A new safety app aimed at “empowering” riders and encouraging more incident reporting has been launched.
The British Horse Society’s (BHS) “Horse i” app will enable riders to “quickly and easily” submit details of incidents that have negatively affected their safety.
A BHS spokesman said the free app had been specifically designed to “empower” equestrians to immediately report any incidents they encounter directly to the society via a simple, easy to use interface.
“An incident is classed as an unplanned event that has resulted in a human or horse feeling unsafe, for example road rage, or that has the potential to cause injury (a near-miss), or that has already caused injury,” said the spokesman.
Riders can report any problems with a road or off-road user, slippery road surfaces, dogs, low-flying aircraft, nuisance drones or fireworks. The app records the incident details including location, date and time, injuries, vet treatment, and whether agencies such as the police or civil aviation authority are involved.
“An incident report can be submitted via the time-saving new tool in less than three minutes, although there is also the facility for the user to add in any supporting detail if they wish,” said the spokesman.
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The spokesman added that the society hopes the app will “equip and encourage” more equestrians to report incidents, enabling the BHS to use the data to support campaigns and improve equestrian safety.
“We know that only one in 10 people report incidents to us which is why we have produced this app. Most people want to report an incident to the BHS as soon as it happens, so this app makes it much easier to log what’s happened to you and your horse the moment you return to the yard when the detail is still fresh in your mind,” said BHS director of safety Alan Hiscox.
“Increasing the number of incidents that are logged with the BHS is a key priority for us in order to create a safer environment for equestrians, as we can act more effectively with better data.”
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