Dr. Stephanie Bonin has been appointed Chair of the Scientific Panel for the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) Equestrian Safety Vest Working Group, launched in June 2025 to advance equestrian athlete protection standards and develop evidence-based safety recommendations.
The Working Group consists of two collaborative panels. The National Federation Advisory Panel is tasked with engaging regional stakeholders and coordinating fundraising for research initiatives. The Scientific Panel, chaired by Dr. Bonin, brings together international experts in biomechanical engineering, injury modeling, medicine, and manufacturing. Its mandate is to review existing research on equestrian body protection, evaluate currently available safety vests, and guide the development of test protocols that reflect real-world fall scenarios.
Although safety vests are already widely used in equestrian sport, and in some cases mandated, such as foam body protectors for cross-country competition in the United States, the actual level of protection they provide has been difficult to quantify. Stephanie sees this project as an opportunity to advance research in a field where empirical data has been limited, and a chance to lead independent studies on vest performance without influence from companies with a financial interest in their adoption.
The panel has already completed a comprehensive review of the current literature on injury mechanisms and vest performance, identifying the need for further research as an early finding. The next step is to define laboratory test methods that will allow for meaningful evaluation of vest effectiveness. The group hopes to move toward physical testing and simulation studies in a future phase of its work.
“I’m enthusiastic, yes, with lots of exclamation points,” said Stephanie in a recent interview. As a senior biomechanical engineer at MEA Forensic and a rider herself, she brings a personal and professional commitment to the project, along with extensive expertise in the biomechanics of injury and protective equipment evaluation, including equestrian helmets.