The Hit Air I tried had the canister on the outside 
I tried both the Point Two and Hit Air at Rolex. I could not breathe when the Point Two went off, so I decided to purchase the Hit Air vest. I’m SO glad I did. I fell off last weekend on to a jump on my back. I hit the jump and rolled right off. No bruising or even soreness, which is a miracle because I was riding with a not completely healed tail bone from a fall the weekend before Rolex. In my opinion the Hit Air vest was well worth the $400 as I was able to ride the next day and then be back to riding four horses two days later.
Also my Hit Air vest took several hours to deflate completely and was still very inflated for about 15 minutes after my fall (by the time I made it to warm up, caught my horse, made it back to the barn, etc.)
Just the opinion of a 21 year old who is very happy not to have broken her tailbone again 
[QUOTE=UKYeventer;4909694]
Also my Hit Air vest took several hours to deflate completely and was still very inflated for about 15 minutes after my fall (by the time I made it to warm up, caught my horse, made it back to the barn, etc.)[/QUOTE]
I haven’t tested the deflation time of my Point Two vest yet, but according to the specs it deflates in minutes.
The Hit Air’s deflation time of hours is too long. What if you were to accidentally inflate the vest prior to your XC ride? Or if you popped out of the tack in warmup? Or if you fell off of horse #1 with two left to compete? You wouldn’t be able to re-load the canister and use the vest the rest of day.
[QUOTE=Fergs;4909750]
I haven’t tested the deflation time of my Point Two vest yet, but according to the specs it deflates in minutes.
The Hit Air’s deflation time of hours is too long. What if you were to accidentally inflate the vest prior to your XC ride? Or if you popped out of the tack in warmup? Or if you fell off of horse #1 with two left to compete? You wouldn’t be able to re-load the canister and use the vest the rest of day.[/QUOTE]
Sorry, but I think you’re looking at this from the wrong way.
IF you have a bad fall and have an unstable spinal fracture, as a rider I know did, and have a self-deflating P2 on, which prevents the paramedics from totally stabilising your spine, the result of that uncontrolled self-deflation could be catastrophic. The rider I know (who wasn’t wearing a P2, by the way) made a full recovery and is back eventing. The paramedics told her that if she’d been in a P2, she’d probably have been paralysed. This fall happened at the last fence at Tweseldown event in the U.K, fwiw.
Back to air vests, body protectors: help
I’ve dug out this highly informative link and really appreciate the intellingent responses.
I am still “stuck,” though.
Short story: 57, very fit, slender. Broke L1 last fall (apparently broke in the air) when I was bucked very hard off a sale horse. Fell again, even softly, on a flared L5 (not much left of the disc) last month: back to ER but no break. Cervical vertebrae are not good, C2 - C7; constant pinching. Could be big trouble. (All these problems are from horse falls.)
Since I can’t wear a suit of armor, I must pick a product or stop riding. This is obvious.
After reading about air vests, I’m leaning towards the Point Two for its quicker inflation rate. BUT among the body protectors, which do you like? Is there a product that is extremely protective but not so bulky?
Thanks for input here.
[QUOTE=caevent;4909468]
The Hit Air CO2 canister sits inside the vest, while the Point Two canister is on the outside. If one were to land on the canister in the Hit Air, you could crack your ribs on that thing. Also, the average fall occurs in .2 seconds, so the inflation time on the Hit Air is just too slow. I had a rider fall in her Point Two today and she didn’t feel a thing when she hit the log with her body. :yes:[/QUOTE]
This is completely untrue. I just got a HitAir today, it is sitting here next to my desk and the canister is on the OUTSIDE, same as the Point 2.
One other difference is that if you are on the larger side, the Hit Air comes in much larger sizes, up to a 4X.
The basic difference is that Point Two has a much bigger marketing budget than Hit-Air. This is reflected in the price.
[quote=stephstphn;5105128]I’ve dug out this highly informative link and really appreciate the intellingent responses.
I am still “stuck,” though.
