Air Jackets - Anyone got one?

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Joss

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Was chatting to various people at the weekend and it seems a lot are keen on getting these air jackets. Apparently after 'the fall' at Belton hardly anyone went XC without one. They seem to think one would have saved Ian. http://www.point-two.co.uk/equine/products.html

However, just looked at these photos from yesterday & really wonder if it would be inflated as Emily is never far away from the saddle at any point (she got up & walked away)

http://www.prem6.bpgphotography.co.uk/_3sc1158.htm keep clicking next. Probably best not to look at these if you are my Mother!!

*this is the table I bottled out at!!!*
 
OUCH! looks not-so-nice
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I think these are a good idea- but don't they cost about £400?
 
Looking at them, I don't think they are the answer to a rotational fall.


Forgive me if this is a bit graphic, this is not meant to upset anyone, but the reason that people die in a rotational is called blunt chest trauma. The force applied to the rib cage is so great that the heart or even the arteries rupture, similar to what you see in a head on car crash, so death is from massive loss of blood and pretty much unpreventable even if it were to happen in hospital. In that event, the single thing that would make a difference is external crush protection that could protect the rib cage from the full force of the impact - i.e. something like the Exo or the crush protectors that professional motorcyclists wear. It's worth noting that the air jacket would not trigger if you stayed in the saddle (as is common in a rotational) and the equivalent safety device in car accidents, airbags, are in high impact collisions quite likely to fracture your ribs.
 
Agree with Kit, and for all OT blathered on about not riding without one, he is regularly to be seen going XC without it now. Personally I think the exo bodycage is a much better bet and the only thing likely to give you a fighting chance in a horse fall where the horse lands on you, rotational or otherwise.
 
Yes, well thats rather what I thought. I was therefore surprised to hear people talking about them so favourably. However, didnt actually notice many in action yesterday. The only one I did notice was on a girl in the Under 21 who jumped off enthusiastically at the end of her XC round & was accompanied by a loud bang as her jacket went off!
 
Bit of a thick question - would an air jacket inflate properly under a number bib? I know my bib is fitted quite snuggly over my body protector so it doesn't 'flap'???

Those pics made me feel quite sick......she was so lucky to walk away from that......
 
Thought the exo was a great idea to protect against crush - is it still in production? I'm interested in the air jacket, but wondering if anyone uses it on young horses - and whether there are any issues with the inflation noise - did wonder if this would make matters worse on departing from a green horse in particular?
 
I actually think the exo probably has more going for it to prevent the fatal falls,

however this airjacket is looking very appealing to me at the minute given I keep getting bucked off my youngster and hurting myself
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I actually think the exo probably has more going for it to prevent the fatal falls,

however this airjacket is looking very appealing to me at the minute given I keep getting bucked off my youngster and hurting myself
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I think it would work well for that situation, not convinced about it for general eventing falls personally.
 
Having seen one demonstrated I can say that IMHO the rigid tube created by the inflation would certainly help prevent the crush injury. Unlikely to break ribs because you are merely rigidifying a fitted cylinder of material, not inflating a bag.
 
Actually, at impact, it is the fully inflated airbag that causes fractures - above a certain speed, running into a fully inflated airbag is the equivalent of running into a solid object as the air cannot be further compressed and the force is transmitted through the airbag into whatever is on the other side (usually steering wheel). If there were any give in the air jacket, that would be better for crush injuries. The Exo is designed to deform on impact which is what gives it the crush protection. I still think that the real failing is the lack of protection (when most needed) when the rider stays in the plate.
 
What an awful fall, really hope they're okay.
Thistle, i disagree - racehorses often have rotationals and the jockeys, because they're riding very short on postage stamp saddles, are catapulted clear.
I don't think the airbag jacket gives crush protection. would be interested to see whether they have tested it against the weight of a falling horse.
fwiw the Exo has been tested like this. it works like an extra set of ribs on the outside of your chest, which transform the force of the impact away around your body rather than letting it through. there are pics of one with sandbags, weighing the same as a horse, balanced on it.
i've spoken to people who've had normal falls in Exos and they said they were fine. if anything, the curved shape of them means you are more likely to roll away, according to one person i spoke to who'd had a fall in one.
 
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and for all OT blathered on about not riding without one, he is regularly to be seen going XC without it now.

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He was wearing it at Withington, as was Laura Collett
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Re comments about exo. Main reason it didn't catch on was the difficulty splitting it with an unconcious casualty who you may need to get access to the chest. It does hinge up but it is very difficult to get over the casualties head without exacerbating any neck injury. There are two allen bolts which undo but key is required, hence riders using them are required to notify the secretary before going XC. Duty doctors and paramedics do carry them but it does take time. Air jackets will help prevent so called hyperextension of the neck but i can't see them doing much if the horse lands on you. Apparently, at spring hill last year there was a rotational fall with a rider wearing an exo who escaped uninjured after the horse landed on them, although i wasn't on duty so can't confirm this.

Currently i just use a conventional body protector.
 
My point being that the amount the air jacket can deform inwards is limited by it's structure so that it's not the same as an airbag inflating towards one at the same time as one is being accelerated to towards it. Properly fitted it should inflate outwards away fron the ribs, providing an extra layer or protection which acts like an inflatable packaging tube.
 
Kerilli - at the demonstration I'm sure they said that the air jacket has been crush tested to 1 tonne.
 
