New safety feature allows riders to report incidents via app

Owners who experience incidents out hacking can report directly to the British Horse Society (BHS) via a new initiative on a riding app.

The Huufe app, which offers users rewards in exchange for riding, is trialling a new safety feature with the BHS allowing riders to report incidents “with just two clicks”.

Richard Phillips, one of the founders of Huufe, said: “The BHS does crucial work for the riding community by compiling riding incidents. And now they have teamed up with Huufe to trial an innovative and easier way for riders to report an incident.

“Riders can simply press a button in the app, select the type of incident and the BHS will have a record of the incident, its location and time. For those who want to provide more details, an email is sent giving a link to the BHS report an incident web page.”

Riders can report in different categories including road incidents and those involving dogs and cyclists.

“The BHS is keen to see how it can make it easier for riders to report incidents at the moment they occur. The more reports the BHS have, the more they can do to make the world safer for horses and those who care for them,” said Richard.

“In the future the BHS & Huufe anticipate being able to show all incidents on a heat map so riders can identify where there might be a troublesome dog, a blocked gate or even a road incident black spot.”

Richard said the new feature was used within “hours” of being live and received good feedback with the rider calling it a “great idea”.

Alan Hiscox, director of safety at the BHS told H&H: “We are really pleased to be working with Huufe on a trial basis. The app is a quick and easy way for horse riders to report any incidents while they are out riding which is incredibly important, given the number of horse-related incidents that happen on UK roads each year.

“Every incident that is reported provides organisations such as ourselves and Huufe with a greater understanding regarding the extent of the issue, which will in turn enable us to put practices into place that will help to prevent such problems in the future.

“During its trial period, the new app will not be recording any personal data so we are still encouraging all riders to continue to report incidents to the BHS’s horse accidents website, in addition to Huufe.”

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