Short story: 57, very fit, slender. Broke L1 last fall (apparently broke in the air) when I was bucked very hard off a sale horse. Fell again, even softly, on a flared L5 (not much left of the disc) last month: back to ER but no break. Cervical vertebrae are not good, C2 - C7; constant pinching. Could be big trouble. (All these problems are from horse falls.)
Since I can’t wear a suit of armor, I must pick a product or stop riding. This is obvious.
After reading about air vests, I’m leaning towards the Point Two for its quicker inflation rate. BUT among the body protectors, which do you like? Is there a product that is extremely protective but not so bulky?
Thanks for input here.
[/quote]
The short answer is NO.
Inflatable vests will provide more protection in certain types of fall if the vest inflates before you hit the ground or other solid object. The vest may make a difference if you fall flat on your back or front. The air bladder inside the vest needs to be the first point of contact.
If you fly head first into the ground there is nothing on the market that will protect your neck and spine from the axial loading that will result.
[QUOTE=stephstphn;5105128]
I’ve dug out this highly informative link and really appreciate the intellingent responses.
I am still “stuck,” though.
Short story: 57, very fit, slender. Broke L1 last fall (apparently broke in the air) when I was bucked very hard off a sale horse. Fell again, even softly, on a flared L5 (not much left of the disc) last month: back to ER but no break. Cervical vertebrae are not good, C2 - C7; constant pinching. Could be big trouble. (All these problems are from horse falls.)
Since I can’t wear a suit of armor, I must pick a product or stop riding. This is obvious.
After reading about air vests, I’m leaning towards the Point Two for its quicker inflation rate. BUT among the body protectors, which do you like? Is there a product that is extremely protective but not so bulky?
Thanks for input here.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, I have a recommendation, but it’s not an airjacket.
The Kan bodyprotector is extremely protective (smart-foam which was designed by Knox for motorbike racers, and which sort of hardens on impact, thanks to miniscule tubes of gas in the foam, which when under pressure harden, then soften again when the pressure has gone). The foam panels are large and overlapping at the sides (they taper and slide over each other, so rider can breathe easily, and protection is not diminished there). Large panels deflect blows much better than small squares abutted together. (I’m no physicist, hopefully one of our resident ones will explain why). They are very very comfortable, exactly shaped to a woman’s torso. (two models, gently curved over chest area, and more curvaceous for the more curvaceous!) they are sized in UK women’s sizes, 8, 10, 12, etc, and can be individually tailored to your size if you need a slightly shorter version. (I did this myself in 5 minutes with a stanley knife and sandpaper - the foam is easy to re-shape.)
the Kan is certified to BETA level 3. it hasn’t undergone its American testing yet, and I’m not sure whether you can wear BETA-certified bodyprotectors to event in the USA?
I have nothing to do with this product financially, but I wear one for backing and riding away youngsters (i stick to an Exo for xc) and I’m a huge fan of Kans. I know the owner of the company, Wendy, who is also the designer of the vests (previous work - designing protective vests for police and soldiers), she’s a real one-woman-band with an amazing product, and really deserves to succeed. I keep telling her that America will be a huge market for her. Event riders NEED this kind of protection.
I had a big fall off a huge athletic youngster in mine, was ejected upwards while on the lunge (so much for that being safer) and came down very hard on my back in the middle of my tuck-and-roll. I got up immediately but felt really jelly-like in my legs and tummy from the very hard impact. My back was fine and I got straight back on with no problems. I fully expected to really stiffen up the next day (having had plenty of falls where this has inevitably happened after a hard impact) and was amazed when I didn’t.
Top UK riders that wear a Kan - Nicola Wilson (Team GB on Opposition Buzz) and Jeanette Brakewell (legendary team pathfinder on Over To You.)
Unfortunately there is no version for men yet. When sales of the women’s version are high enough, there will be enough money to put the men’s version into production.
I’d urge anyone who is interested to check whether you can wear BETA-approved UK vests in the USA. If so, the website is at http://www.kanteq.com/
Kerilli… why don’t you wear this Kan vest cc?
JER and Kerilli … what is Exo?
With recent diagnosis of bulging discs, I’ve been contemplating the air vests.
I’m a jumper rider, I should add. Thanks for the info here, everyone. I’ll go look at the KAN.