OldGit, every Exo has allen keys in it, on both sides. the only reason everyone has to tell the secretary if they are going to ride xc in one, is because some stupid girl arrived at a BE event having removed BOTH allen keys and told the secretary, who, understandably, told the BE Steward etc, and they got a bit panicky, not surprisingly. the chances of anyone else doing this - zilch! i think the way BE are fretting about them now is a bit daft tbh, and amounts to disinformation/scaremongering. since mine has 2 allen keys in it, why does the secretary need to know about it, to warn the BE steward when i'm going xc, so he can rush over with another allen key if i hit the deck?
there was a long thread about them last year, to which a few paramedics contributed. one said that the chances of having to give heart massage to someone who has fallen off a horse are very very slight, so the chances of needing to take it off that fast are very small. the back 1/2 of the Exo is designed to be used as a back-board.
i won't be going xc in anything else from now on.
btw, i cannot see how the Air Jacket could possibly protect a rider's torso from the weight of a falling horse. It only inflates an inch or two outwards. how can that protect against 1/2 a tonne of what might be dead weight? i just don't get it.
i've laid on the floor in my Exo and had someone jump up and down on it, and couldn't feel any weight at all, the frame holds all the weight off the body inside it, and is proven to be strong enough to do so for great weights for hours. (designer lay in one with a car's wheel parked on top of it for hours, iirc!)
 
Does anyone know how Emily is - I noticed she withdrew Crown Alliance from Badminton...presumably as a result of this fall..?
 
I replied to this on other thread- she is ok just v sore. She has already withdrawn from Badminton as Crown Alliance was lame.
 
If you go on youtube and type in air jacket or something similar you might be able to see a demo video, at hamblden, horses in sport had a demo one rigged up and charlie (the coffeeman) was wearing it and had it inflate on him several times, it wasn't even that loud, I was intrigued and pleased to see it in action as I have one, to be honest if you are falling off and hitting the deck in a big way are you going to be that concerned about the sound of it going off, I certainly don't think the horse will be thinking about it much either.

ALso, there is not much chance of it squashing your ribs becuase you will still have a body protector on which will be your inner protection

I noticed considerably more riders wearing one in the H&H reports last week, and looking at the fall pictures of emily, I think if she was wearing one it would definitely have inflated, she was far enough from the saddle.
 
A body protector and air jacket will NOT protect you from being crushed. If you take the example of a car - for impact you have air bags yet to protect you against the car being crushed you have roll bars/cages. They do two very different jobs. Current body protectors will protect you from impact and bruising and this is where most of the injuries come from in riding. A crush injury is much rarer.

I am going to look for an Exo at Badminton or at least try one on.
 
good luck lec, i'd ring Woof first and see who is taking some to Badders, otherwise you might have a long search! I had to ring my 'local' stockist (only about 80 miles away!) and ask them to get another size in so i could try 2 sizes and be sure i was getting the right one. fwiw i wouldn't go back now - i happily use my RP one for backing and riding youngsters, as i reckon there's no chance of a rotational trotting round the arena (might well hit the deck but hopefully without horse upside-down following me) and Exo for xc. as we all know, you don't have to be rubbish, or on a rubbish horse, to have a rotational - all you need is a misunderstanding, or a bad stride and a lot of bad luck...
 
My mum is always on at me about the P2 air jacket, but at £424 it is just too expensive for me.

I think all the hype is only justified at present because fortunately no one has died from a fall whilst wearing one. It's a game of numbers, unfortunately it will happen one day but until then P2 can rest assured of esculating sales and a strong image.

Body protectors have been around for decades so the numbers are stacked against them for fatal falls, the longer the air jackets are around the more rounded opinion we will be able to form.

It may look like i am stating that i wouldn't spend £424 on a potential life saving piece of kit...but if i wanted to save money and save myself from risk of injury i would have to sell all my horses and never ride again.
 
We have been waiting to see the outcome of the P2 and think we are gonna try and get hold of the exo now instead... if we can :| The exo seems a much better way of preventing yourself from being seriously hurt in a rotational fall etc and its over 100pounds cheaper!
I also think some people may say that they think that the jacket saved their lives or from serious injury (which it may have well done) but because of the fact they have spent so much buying the thing and to reassure themselves that it was a good buy in the first place :P
 
Can I just point out that although OT is a 'massive' fan of the Point 2 air jacket it is worth remembering that he is in fact sponsored by them....
 
There are a few major points that still concern me regarding the air jackets.

Firstly, the CE Approval is only for inflation time only, it has no bearing on how safe or unsafe these jackets are. Secondly in the case of OTs recent fall, the air jacket did not inflate till the horse got up, had he broken his neck the trauma of the air jacket inflating could have been enough to have then caused spinal cord damage, thirdly the deflating that is not humanly controlled could have caused even more injury by distabilising the injury.

You have to remember these were initially developed for motor cyclists, to protect them in an accident, of being laid down on the road, and skidding along it.

The idea is brilliant, however it needs proper medical testing to prove the statements that Point 2 make to be true. At present there is no evidence that the jacket will save, protect or improve your chances in any fall apart from save you from a few bruises. The fact that BE will not approve it says more to me than all their publicity, bearing in mind most profile riders have been given them.

Come on Point 2, lets have the proper proof that these jackets will do what you claim, protect in a serious fall, absorb the full impact of half a ton of horse falling on you, not exacerbate any injury caused by the jacket inflating or deflating late or early, not just stop a few bruises.
 
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