Are we silly for not wearing body protectors EVERY time we ride?

Yep, definately wear one. Took my litttle mare out for a walk with my friend who was leading her dog. Lo and behold, I fell off in walk! Chat chatting to my friend, my little girl spooked and spun and off I came. Fell off on the road, and without my BP would have undoubtedly severely hurt my back given the way I fell. Interestingly my OH told me to put it on before I went out, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered as I only intended a pootle around.
This happened just before he snow came, but I will make sure I wear it in future. Riding can be so unpredictable no matter what you're doing, and its sods lawe that the time you don't wear it will be the time you get injured.
 
I never used to until I started to ride my boss' youngster regularly. I got into the habit very quickly....and don't even notice I'm wearing it. Sometimes I forget to put it on and feel very naked!

Prince33Sp4rkle said:
my own horses are very polite and im in no danger of being dropped by them.
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But sometimes it has nothing to do with the horse dumping you because it bucks or rears. Last year I was out on a hack on a very well behaved mare that I know inside out. We were cantering in a field when she completely fell underneath me. When she pulled herself back up, she used both front feet on my chest. Luckily I was wearing a body protector but came away with cracked ribs.

Turns out she fell down a rabbit hole I couldn't see...but could easily happen in a school too. I would be very annoyed with myself if I was injured and knew my BP was hanging in my tack room.

But yes, each to their own :)
 
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I started riding before BPs became common. A friend force fed me into hers one day when I was going for a hack. It made me feel clumsy and horribly unsafe as I was sure I could no longer rely on my reflexes to remain in balance with the horse no matter what he threw at me. Over the years my body has learnt to react before I can even think of what needs to be done. However I know it would not keep me safe if a horse fell on me for instance.
 
body protectors will not prevent (other than in very rare circumstances) a broken back (with exception of the exo bodycage that does offer a degree of protection from broken bones) they predomimently protect from bruising in the event of a fall.

Personally I only wear one for XC. Why, well when schooling no matter how good the fit it restricts my movement and if i'm restricted then so is my horse.

Overall I weigh up the pros and the cons and make a decision accordingly. Just like I would when doing any other activity. A risk assessment so to speak. My body protector isn't going to prevent me breaking my back (if it did my decision would prob be v different ;) ) it will prevent bruises so I look at when I am most likely to fall off. I am a experienced rider with an independant seat and my current horse is relatively sane and reliable, I also have a degree of training in how to fall so can mitigate the harshness of a fall. So overall on evaluation my chance of a fall is most likely when riding XC so therefore I always ride with a BP when XC be that schooling or competing. Showjumping and Dressage far less likely so I don't. If on a newly broken youngster its all basically all the time.

Hats to me are a totally different kettle of fish they prevent brain injuries and so get worn all the time. If they could make the exo more friendly in design (current design would make my bad back even worse) then I would have to re-evaluate my decision re back protectors.

you have to weigh up you (your experience/ability/issues (such as back problems), your horse (age/experience/behaviour) and activity (discipline/venue) each time as to whether you should be wearing a body protector. What may be silly for one person may well not be for another!
 
I've never worn my body protector for hacking or flatwork and haven't used it for show jumping for years (used to when my horse was a bit green). I didn't used to wear it when I hunted either.
Each to his own -people should do what they are most comfortable with.
 
"Turns out she fell down a rabbit hole I couldn't see"

i dont trot or canter on ground i dont know. i walk it first, then turn round and trot or canter back.every.single.time. your accident could have been so much worse for the horse, a broken fetlock is a dead sentance.

so call me stupid for not wearing a BP (or a hat when schooling) but please note that i take every precaution to make sure my horse is not just going to randomly fall over, and as said before, they are not in the habit of dropping me for no good reason.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
"Turns out she fell down a rabbit hole I couldn't see"

i dont trot or canter on ground i dont know. i walk it first, then turn round and trot or canter back.every.single.time. your accident could have been so much worse for the horse, a broken fetlock is a dead sentance.
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Luckily she was absolutely fine. I had been cantering the field most days all summer, and had actually been in the field earlier that morning. I knew the ground, but unfortunately it was just a freak accident. I don't canter everywhere willy nilly and I do take precautions thanks. I'm not calling you stupid for not wearing a body protector at all!!

I never used to wear one. Just saying a horse can easily trip over no matter how many precautions you take.... and there are other instances where you can fall off...not just from an asbo horse dumping you :)
 
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The more replies I read the more I think 'why on earth do I not wear one all the time'! On that note I might buy a new one that allows more freedom of movement as mine is from the dark ages and quite restrictive. Anyone reccommend one?

