Body Cage Back Protectors and Rotational Falls

SpottedCat

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I was just reading on EWW about the rotational fall at fence 1 of the Novice at SpringHill, in which the horse landed square on the rider and she walked away with a broken wrist (all be it after needing to be airlifted to hospital). She was wearing a body cage.

Now I have long thought these are a superb idea, and well worth the money considering the potentially life-saving effects, however I've also heard down-sides. Things I have heard (from pros in the main):

1. They don't look smart enough/are too bulky when riding for owners/sponsors;
2. There is a risk of whiplash because of the way they sit away from your neck.

Now personally, as someone unconcerned with riding for looks, I think first point is pretty silly. As for the second - well, surely whiplash is better than being crushed to death?

So why aren't they more widely used? I know the reason I don't have one is because last time I tried one on it was too long in the back and would hit the saddle - not great - but if they have a wider range of sizes and one which fitted me, I'd be keen to give one a try.

Is it the lack of pros wearing them? - look how a few pros have made the HS1 so popular.

Is it the price?

Is it because they feel 'odd'/different/heavy until you get used to them?

Or is there something else entirely?
 
you need an allen key to get them off and i suspect people are worried that the emergency service swont have one tho i think you have to declare that you are wearing one so they are prepared. this in itself is a complication some riders wont want to bother with.
but i remember when regular body protectors came in virtually no one wore them until it became a mandatory rule and i suspect it will be the same with these, if it really has been proven that they do as it is claimed. the makers have certainly spent enough developing them.
 
This is a really interesting post, i've wondered about these since they came out. I tried one on and didn't like how bulky it felt. However, i don't like the feel of my normal one either, until i go xc and then i foget it's there and i've never ridden in one. I also found it too long, had to have mine made to measure as i'm short but have big bust!!

Things i worry about;

-you have to have a key to open them, delay in getting this to you after a fall might be a bad thing and prevent treatment?
-I read an article that said the bulkiness and weight made you less flexible and mobile. This made it harder to roll/move away from the horse in the event of a fall.
-price. Of course i can't put a price on my life but it's still a lot of money in an already expensive sport.

Be interested to hear others thoughts....
 
All events now have a list at the sec tent where you have to declare you are wearing one, plus the TA has an allen key plus the paramedics are given one. You as a rider need do no more than declare you are using one. The allen key is only used if you can't stand up to get it off - you don't need one to get it on and off 'in general'.

I just think that we spend all this time discussing how we can prevent these falls, and whilst prevention is certainly the way to go long term, no-one seems to have any answers at the moment, so in the meantime using a product which can at least partially mitigate for the effect of being landed on by a horse has to be sensible surely?

As for compulsory...well that's a rumour I've heard from two different sources....but who knows how it would sit with people from a business point of view/sponsorship point of view etc since only one company makes them and you can be sure they are patented up to the hilt.....would BE really be brave enough? There would be outcry from other manufacturers, outcry from riders sponsored by other BP makers, outcry from just about everyone about the additional cost etc etc etc.
 
Im not sure and have never tried one - sadly the price at the moment would put me off but then its a stupid think to say as how can you put a price on a life? I wear an HS1. Though hearing they weigh 2/4kgs - in the scheme of things is what roughly half a stone? - so a wet hunt coat the weight wouldnt bother me but Id feel sorry for my horse (not that he stuggles to carry me but why should he carry more weigh than needs be)
Unless of couse eventing goes back to the days of 11stone- use of lead cloth etc ? so that everyone is fair - im sure alot of us with saddle and all kit on weigh more than 11stone anyway so thats pretty much irrelevant.
That they need a key to get in and out of knowing my clumsyness I can see myself driving home in it having been unable to find the Key!
As for smartness - why do people think BPs are a fashion statement? so have their colours on (mine do) after all WFP, piggy french, andrew nic, rosie thomas, and MASSES of others wear a plain black or navy BP so where is the fashion statement. - My complex would be wearing one at PN/N level - I know rotationals happen at any and all levels but there appears to a greater risk the higher up I go, but when I start fearing for my life everytime I go in the start box should be the alarm bells for me to GIVE UP?
 
