KBF Shares Industry Update: Updated Equestrian Helmet Ratings System Adds Racing and High-Speed Events
- Michael Cruciotti
- May 5
- 1 min read
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 5, 2025WELLINGTON, FL
The Kevin Babington Foundation is sharing this article from Virginia Tech News solely for informational purposes. The Foundation is not affiliated with Virginia Tech or the outcomes of this study and does not endorse any specific helmet brand or product mentioned.
Release Date of this Article: April 28, 2025 (By Lexi Clatterbuck)
Building on previous research, the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab released an updated set of equestrian ratings that considers impact scenarios where the horse and rider are moving with horizontal velocity, which typically occurs in racing and cross-country events.
Falling off a horse at high-speed changes the impact to the rider’s head and the parameters for a quality helmet, according to new research from the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab.
Published on April 28 in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering, the findings from researchers Steve Rowson and Lauren Duma indicate that head impacts during falls at high speed generate unique head rotation, which in turn, directly affects helmet behavior.
“Rotational motion of the head is very important,” said Rowson, helmet lab director. “While our testing already incorporated rotational head motion, falling off a horse at high speed can put a large force across the helmet and generate rotation in a different way than our previous testing. This means that the helmets behave a little differently during low-speed and high-speed impact scenarios.”
Lauren Duma, a Ph.D. student and member of the lab, was the lead author of the study.
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