A further reason i'm not a BP wearer is because I have always though it gave a 'novicey' appearence if you are on a older/mentally sane horse. A very shallow view I know!!! And no I prob wouldnt think that I looked 'novice/nervous' if I had a bad accident and it saved my butt.

I do think they say lives. Landing on a menage fence or being stood on for example, I think the outcome would be very different depending on if I was wearing a BP or not.

I certainly wouldnt judge anyone for not wearing one, like a lot of people i'd say each to their own.
 
One of the joys of getting older is that I really don't give a hoot what others think. I think a lot of people worry about other poeple's conceptions. I know when I was a young un' wearing a hat was optional - BUT I wouldn't dream of riding without now! My elderly father has always been a supporter of my riding (I mean for the last 35 years and despite my mother's constant worry) but he has occasionally asked that I wear a hat and if poss a BP. So I wear one most times I ride. I'm also self employed and can't afford to have time off. Every time I fall off it seems to be random. Once actually did a sumersault around the horse as she moved in a strange way while I was mounting!! I think there's more risk hacking than anything else - and that's what I prefer to do. However, if I don't have one to hand it wouldn't stop me mounting! I'd have passed up the chance to ride a fabulous event horse if I did. I just believe in reducing the stats of serious injury. Also I think that cos' I wear it most of the time I don't find it restrictive - so if I'm wearing it competing it will not be a factor in my failing to win/be selected for the 2012 olympics lol!
 
ladyearl said:
Also I think that cos' I wear it most of the time I don't find it restrictive - so if I'm wearing it competing it will not be a factor in my failing to win/be selected for the 2012 olympics lol!
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Hahaha brilliant, that really made me chuckle! Same goes here :D
 
about 2 years ago i started wearing mine all the time and now i as habbit pick up hat and BP at the same time.
Glad of it a few times when landed flat on my back and only been slightly winded, could of been loads worse.
 
Santa_Claus said:
body protectors will not prevent (other than in very rare circumstances) a broken back (with exception of the exo bodycage that does offer a degree of protection from broken bones) they predomimently protect from bruising in the event of a fall.
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really ? id be interested to hear the evidence for this? What about the numerous people who have falls and are told by Dr's they have had a lucky escape due to the fact they were wearing a BP? Or the number of people who have been unfortunate enough to actually break their back and then say they wish they worn a BP? I know in some circumstances the BP isnt going to prevent a break but surely it does offer some protection and not just against bruising:confused:
 
lynseylou1 said:
I wear mine everytime i ride and it paid off yesterday! My horse was a total witch . spooked badly spun around and dropped me on the tarmac road at speed. My body took most of the impact as I landed flat out on my back. I heard the wallop of it hitting the tarmac. I was winded and shaken up. Today I am SO stiff!!! I feel like i have been beaten up! I hate to think what injuries I would have had were it not for the body. And I was walking slowly down my road!
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I need to get a new one (and wear it!) for this reason. My pony has done exectly the same a couple of times to me - thankfully always on grass - but we do hack on the roads again now we have moved yards. I don't wear mine as its one of those stiffer ones that feels quite restrictive (The level 3 XC ones). I'm going to look for a race safe as I've borrowed a friends and forgot I was even wearing it as it was so light and comfortable.
 
Ive read this thread with interest as i have been toying with getting a BP my reasons are i am actually a H&S consultant working in Construction and investigate accidents on an all too frequent basis that could have been prevented by wearing the right equipment at the right time.

I can understand why many people don't wear one and people feel willing and comfortable to take the risk of not wearing one..... however just a couple of thoughts, if you did fall and severly injured yourself and found out these injuries could have been prevented or the extent could have been lessened through wearing a BP how would you feel ? Also think about the impact of these injuries on your family and what there reaction would be....

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and i hear it too often in my job, some times its heart wrenching when i investigate injuries that could have been prevented by something simple and the impact on the family is sometimes more so than the individual.

I remember starting my job 10 + years ago and trying to get guys to wear a hard hats on a construction site was horrendous ....it was change (for the better) however though it took an incredible amount of education, hearing of incidents and gentle persuasion, it is now very rare to find a large construction site with no-one wearing hard hats, i am 100% certain that this has prevented injuries and get a slight buzz when someone walks up to me and thanks me for making a fuss about them not wearing hard hat to later hear that a couple of weeks ago a scaffold clip fell on them and they escaped with a cut nose!!!

Quite simply if i injured myself and the injuries could have been lessoned or at best prevented through wearing one then i am being totally hypocritical!!!
Right enough from me I am off to purchase my BP .....and wear it !!! :D
 
body protectors have as far as I'm aware in the most part always been designed primarily to prevent/limit bruising and also a degree of protection from puncture type injuries (hence the new standards that require no 'gaps' between sections of padding). At the end of the day they are a piece of solid padding. In some circumstances that degree of padding can happen to prevent a broken bone by despersing the impact but primarily they are not designed to do so. Hats offer an increased level of protection as they combine a solid shell with impact foam which although wont always stop a fractured skull will heavily decrease the likelyhood. But you must replace your hat any time you hit it as one fall can break the shell and dent the foam meaning it won't offer anywhere near the same level of protection again.

