughts bumping around in my mind, much like a lapidary rolls rough bits of gravel around until out pops smooth gleaming stone.

Except. Well. I can't promise any real gems - but I'm going to try!

All is quiet on the riding front since I haven't actually breathed in the smell of a horse since last week's lesson on Wick. There are plans tho. Slow to develop, but hopefully exciting all the same. More later.

gotta love when helmet cams catch that precise moment when things went from "ho hum" to "rider meet earth"

In the meantime, there's another topic on my mind right now. You all might have noticed I haven't been keeping up with my own posts (or yours - so sorry, will hopefully fix that soon!) this last week as I've been out of town.

There was one notable exception tho. The subject of the relative safety of an externally mounted helmet camera cropped up in my last post's comments section, and prompted me to pull away from work for a minute to expound (at great length) about my thoughts there.

Mostly because I'm puzzling through my opinions on the topic of safety and risk. I've got opinions on the matter, perhaps to come out in a post later, but am generally struggling in organizing my thoughts. I mean, we ride horses, and riding horses is inherently risky, right? There's more to it than that, tho, of course.

And. The thing is. I'm a data scientist by nature and profession. It's not enough for me to shape my own opinions, or allow myself to be influenced by one compelling argument or another. I need more, always more. I want numbers, folks.

equipment failures are expected to be a frequent source of woe

So I pulled together a brief 10 question survey. Shouldn't take longer than a couple minutes to click through.

The survey ranges through a couple areas on how you make choices about your equipment, your experiences with said equipment, and some basic details on your horsey backgrounds. It's pointed towards a more english-oriented audience simply because that's my experience - but please do not let that prevent you from adding your voice should you be so inclined.

And here's where I need your help. The laws of statistical significance and whatnot say I can probably pull a large enough sample for drawing conclusions just from you who visit regularly. I'm feeling a little greedy tho.

it's generally not advisable to mix sliding stops with jumping

So. I ask that you please click through the survey. And. If you are interested in seeing the results from it, please consider sharing it through your own channels, whether that be your own blog or facebook or whatever.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WQ8CJFL

The survey will be open for two weeks, closing the morning of August 15. And to sweeten the deal, one random participant will be chosen to win a $25 gift certificate to Riding Warehouse. Extra contest entries to those who share (let me know in the comments).

Thanks in advance for you participation - and please also chime in below with your thoughts etc in the comments!