March 13 – 19, 2022 is Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (CASW) – an annual campaign held the third week of March of each year. In 2022, the aim of the campaign is to inspire farmers, farm families, and farming communities to value #FarmSafetyEveryday. This especially holds true for the horse community, with high hospitalization rates as compared to other sectors of agriculture.
In fact, a recent study has found that the risk of an injury, requiring hospital admission, is higher for horse riding than for other potentially risky sporting activities, such as football, motor racing, or skiing. The U.S. based study cites, ‘Protective gear can save lives, but is not always worn, they highlight. Studies have shown that a large fraction of riders involved in equestrian injuries were not wearing helmets at the time of their accident.’
Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (WSPS) has been a supporting Equine Guelph for close to two decades in the development of programs to help youth and their families practice safety every day on horse farms through interactive EquiMania! activities and courses on the TheHorsePortal.ca.