The exo though is different, that is designed to stop broken bones by providing a solid cage to protect your torso. It primarily is there to protect you from crush based injuries but the padding again offers protection from bruising.

Other body protectors have a variety of different marketing points but I am yet to see one that clearly says 'this will protect you from xyz bone breaking type falls' (except the exo) because they have no scientific proof that they do. Yes in some cases it will but they are not proven to do so every time and therefore cannot be marketed as such.

The 'if i wasn't wearing a body protector it would have been so much worse' and 'if I had been wearing a body protector it would have been so much better' type injuries involving broken bones (not bruising!) cannot be proven without simulating the accident identically with or without a body protector multiple times. They are purely a matter of speculation. Yes it may of well done/not done but it cannot be said categorically. You only look at Oli T's fall last year at Kentucky. He claims his BP saved his life others say his hat did, it may well have been both but no one can prove either, either way!

I have nothing against someone wearing one for piece of mind and to do so can be a very good thing as it makes the rider more relaxed as they feel safer and therefore in the event of a fall less likely to brace which is what causes a lot of injuries. A large amount of falls can be walked away from if the rider falls correctly (i.e. relaxes and tucks and rolls) which is why to me proper fall training is actually more important!

I think it is wrong though that people believe they will protect them from more than they do without proof. I would love to be proved wrong and really wish a more user friendly exo type body protector could be developed.
 
PLEASE wear your body protectors every time you ride. I broke my back when walking a quiet, sedate cob to try a new saddle. A flight of pigeons took fright and flew into us. Horse reared bucked and leapt straight into gallop, I hit the concrete hard dry paddock (no rain for weeks) and broke my back. Getting back to 'normal' has been a long and very painful process and I'm not there yet! If I'd worn a BP I would have suffered a few bruises. Horses are unpredictable and accidents can happen at the least expected times.
 
I've broken my back twice, on neither occasion would a BP have prevented it and it quite likely would have made one much worse. I wear one when I have to and maybe if I'm getting on a horse I think might deck me although I think they are more likely to achieve that if I am wearing it so take ground conditions into account too :)
 
I bought and started wearing one after I came off my bhoy a month after I bought him - realistically it wouldn't have helped in that situation anyways as I landed on my arm. After buying the thing I came off again and landed on my arse - so it was no help then either! I got back on and rode for 20 minutes, but didn't realise I was now not "centred" inside the BP so when I took it off I was in agony (well not agony but bloody sore!).

Over a period of time I started tipping forward all the time, and leaning to the right (caused no end of problems for the horse!) I didn't realise I was doing this cos I couldn't feel anything properly.

Eventually I stopped wearing it, and was doing okay without. I will wear it when jumping, if I ever hack out or do cross country, but on the flat, I'm not so sure about it's benefits - after all they are designed to protect you in a high speed/high impact fall...

A friend showed me a link to a motorbike jacket - that looks like an ordinary jacket, is lightweight and flexible and has 'crash padding' all over it, I was going to go to a shop and try one on to see what it'd be like...
 
A few of you are mentioning motorcycle protection.....well there is a simple solution out there, just like TrojanPony has and its called Kanteq Body Protectors. They use motorcycle stantard technology, very comfortable, quite stylish and not gymicky like some of the others on the market. The lady who designed them is lovely and is a fab bit of kit.
 
Up until about a year ago i never even thought of wearning one, then i had a fall and although not a serious injury it made going to work and looking after my horses a major problem for sometime, now when i ride I wear one everytime safe than sorry in my case.
 
jendie said:
PLEASE wear your body protectors every time you ride. I broke my back when walking a quiet, sedate cob to try a new saddle. A flight of pigeons took fright and flew into us. Horse reared bucked and leapt straight into gallop, I hit the concrete hard dry paddock (no rain for weeks) and broke my back. Getting back to 'normal' has been a long and very painful process and I'm not there yet! If I'd worn a BP I would have suffered a few bruises. Horses are unpredictable and accidents can happen at the least expected times.
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See this is my point. I am very very sorry you broke your back and really hope you have no lasting effects from it but you can't say you wouldn't have broken your back had you been wearing one. Some bodyprotectors may have sufficiently dispersed the impact for example a point 2 in conjunction with a normal BP to prevent the fracture but I seriously doubt all would.
 
