Air jackets and confidence

Red-1 said:
Ah, I must misunderstand?

You quoted my post about wearing a body protector for new stuff or bigger jumps, saying you wear one all the time because

Your horse once tripped at walk, I thought you were saying that wearing it for big jumps or new stuff was not enough, because you wear it at walk, having had an incident.

I am saying that for a horse slipping once it would not concern me overly (no air jacket or investigation required - well I would check feet/shoeing and saddle fit), but if I had a gut feeling it may happen again I would investigate rather than just wear a jacket, as I thought you were saying you do?

I was just saying that it is about risk management, and everyone's line of where they feel safe will be different. I am not saying your risk management is wrong, it is just different to mine. We all have different experiences. I thought that is what OP was enquiring about.

I'm not sure where the doctor comes into it?
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Ah OK the written word doesn’t always convey exactly what we mean does it?
I wear an air jacket for more than one reason, the trip was one of them.
The doctor reference was to show that a doctor may not be needed by one trip by me nor a vet for one trip by a horse.
 
Tbh, rather than analysing what I'm going to do each time I ride, and assessing the risks thereof, it's simply easier to wear the air jacket each and every time I'm on board. Just as I didn't weigh up the likelihood of crashing my car on a short shopping trip pre compulsory seat belts, I always belted up regardless. (We were early seat belt adopters as my late Dad had a lot of work put his way patching up and trying to save the sight of the unbelted who'd been thrown through the windscreen in a crash).
 
I wear mine a lot when riding youngsters but not the horses that I trust (daft thinking about it as anything can happen). I feel much happier with it on. Mainly because I know from experience that it doesn't hurt so much coming off!! I hugely appreciate the fact that it reduces the risk of injury as I'm self employed and can't afford to be hurt
 
ycbm said:
The guy who backed a very sharp three year old for me would have agreed with you.

He said he did not wear a body protector because it would put the idea in his head and the horse's that he might need one.

It was a good point, I thought.
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I think that is a fair point if you're going to be selective about when you use it, but I wear mine all the time, even just for twenty minutes' schooling on my very safe pony. It's part of my routine like putting my hat on, so I don't think about it. If I did only use it in what I perceived as "higher risk" situations then I'd probably overthink it too.

edited - sorry Tiddlypom, just seen that you've already posted pretty well exactly the same thing.
 
It never fails to horrify me when I watch documentaries re our cousins across the pond riding horses with no safety gear whatsoever! Save for the odd felt cowboy hat! And sometimes the children don't even wear protective gear. I'd rather look like a lagged immersion tank than risk having a skull like a broken easter egg and two shattered collar bones!:confused:
 
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