Headcollar Testing – Latest research published.
Anecdotally, injuries to horses wearing headcollars either when tied-up or when turned out seem to
be common, but perhaps surprisingly there has been very little research on this topic.
Earlier this year Dr David Marlin, Dr Kirstie Pickles and Dr Jane Williams published an online survey of equestrian headcollar use and safety. You can read the first paper for free: An online survey of equestrian headcollar use and safety – Marlin – Equine Veterinary Education – Wiley Online Library
At DrDavidMarlin.com we then ran a fascinating webinar called: Headcollars an Accident Waiting to Happen with Dr David Marlin, you can access the webinar replay now, click here
We are excited to announce that the follow up paper has been published detailing the headcollar and safety device testing called: Opening forces or failure of commercially available equine headcollars and other safety devices has been published by Marlin DJ, Pickles K, Ferro de Godoy R, Williams JM. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology. August 2021. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17543371211039610
The team at DrDavidMarlin.com are delighted that headcollar and device safety has been put in the spotlight and we hope that the findings will support horse owners with their choice on how best to manage their horses and improve horse welfare. We would like to thank all the experts who have contributed to this research.
