Hello everyone now exploring Air Vests
Helite specifically but open to opinions on others ones if you have tried them .
Thank you for your input especially on this topic !
I bought the Helite last summer and like it a lot! I’ve had one fall so far with it, and it did exactly what it should have. It’s super lightweight and after the first ride or two, I didn’t even realize I was wearing it.
I’ve fallen off about 4 times in my Helite (3 flying over jump without horse, 1 when horse tripped nowhere near a jump). Love how minimal it is, totally unintrusive. I also have a Horse Pilot, but it doesn’t fit my body type well (more for long and lean figures, IMO, I am short and larger chested). My only complaint: how to clean any of these things! I sweat a lot and ride multiple horses, by the end of the day the vest leaves a lot to be desired in terms of odor.
1 Like
One thing I like about the Point Two Airvests is that the company actually services your airvest. If you are in the USofA they have a service center in Florida. Their lifetime warranty is only valid if you have it serviced yearly. You can say that is too often, but regardless at least you know you can send it back to be serviced. With anything mechanical you want it checked out on a regular basis to make sure it functions properly. They will even replace the bladder if needed. An extra point is given because they will clean your vest as well.
Any thoughts on Seavers safelite
All of these air vests are basically like wearing a plastic bag while you ride. They are all very hot and don’t breathe. Not an argument against this particular vest, which is ventilated in the places it can be. But I just wanted to set expectations.
I do agree there! I live in the Northeast, so I haven’t had a crazy hot experience yet. But I could definitely see it being an issue down south!
1 Like
I live in Atlanta and have a Helite and this is absolutely not true of this vest. It has mesh sides. Riding in a CO JL9 is significantly less comfortable than the Helite in comparison.
Not sure if you’ve ever actually worn a plastic bag in the heat. I did in a rainstorm. There is no comparison. The Helite vest is warmer than just a shift but significantly more bearable than other vests. It’s also a lot better than a trip to the Shepherd Center for spinal rehab.
The retailer who sells all the safety stuff did a video (Instagram?) in which they described how to clean them.
Yes. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CZt6pwPsWjk/?utm_medium=copy_link
1 Like
Air vests are most effective when used in combination with a body protector. I am not getting in to a debate pro or con. There are plenty of threads on the eventing board.
https://www.medequestrian.co.uk/rider-safety/safety/air-vests/
2 Likes
I chose this vest in part for this reason, myself. It is a bit lighter and more ventilated than some of the competition. But there is no getting around the fact of the material that the air inflates into. I think this is often a surprise to people who have not used them before, because they tend to look at the fabric part of the vest on the outside.
As past discussions on this forum have revealed, there is actually a fairly healthy debate about the degree to which these devices improve rider safety or reduce your likelihood of requiring spinal rehab in particular. I personally have decided to ride in a vest. But I don’t think that decision is nearly as obvious as your tone suggests.
1 Like
Thank you so much for passing this video along, much appreciated!
Bought mine last summer after a bad fall fractured my spine!
Con….they are hot and you can’t machine wash them, so sponge them off and use baby wipes!
Pro…I fell off for the first time since my injury a week ago. Vest inflated like it was supposed to, I landed on my back again, got up and walked away with no pain whatsoever! It inflated so fast my horse, who can be insanely spooky, didn’t bat an eye, and just stood there looking at me!
2 Likes
To those who claim air bags prevent spine injury, let me speak out as a spine research scientist who has conducted spine biomechanics and how the spine fractures. Most falls that fracture the spine are not the kind any airiest is intended to protect. Our record of horse related spinal fractures in the ER was 3 at once. All fell and hit on their butt or head. If you look at the military research concerning protective armor and blast injuries, you will see that most injuries are due to being thrown through the air and fracturing the spine due to the rigidity of the body armor. The warfighter is alive, yes, but the cost is a broken back.
The point is that many folks believe that broken spines are due to radial forces (side to side, front to back) which is true for the minor fractures and only are focused in the thoracic spine. The major, truly debilitating fractures are due to the axial forces head to tail and tail to head where things such as pars fractures, burst, compression fractures occur through an axial mechanism (depending on the motion segment) and air vests will not protect against them.
