Air Vests- is the jury still out?

[make_the_time]

@Highflyer1 since we live in the physical world, nothing is 100%. There is a finite probability that any safety mechanism will fail to operate when it should, or will prematurely operate when it should not. This is true for car airbags, seat belt retainers, anti-lock brakes, jump standard safety cups, XC obstacle MIMS clips, and riding air vests. For safety mechanisms which are advanced with a lot of field and lab experience, those probabilities of failure to operate, and premature activation are low, but still not zero. Society has deemed them to be acceptably low, even though the incorrect operation may cause a death.

The 2005 Univ of Georgia airbag statistical study showed that they appear to cause more deaths than the NHTSA was indicating. The 2015 study by Takata (air bag company) showed a remarkably high rate of failure.

The point is that society generally thinks they are reliably, without question, even though they are not as good as is assumed. However, we are no where near that level of reliability and prevention of injuries with equestrian safety air vests.

[make_the_time]

@RAyers

The data you request is part of the accident data collected by the USEA, USEF, and FEI. We are going through that. However, the most recent published data indicates that an airvest is associated with a 1.7 times INCREASE in severe to fatal injury on XC.

@RAyers I can’t say I’m surprised by the implication you mention, given the nascent state of knowledge about what they do and don’t do. Can you indicate the size of the sample ensemble, as well as how the injuries were spread across riding levels (A, I, P, T, etc)? Or, if it’s published a link and I’ll go check it out. Thanks so much!

[RAyers]

Equestrian Safety Vest Initiative

[atr]

Thanks for this. Donated…

I’ve been looking at air vests recently as advancing years have put a depressing dent in my confidence in my ability to bounce rather than shatter.

[mbizzles322]

Donated as well! All we can do is wait:)

I reviewed this thread and a few others on airvests, because they are very intriguing to me. Anything to prevent a serious neck/back/torso etc injury for my older bones would be appreciated.

I used to live in the mountains and downhill mountain biking was a hobby of mine. I never rode without my full face and Leatt neck brace. I would be interesting if that technology could somehow transition to equestrian - although I’m not sure how it would work without a full face helmet.

One thing I didn’t see discussed were the hybrid/combo vests - a body protector and airvest in one. Something like this:

https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/charles-owen-ayrvest-wultraflex-15275

or

https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/point-two-hybrid-jacket-10070

Some posters noted that a vest inflating post crash (horse and rider fall together so there’s no separation thus no inflation right away), after bones could already be broken, would potentially cause more issues. My wandering mind - would the addition of the body protector between rider and inflating vest reduce this potential complication?

There are also points noted that an inflated vest can make your torso TOO stiff, which could potentially put not so great forces on your back/spine as you’re tumbling about. In a similar vein, would the addition of a body protector between rider and inflating vest help (or worsen) this?

The advantage of course is that these combo vests still provide protection in scenarios that an airvest wouldn’t work - air canister malfunction and/or fall that rider & horse don’t separate right away.

[MHM]

@mbizzles322

My wandering mind - would the addition of the body protector between rider and inflating vest reduce this potential complication?

I believe that’s what the event riders do for the cross country phase, but I won’t swear to it.

[endlessclimb]

They have to, as the body protector is required but the air vest isn’t. Some use just the body protector, some double up. The air vest is not a replacement for the body protector.

[CBoylen]

This was interesting to read on vests in general.

Shane Dye: Why are jockeys still wearing safety vests?

[Jackie_Cochran]

Thank you for this article on the jockey.

I absolutely cannot handle wearing a protective vest in the summer, I just get too hot with my MS.

Now I can start to feel less paranoid about falling off the horse in the summer.

I will have to think about not wearing one in the cooler weather now. It would be sort of nice since it does increase the stiffness of my torso when I am riding the horses.

[NaturallyHappy]

Gosh, this is really intriguing. Thank you.

[Highflyer1]

Even assuming that this is 100 percent true that vests alone are responsible for this increase in neck/back injuries, the types of falls a jockey experiences are not necessarily comparable to what the average pleasure or competitive sport rider experiences, so I think that at this point I would be very careful not to assume it applies universally. (I say this as someone with a lot of experience falling off both galloping in company and alone in a field or ring, both wearing a vest and not!)

The reality is that there’s still barely any research about vests, air or traditional, so we can’t do more than come up with untested hypotheses at this point.

[NaturallyHappy]

When I read the article, I wondered about air vests. I think people look like a turtle on it’s back when it’s deployed. I truly don’t know how one would roll in that.