Project description
Extra protection for equestrian athletes
Horse riding is one of the most dangerous sports, with some studies suggesting that motorcycle racing is safer than eventing. The increasing incidence of horse-riding accidents, which are often severe in nature, have prompted riders to wear body protection gear. The EU-funded Faze project is designing a new type of body protection that is lightweight, breathable and easy to adjust. Based on an armadillo-style design, the gear includes overlapping and interconnected panels, two layers of soft and hard viscoelastic foam to protect high impact areas such as the chest and spine. It also has a patent pending self-locking mechanism that can provide riders a single point of adjustment to fix the panels across their waist.
Objective
Sports injuries can result in an immense amount of long-term pain and suffering to the lives of those effected and even
results in fatalities. This also results in a huge burden on EU hospitals, who spend €2.4 billion a year in direct health costs to
treat patients effected by sports injuries. Horse riding is a particularly dangerous sport as the actions of horses can be
unpredictable, making serious injury and fatality a possibility each time a rider mounts a horse. Chest and spinal injuries
contribute to up to 26% of hospital admissions for horse riding accidents and injuries to both the body and shoulder are
common in other dangerous sports such as mountain biking and snowsports.
State-of-the-art: There are two main types of body protectors available for equestrians: inflatable air jackets (e.g. Airowear
and Point Two Air) and panel-based jackets (Racesafe). The major issue with air jackets is that when they are inflated, they
do not provide the rider with the flexibility to perform a “tuck and roll”, meaning that cannot quickly move out of the path of
horses during falls, increasing the risk of crushing injuries. Panel based jackets are inserted with only a standard EVA based
foam, which is an adequate level of protection to absorb the impact of falls or being stood on by a horse.
We, Teqnox Ltd, have created a body protector “Faze” which is lightweight, breathable, and easy to adjust, whilst providing a
high level of safety protection for the rider. Our innovate armadillo style design includes:
• Overlapping and interconnected panels for rider flexibility, also ensuring no weak points.
• A bespoke blend of two layers of soft and hard visco elastic foams to provide protection in high impact areas (chest
and spine).
.• A patent pending self-locking mechanism giving the rider a single point of adjustment to easily adjust the panels
across the waist to fit any body type.
• Inner and outer layers composed of impact resistant sports mesh for breathability.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
G212DU Glasgow
United Kingdom
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.