So, before claiming they protect against spine fracture, be sure to note what type of fracture you had and if instrumentation is involved, e.g. corpectomy cage. A few jockey friends have massive broken backs in the terms of full vertebra removal etc. and vests never were able to prevent those due to the mechanics. An air vest is fine if you want to avoid bruising etc. and if it gives a sense of confidence to the rider.
18 Likes
My fractures are on the spinal processes….I landed squarely on my back (after going flying over my geldings head) , heard the dreaded crunch! Plus landing on the fiber fiiting, is like landing on cement….and I’m glad for any cushioning these vests can provide! Was backboarded out even though I did not hit my head or land on my butt plus had full feeling….x rays shows just muscle damage, CT scan showed the fractures when I wasn’t getting any better! A rider in front of me had almost the same fall when her horse tripped….she got up and walked away when her vest went off! I didn’t have one at that time ! I was sure glad I had it on when my guy decided to fall over his feet a week ago! But, yes if you land on your butt or head, the vest won’t help you….it’s meant for those falls when we land on our back or sides….which in my personal case is most of my falls!
1 Like
I also had a horrific prior accident - not as bad as yours but the damage is there. Any falls I’ve had thereafter have activated the pain from the prior injury. With the vest, to your point, you don’t land hard. We are getting up and walking away instead of walking to the ER. I get that tests where cadaver horses were dropped on crash test dummies didn’t prevent thoracic injury. I get that motorcycle tests with air bags deploying at high speed didn’t prevent thoracic injury. I get that military blasts tests shows that the vests don’t prevent it, either. I think we all get that. My falls have never quite gone down that way, and I’ve had many, many of them.
I tend to land on my back. I’ve been taught how to fall. Even when I injured my spine I landed on my back . Once I landed hard on a pole on the ground as so many riders do when you land in the jump and it comes apart as showjumping and hunter jumps tend to do. The vest protected me. It doesn’t help when the tests are focused on one type of riding and specific eventing issues. Hunter and jumper jumps come apart. We don’t have the same ongoing issues with rotational falls and the injuries (and numerous deaths) caused by them. Where is the research for this particular sport that shows that vests don’t help with these particular injuries? It simply doesn’t exist.
Until people can show actual research related to this sport and the injuries related to it, I am going with what works for me. I’m old enough to remember people arguing about all the injuries that air bags caused when they were introduced, too. Yep, they do cause injuries. They also over time have proven to save lives.
(for funsies, I did find some interesting motorcycle airbag research that shows the vest actually DID help in low speed collisions - low speed as in the speed we’re at when we canter toward a jump).
2 Likes
The mechanics of a motorcycle fall are very different than off a horse. You can not compare the two, regardless of speed.
Airbags work NOT due to inflation. They work by DEFLATING. If you look at airbags they are designed to be very porous and to deflate within seconds when the body impacts them. That is how they reduce impact forces and accelerations. Not ONE airvest does that. You can’t use that as a valid factual argument.
As for injury prevention, the epidemiology studies to date suggest that airvests are more likely to be part of fatal or severe injury falls based on the FEI fall data collected (fence heights range from 3’6" to 4’3"). The data analysis shows an INCREASE of fatal or severe injury by a factor of 1.7 over those wearing standard body protectors.
10 Likes
Thank you for the personal experiences I really appreciate the input !
I know this is a bit far afield of the original topic. But do you have a theory about what explains these results? Do you think it’s likely that the vests increase the chances of fatal or severe injury, or just that they are not particularly explanatory either way?
1 Like
And how does this differ from what the results would be on a hunter round (arguably slower pace) over smaller jumps like the 2’6” or 3’ ? I struggle when study results for something unrelated to the actual event in which I ride are applied from an event with significantly different parameters, and then people try to use said data to make a point. The data isn’t from this scenario. So it’s back to the premise of the motorcycle study where, for example, airbags didn’t help so much at high speeds, but did so at slower speeds. Might the same be true of low hunters vs jumpers vs eventing and then additional factors for fence height?
No FEI study will get us the answer to that question, as hunters are pretty unique to NA.
Great and relevant date for the 3’6”+ riders who are likely riding at a faster pace and obviously at higher risk. But not everyone operates at that level or even aspires to.