Santa_Claus said:
See this is my point. I am very very sorry you broke your back and really hope you have no lasting effects from it but you can't say you wouldn't have broken your back had you been wearing one. Some bodyprotectors may have sufficiently dispersed the impact for example a point 2 in conjunction with a normal BP to prevent the fracture but I seriously doubt all would.
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I spend my life looking and dealing with arguments for and against and reasons for not wearing something as it may be more of a hindrence than a help and my logical thought process is always a common sense one. Ask youself the following questions

1. Could you wear the item provided comfortably without it causing a hinderence or the view it may cause further injury?
2. Could it possibly prevent an injury or reduce the effects of that injury ?

My opinion if you answer Y to the above then you can't say no to wearing an item provided for safety however there are always people out there who are prepared to take the risk and feel comfortable with their decision.

I have recently investigated an incident involving a chainsaw kicking back and guy had a 5" gash across his calf back to work after a week off recovering and he was wearing protective chain saw trousers if he hadnt of been the injury could have been far worse and possibility of long term damage and being off work even longer.

IMO it comes down to peoples chioce and belief and what they feel comfortable with.
 
Santa_Claus said:
See this is my point. I am very very sorry you broke your back and really hope you have no lasting effects from it but you can't say you wouldn't have broken your back had you been wearing one. Some bodyprotectors may have sufficiently dispersed the impact for example a point 2 in conjunction with a normal BP to prevent the fracture but I seriously doubt all would.
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Sorry I haven't read the thread but this is my understanding too. Body protectors dont have the impact dispersal to make alot of difference to falls and were invented to stop sharp objects (like studs) penetrating the body. I'm quite happy to be corrected on this but this has been my long term understanding.
 
KerryDevon said:
I spend my life looking and dealing with arguments for and against and reasons for not wearing something as it may be more of a hindrence than a help and my logical thought process is always a common sense one. Ask youself the following questions

1. Could you wear the item provided comfortably without it causing a hinderence or the view it may cause further injury?
2. Could it possibly prevent an injury or reduce the effects of that injury ?

My opinion if you answer Y to the above then you can't say no to wearing an item provided for safety however there are always people out there who are prepared to take the risk and feel comfortable with their decision.

I have recently investigated an incident involving a chainsaw kicking back and guy had a 5" gash across his calf back to work after a week off recovering and he was wearing protective chain saw trousers if he hadnt of been the injury could have been far worse and possibility of long term damage and being off work even longer.

IMO it comes down to peoples chioce and belief and what they feel comfortable with.
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I agree with your questions and its me answering no to question 1 in that it restricts my body movement when schooling/competing for dressage and also my seat when SJ which has potential to seriously effect our performance in both disciplines hence I only wear it for XC when normally I'm up and out of the saddle and it doesn't restrict me. If there was one which moulded naturally to me and didn't restrict my movement I would wear it all the time even if only to prevent bruises but it doesn't yet exist for me!

and agree Scarymare that is also my belief (hence the above post) although some do offer some impact dispersal as materials are improving and the point2 as an air cushion does so although it is meant to be used at all times with a standard body protector.
 
I was on my way to buy a BP today but now reading the posts wonder whether its worth it ! Also, after the very hot summers last two years when even a T shirt was too hot I wonder whether I would be able to wear a BP without fainting with the heat !
 
I'm generally just a lurker on these forums but thought I'd add my two penny's worth to this discussion.

Regarding the use of body protectors preventing broken bones, both my sisters managed to break bones while wearing body protectors. One broke a collar bone (the only difference that the body protector made is that it prevented the collar bone piercing the skin) and the other broke her back.

This isn't to say that I wouldn't recommend a body protector when jumping but neither I or my sisters ever bother if we're hacking, SJ or flat schooling.
 
alma said:
I was on my way to buy a BP today but now reading the posts wonder whether its worth it ! Also, after the very hot summers last two years when even a T shirt was too hot I wonder whether I would be able to wear a BP without fainting with the heat !
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They are worth it dont get me wrong but you have to be comfortable and you have to weigh up your situation. They may not prevent most broken bones but they can prevent a lot of bruising. The key is getting on that fits well. The Kan for example is specially designed for women.
 
Agree with this

"Everyone has to decide what risks they are willing to take for themselves, but personally I wear a hat when handling, plus BP when riding, plus hi-viz when hacking."

But would add that if we expect the NHS to fix us up we should probs make every effort to be sensible. If hacking on roads Hi-Viz is a (moral) must IMO as we're potentially endangering other road users more than necessary if not.

So, if you're worried abt the heat, relax - try loose hi-viz on top of a body protector it reflects the heat as well as light - I've hacked out for hours in the mid summer that way. Sure, warmer than without either, but perfectly manageable.
 
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