I commented something similar on Jen’s thread or a spin-off. I had a horse slip and fall on me a couple months ago (just cantering around a turn, total fluke!) and while I don’t own a vest, it did occur to me that it wouldn’t have made a difference in that fall as we hit the ground so close to each other. (Luckily, all was well!)
There is research going on.
My trainer got one and I just bought one. Its not a panacea. But they’ve been used for motorcyles for years. I got the Helite one, it has a motorcycle background.
A 13 yo at a lesson last week had her horse duck out in a set of 4 one stride gymnastics. Not huge jumps, maybe 2’9. But the girl was thrown just at the wrong angle into the pole/standard. I have no doubt she would have cracked her ribs had she not had her vest on.
I’ll be riding in one as soon as mine arrives.
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This is exactly why I prefer to use a traditional body protector type of vest. It’s just there, like a helmet, and will protect you when you come off in whatever fashion. Most falls are not the “crush” type that air vests are designed to protect from–they’re the type of single-impact fall, like popping off into a jump pole and whacking a rib, that a body protector is specifically designed to prevent. There’s a reason eventers have to wear air vests over traditional body protectors.
I should say, I’m not actually anti-air vest. But they’re not (generally–there are some integrated options out there now) designed to protect in the way that most people who’ve recently started wearing them seem to think they do.
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I think the eventing debate is slightly different from the hunter/jumper one. Most of the studies I’ve seen are comparing the air vest to a traditional body protector, but most jumper riders don’t wear one of those. So the comparison is between the air vest and nothing. I’d love to see studies on that one.
My worries are the suggestions that the air vest could actually make a fall worse, for example by stopping a rider from rolling, or by making injuries worse if for some reason it doesn’t inflate right away (as mentioned in the FB post at the top of the thread).
I think there’s a big mental appeal to the idea of always having something to cushion me from a hard landing on the ground (I don’t bounce like I used to!). But a FEELING of security isn’t enough to make me spend hundreds of dollars on something if it could potentially make an injury worse.
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As noted, check out the Eventing Forum. My personal opinion is we (in the Eventing world) should be taking the new enthusiasm we have for safety and pouring it into course design and having more TD/qualified ground crews (ie, the people who jump judge) rather than slap an inflatable vest on and hoping rotational falls and deaths don’t happen.
I won’t wear one due to being on blood thinners, I only imagine that being about the worst thing I could do for myself. Granted, I made the switch to H/J land 12 years ago where there’s not really a need for an inflatable vest, certainly not one sans protective vest.
My go-to vests were always Tipperary, though do some research about what it is you’re looking for (is it ratings, comfort, value, etc.)
Which one did you choose? I am looking for a vest and at this point I’m not into going the air vest route, but there are so many options I don’t know how to decide. Anyone else here who has bought a traditional vest, please chime in with which make/model you chose and why - your input will be much appreciated.
I recently bought a Helite air vest. Most notably, the Babbingtons have heavily endorsed them and I believe his doctors have said if he had been wearing one it could have made a difference. I began being interested around that time. Now that I have it, find it quite comfortable and flattering.
I think it would be EXTREMELY rare for an air vest to actually cause an injury in our perfectly groomed, flat areas. Having hit my fair share of standards, rails and dirt I can attest to the types of falls I personally have, and believe an air vest is likely to help.
Which one did you choose? I am looking for a vest and at this point I’m not into going the air vest route, but there are so many options I don’t know how to decide. Anyone else here who has bought a traditional vest, please chime in with which make/model you chose and why - your input will be much appreciated.
I have a Tipperary. For me, the best fit and most comfortable to wear. Be aware they make both an unapproved and approved version; the main difference between the two is the side panel lacing. I’ve tried several over the years, and always just gone back to the Tipp, though now an approved model.
So the laced sides are not approved/certified in adult sizes but the non laced sides are approved/certified? Yet the non laced sides youth version is not approved/certified?
The manufacturer using similar vest names terms for both approved and unapproved versions ads to the confusion for the consumer.
Bottom line read very carefully before buying and look for the approval/certification listed in description for each style of vest; if that is important in your decision making choice.
The read very carefully part may be where a lot people go wrong? That comment is just based upon personal experience…
Certified vests are clearly marked somewhere on the vest with the approval standard, because in other countries, approved body protectors ARE required for eventing. The approved versions of the Tipp clearly say “ASTM” on the front bottom panel, on both the adult and child versions. The approved CO vests clearly have an SEI tag on the front, etc.
I have had a Tipperary for many years. They became necessary equipment at racetracks that long ago, and I rode on the track galloping my own horses. So I had no choice but to buy one, and wear it. It’s old now, and I’m sure it isn’t “legal” for anything any more. But I have to say, it works. I’ve crashed a few times while wearing it, and it has helped to keep me from being seriously hurt, when I might have been otherwise. Then I had a friend who was a jockey, who went down in a race and was stepped on by a horse behind him. He had a vest on, whatever was being used at the time, much the same as mine I think. He got the same injury as princess Dianna died of, bleeding into the pericardial cavity. Unlike Princess Di, the ambulance attendant did not hesitate to cut into him to drain the blood. Saved his life, though it was touch n go for a while. And the vest he was wearing also saved his life, for sure. These were not the “inflatable” types of vests, just the regular ones. I still have mine, and I do use it, if I feel I want to. I don’t use it all the time when I ride, and I’m not really comfortable wearing it while jumping, it’s too bulky. I don’t use it when I jump, or when I show. I do use it when I am riding green horses, who I am not sure of what they might do. It’s old, and I should probably buy a new one, but haven’t. Nothing you wear will guarantee that you won’t be injured while riding horses. But some things may help a bit.
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