Hmm.. this is all very interesting. The equipment I trial on is.. scary. We have one kennel club (poor as heck) and they own the equipment, and no one here rents out the stuff. Our chutes are not padded, didn't know they should be!! The material used on the contact equipment is some kind of felt carpet? Not great on a muddy day.
I should take pictures of our stuff and post them. It would be like a horror post.
As a committee member of the dogsports committee of said poor kennel club however, we are always concerned about safety, and I'll feedback some of the stuff I'm seeing here to the rest of the team. I'm eagerly waiting to hear what else we should be doing!