BETA hat safety scheme rolled out at Pony Club

BETA hat safety scheme rolled out at Pony Club

BETA Hat Safety

The BETA Helmet Bounty Scheme, set up to promote rider safety, has been extended to the Pony Club Championships and Nationals. As part of the initiative, all riders concussed while competing will receive a voucher worth £100 towards the cost of a replacement hat when bought from a BETA member retailer.

To be included, all riders must first agree to their hat being returned to BETA, with the Pony Club passing on details of the injury.

“The Helmet Bounty Scheme has proved a great success since it was introduced last year and we are extremely pleased that Pony Club events are to be included,” said BETA executive director Claire Williams. “Replacing hats that have been involved in an incident is crucial and broadening the scheme to include the Pony Club is a fantastic way to drive this message home to young riders.”

The BETA Helmet Bounty Scheme will be incorporated at a range of Pony Club events, including this year’s El Remanso Polo Championships at Cowdray Park Polo Club, West Sussex (11-13 August), the Pony Club Tetrathlon Championships at Bishop Burton College, East Yorkshire (11-13 August), the Berkeley Group Pony Club Championships at Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas, Cheshire (18-22 August), and the Pony Club Endurance Championships at the King’s Forest, Thetford, Norfolk (27 August).

Next year, the scheme will be included in the Dengie Winter Championships at Addington Manor Equestrian Centre, Buckinghamshire (14-15 April).

Pony Club chairman Mary Tuckett said: “The Pony Club is delighted to be included in this scheme. Safety of our members is of paramount importance and anything we can do to facilitate data on accidents involving children and young people goes towards future safety improvements.”

The BETA Helmet Bounty Scheme was introduced by the trade association last year in conjunction with British Eventing. It was later applied to races organised by the British Horseracing Authority, the Point-to-Point Authority and the British Riding Clubs’ NAF Five Star National Horse Trials Championships.

Nearly 60 hats have been collected to date and returned to University College Dublin, where research is ongoing into the improvement of riding hat design and safety standards.