I still want something that may not be so Obvious, you know (even though I need it to save my life!)
The EXO has been discussed on here numerous times and a search would give you loads of info.
Some useful links:
WoofWear website (click on EXO in left menu for more)
BodyCage website The BodyCage is, so to speak, the active ingredient in the EXO.
FWIW, Reed wears the EXO, too.
What do you think about the Kan mentioned above? the S O’s comment on the Exo was “hopefully you won’t have it on if there’s lightning”. Well yeah, I don’t purposely ride in a lightning storm, but they come up pretty quick around here!
[QUOTE=Toadie’s mom;5106894]
What do you think about the Kan mentioned above? [/QUOTE]
Apples to oranges, in terms of the EXO. One is rigid, the other is deformable.
I haven’t seen the KanTeq vests so I can’t really comment on them. They sound like a good version of the standard BP.
I hadn’t heard of the Kan vest before. Cool! Is this the kind of material that can take a hit more than once? Or does the foam deform permanently after impact and need replacing?
I have been debating on getting an air vest, but I am thinking about just getting a better vest in general instead. I have the ever so popular tipperary.
What is everyone’s opinion on a Rodney Powell? I have heard they are great, but I was looking through here and found the Kan and EXO body protectors… those sounded great also.
[QUOTE=deltawave;5106946]
I hadn’t heard of the Kan vest before. Cool! Is this the kind of material that can take a hit more than once? Or does the foam deform permanently after impact and need replacing?[/QUOTE]
It can take repeated hits with no effect. I’ve bashed a piece of the foam as hard as I could with a hammer and the hammer just bounces off, leaving no mark or damage at all. the PVC-nitrile foam in normal bps (which I had the pleasure of bashing at the same time) doesn’t behave the same - it dents and cracks.
There’s a video on the Kan website of Wendy, the owner of the company and designer of the vests, doing the same thing.
I wear an Exo for xc because it give imho the best possible chance of surviving every event rider’s worst nightmare, a full rotational fall onto rider. I’ve never had one but I know that sometimes it’s down to pure luck, terrible or otherwise.
I don’t go xc in lightning storms so should be okay on that front!
If I couldn’t wear an Exo, I’d definitely wear the Kan. I’d never wear an airvest, fwiw.
Nicola Wilson (due to go to Kentucky for Team GB) had a fall with a youngster at home a month or so ago while wearing her Kan. The horse ended up landing on her and her account of it is here:
http://www.kanteq.com/fullstory.php?sid=28
I’ve seen a video of a girl showjumping in hers and managing to have a horsefall where the horse’s back end landed on her and rolled over her slowly. She was totally unhurt too.
For a regular bp with no internal bracing (which only the Exo has) the Kan is a seriously brilliant piece of protective kit.
Trak_Eventer, I had 2 Rodney Powell bps before my Exo and Kan. They’re good but not as protective as the other two imho.
[QUOTE=JER;5106673]
FWIW, Reed wears the EXO, too.[/QUOTE]
One major flaw with the EXO is sizing. Reed had to customize the fit on his EXO which he could do because he has access to the metal working tools and the engineering know-how. Something I couldn’t do and because of my size 6’2" and 170 # I’m off the size chart. Also marketing. The air vests are all over the place now thanks to some very aggressive marketing strategeries (thanks “W”) . At Rolex, the EXO people were nowhere to be seen. It will be intresting to see if they are at the WEG.
I don’t think they’re still making the EXOs, so that’s probably why they’re not being marketed aggressively.
[QUOTE=Highflyer;5107441]
I don’t think they’re still making the EXOs, so that’s probably why they’re not being marketed aggressively.[/QUOTE]
Ahh…that would explain it, indeed! Thank you. I did visit the KAN website. Since the only sizing chart I saw asks “dress size” and “cup size” I apparently don’t fit their size chart either.
Kirelli mentioned in her post above that the Kan people are only making women’s vest right now due to finances:confused:. I find that a little odd, since there seem to be quite a number of male event riders across the pond. So I’m thinking you should buy me one and you’ll be one vest closer to getting one made for you:winkgrin:
