i recently posted about whether vests really protect during a fall. Now that I have had positive feedback about wearing vests, I have been looking at different types of vests!
I saw the airbag vests with the canisters–deploys upon falling from horse.
Dows anyone wear one of these fancy vests? Has anyone had a fall wearing one? Reviews on SmartPak and Dover are great but thought I would ask COTH! 
There is no evidence base to support their use, and some concern that they might do harm. That’s a really expensive thing to wear to not have any good reason to wear it. YMMV.
Do a search of air vest threads. You’ll get a lot of mixed views. It’s a personal decision, but make sure you really research so you can make an informed decision about whether to wear one or not.
I only saw the positive reviews on the sites. I definitely wanted to hear the opposing side. I can’t help but worry about system failure/malfunction, e.g. Not deploying when it should and now your $600-700 in the hole. I bet you would be reimbursed for malfunction but still.
Wondering which is the better bang for my buck.
I’m a fan, my daughter isn’t. When she was a junior I insisted she wear one, but she never liked it because, while it did cushion her landing, she didn’t like the compression and thought she was suffocating. It was fitted correctly, but she hated the feeling.
The final straw was when the vest inflated before she actually fell off. Her horse had a huge shy on course when he saw the big tent with people in it (he’s a bit silly). She was unseated, but might have stayed on if the vest had not “popped”. Horse ducked back the opposite direction and off she sailed. The tether was long enough, it was just an unfortunate thing to happen. I now have no hope of getting her to wear the vest.
I recently had a very hard fall on my stomach. It was a VERY hard slam to the ground so loved the reviews that read it “cushioned” the fall. I question if the eventing vests without canisters provide “cushion”.
They will not “cushion” as much but will protect you more than not wearing one.
I’m not a fan of the air vests. I know my horses…and they will spook substantially from the noise and are MORE likely to hurt me in that situation than 99% of my falls. But I know others who swear by them and whose horses don’t care about the noise. I also worry about the them causing more harm. I think there are situations where they help and others where they hurt.
I wish someone would make quiet bubble wrap so horse’s won’t speak and we’ll be padded. Falls shatter confidence.
That chance of a malfunction is why they cant be worn on their own, I happened to get mine at a very good price and like it. They do squeeze you when they deploy, and car airbags give you black eyes. Not liking the how the safety device feels when it has to be used to not a good reason to not use them IMO. But there also is no really good research out either. If you have the money to spare I see it as a plus, but a BETA lvl 3 vest is what is suggested by the powers at be so that is what is needed at a minimum.
I love mine! I have had the chance to trial it 3 times. 
I tend to do the same thing. Lean forward and roll off the shoulder and land flat on my back. My head never touches the ground as it is cradled in the inflated neck roll. I bought a used Hit Air off ebay for maybe $275.
I saw an accident at BN where the rider had her butt hit the ground, then the rest of her upper body impacted the ground. You could hear her head smack for 1/4 mile! I am 110% sure if she had been wearing an air vest, she would not have had a concussion. (She landed on her butt, then her back and head impacted).
What did you feel upon landing? Like landing on cushions/pillows? Just as hard a thud as landing without or significantly softer? It was fully inflated before hitting ground? Do you wear anything underneath your air vest?
I have spoken with some medical personal and it is the squeezing that has them concerned. In a bad fall, they may not deploy until after you already have an injury and then may cause it to be worse. There have been several bad falls where the rider didn’t separate from the horse until the horse got up and then the vest deployed. So to me…I just have a good vest…not an air vest…and try not to fall off!
Which vest do you use? I was recommended the Tipperary eventer pro and that looked really nice with great reviews but, then saw the air vests and saw them as more cushion.
makes sense about the vest deploying after injury. Didn’t consider that!
I wear a Tipperary vest under a Hit Air. I’ve fallen with it on and it cushioned my landing. Instead of having the wind knocked out of me, I hopped right up. I understand the concerns about them and the lack of evidence-based research showing benefits, but it was a gift, and after falling with it on, I’m very happy to have it!
Also, I really don’t care if the noise spooks my horse while he’s dumping me. It really didn’t seem to bother him at all, anyway.
While eagerly waiting for @RAyers to weigh in… here are a few threads discussing the topic:
Personally…between the crazy-expensiveness of the air vests and the lack of supporting research…I’ll be sticking to just wearing my Tipp.
For comfort a Tipperary is good. I have a Kanteq vest. They are heavier it takes a bit to get used to them but very protective. I also have a newer Charles Owen one. In the end, go with the vest that fits you well.
Yes, I do think in a pop off fall…most people will feel more comfortable wearing an air vest. But having seen my horses kick out at noises that scare them…and watching a BNR get dragged when his vest spooked the horse when it went off because he got jumped out of the tack and he then got caught in the stirrup…when in all likelihood he would have stayed on/recovered had the vest not deployed…I will not be talked into wearing one. I think riders need to spend time learning HOW to fall and not go splat. Thankfully I had a childhood horse who strongly instill my rolling instincts with falling that most normal pop off falls do not result in more than a bruised ego anyway.
So OP…if you felll on your stomach…to me, someone needs to help you learn how to fall better.
My worst injuries in falling off a horse NO vest (air or otherwise) would have prevented. One I got hung up in the stirrup and pulled under. The other was an injury the vest…even air vests… do not protect against (cannot).
Falling is part of riding…and learning how to fall well IS a skill that most do not want to practice but there are ways to practice (without the horse) that really do help. Take some judo lessons for example. With a skilled trainer, we also practice jumping off a gators/golf cart. I’ve been riding for over 30 years without an air vest so don’t see the benefit in wearing one…especially when I know most of the BNRs who are wearing them were given them to wear. I just don’t see them as that helpful especially when I KNOW my own horses WILL spook at them as they have spooked badly when other riders have set theirs off in warm up. Not worth it to me.
Like landing in bed! Yes it gives you a snug grip that unless you have claustrophobia, you wouldn’t care about. You can unclip the front in 2 seconds . It will start a slow deflate after.
I had mine go off in the middle of a hunt field. The other horses hardly noticed. No one spooked, no one ran.
Do a search HERE, on COTH. Especially posts by RAyers who is a professor with a lot of knowledge about human injuries and protecting from them.
At a recent HT, there was a hold on course because of the fall of a rider with an air vest. She was otherwise uninjured, but the airbag knocked the wind out of her.
I can easily see a late-deploying airbag making an injury worse.
PS. I also wear the Kanteq as my vest of preference (and recently “used” it).
I now wear an air vest to jump at home. This is after a fluke accident in which a horse got caught up in a pole and literally slammed me into the ground on the landing. If I had been wearing a vest, my arm would have broken instead of my ribs. If I had been wearing both, I probably would have gotten up unharmed. I do see a lot of incorrectly fitted air vests.
The risk of taking a fall where the air vest would harm you is a much narrower % of situations where it can help. For now, I am willing to take that risk. I use safety stirrups so I won’t be hung up. But I sure am not going to end up with flail chest again just because there’s no safety study.
Fwiw, you wear a regular vest under the air vest, it’s not either/or.
I have a Tipperary eventer pro, and prior to that a Tipp eventer (the original version). I have been happy with both (and I fell off my previous horse XC more than most!) I don’t and won’t wear an air vest for reasons already mentioned; mainly the lack of research, failure to deploy in certain situations, and the potential for worsening injury. For example, when Karen O’Connor sustained a burst fracture of a cervical vertebra, there was speculation that the vest deploying could have driven a fragment right into her spinal cord. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but until someone can show me some proof that the air vests significantly reduce injury, I’ll pass.
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