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@Oliver Schick
I found the discussion above very interesting, although I've only just managed to read through it properly. It reminded me very much of the many discussions around risk compensation that are usually had outside of polo, e.g. on the issue of cycle helmets but also on seat belt legislation. The work of John Adams is particularly noteworthy in this regard. Essentially, if people feel more protected, he argues, they take more risks, effectively negating the theoretically positive effect of protection. Lots to read here:
http://www.john-adams.co.uk/papers-reports/
It may at first glance sound about as interesting as eating sawdust, but as you get into it you realise how fundamental and important our attitude to risk, and related policy interventions, really are.
My own experience as a (still) non-polo player at the London Open was that I was quite surprised by how equipment has changed since the last tournament I watched, the 2009 EHBPC. It seemed to me that people crashed more than two years ago, but that may just be bad memory, and anecdotally I can't make any meaningful comparison.