The short pin has been approved
Following recent key testing of the current British Eventing Short Pin for frangible and deformable cross country fences at Badminton House, British Eventing is delighted to announce that the BE Frangible Pin has been approved by the FEI for traditional front fitting and reverse fitting using the BE reverse pinning wires. The approval of the long pin is pending a further test that will be carried out next week, to demonstrate to the FEI inspector that the long pin behaves in the same way as the short pin.
Jonathan Clissold, BE’s National Safety Officer said: ”BE has led the world for the past decade in the development of Safety devices for cross country fences and we continue to work hard to explore new ideas in order to continue to reduce the risk.”
As well as meeting the FEI requirements both pins are tested to meet BE’s specification* for frangible deformable devices and are classified as the only frangible device approved for use at BE Affiliated Events.
The Swedish MIM Clip and Newera Pin have recently passed the FEI requirements. However, as they have not been submitted for testing by TRL (the approved BE testing authority) to the more rigorous BE specification they are not permitted to be used in National competitions in GB. BE is currently seeking clarification as to whether the MIM Clip and Newera Pin can be used in FEI competition in this country and will share further details as soon as possible.
The safety testing took place at Badminton by the kind permission of Hugh Thomas, Event Director of the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials. For those interested in viewing the activation and force required to test pins for frangible and deformable pins the pendulum and test rig will be on display on Friday 3rd May at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials.
CLICK HERE to view BE’s FEI standard for the minimum strength of frangible/deformable cross country fences.
*BE’s specification states that a pin must fail when loaded with a total of 15 kilonewtons (7.5 kN on each pin).
