Air vests have become a near-standard in eventing, but their use is steadily expanding across other equestrian disciplines — and that trend took center stage at the recent 2025 FEI Sports Forum in Lausanne. The Chronicle of the Horse columnist and legal expert Armand Leone praised the creation of a new working group tasked with evaluating the safety and future of equestrian body protectors and air vests, which, while widely adopted in eventing, are still underutilized in rings like hunters and equitation. Armand also backed the idea of broader equine welfare education, echoing calls for mandatory training to support the FEI’s new 37-part Equine Welfare Action Plan in this opinion piece.