I've never heard of these does anyone know where I can have a gander?

Sounds good in principle. much better than the inflatable one that was in a post this morning.

I remember when the body protector enforcement came in and I still haven't worn one.
 
if they start making them out of carbon fibre, so they are substantially lighter than they are now, i'll be first in the queue. i said this when i tried one of the prototypes, fwiw.
i liked the feel of it, but i didn't like the weight. i thought it was pretty heavy.
why can't people with one wear an allen key for it around their neck for xc? then if, god forbid, they have a terrible fall and the medics need to get it off them very fast, the key is right there.
i've heard the bad rumours about them and i think it's a nasty smear campaign tbh. as said above, a whiplash injury has to be better than being crushed to death.
 
AutumnRose - I defy anyone to prove that in the event of a rotational fall they were aware enough what was going on to roll out of the way of their horse - not a chance IMO! Normal falls happen so fast XC that you've usually hit the gorund before you realised you were falling, to get out of the way of the hrose in a rotational fall involves not only you hitting the gorund, but also being aware of a horse, directly above you, about to land on you, when you may not have realised in the first place it was rotational. I don't see anyone being able to get out of the way then I'm afraid.
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Everytime I went to try one SC they were too long for me too
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Thats the only reason.
My father was all set for buying me one when then came out - I was at Windsor and did an artical for EWW, well ER.com but you know what i mean.

It took a further 18 months for them to bring out these body cages and then never had the right size as it became apparent that many needed shorter lengths because of the hitting on the saddle etc.

I really think the look and the whiplash are minor excuses.
 
With respect to the weight - I'd be surprised if it made the blindest bit of difference - now before you all say this is because I'm 5 foot, weigh 8.5 stone on a 16.2 so he wouldn't care anyway, the reason I say this is because effectively the rider carries the weight - it is suspended on you by a harness. Therefore it (I believe) fits into the definition of 'live' weight for the horse - i.e. you are balancing on the horse as a 'live' weight and I am sure studies have shown that this is far less taxing than 'dead' weight such as lead. It's one of the reasons jockeys try and get as close to the target weight for the horse as possible. So if the horse had 2-4kg of lead, it is more taxing than you being 2-4kg heavier.

Of course, riders may have to be fitter to compensate for the extra weight they have to carry, but so be it!
 
I didn't know that the paramedics etc were all given a key...that makes me feel better about that.
I know what train_robber means about wearing them at lower levels but like it or not we all risk our lives when we leave the start box (not that that thought crosses my mind at the time!!) and anything we can do to minimalise the risk must be a good thing.....

I'd be interested in riding in one and finding out about sizes/having one made/colours. i know lot's of the pros wear plain but however amateur it sounds i like my colours!!!

Not sure BE could force us to wear a product only supplied by one company.....
 
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I'm not very up-too-date with this (as I still wear my old Tipperary BP
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), but why do they need a key to get them on and off?

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They don't 'in general' but they have a safety mech which allows parts like the shoulders (whcih I think are hinged to let you get them on and off) be unscrewed if you are unconscious and the release mech is hidden - it basically comes apart like two hlaves of a shell using an allen key in the event of an emergency release being needed - in general you don't take them on and off with the key I don't think? I may be wrong, but I don't remember the allen key being used when I tried them on either time.

I guess it is the equivalent of cutting off your jods and boots?
 
SC, i know what you mean, but it's still weight that the horse has to carry. when i tried one i was eventing a 15.3 homebred mare, and i am 5'10" and struggled to get to 10 stone... if i was 8.5 stone i wouldn't mind at all and would have one.
baydale, you can open them from the front without an allen key, but if you have to open the sides (because you daren't move the rider, i guess) you need an allen key to take apart the metal cage, i think.
 
Autumn Rose - they come in black. But as your number bib covers 99% of the area covered by your BP, do you really care?! You can still wear your colours underneath.

I wonder also if they'd be cooler as they sit away from the body - just speculation though, and we've seen precious little sun this season for it to make any blooming difference!
 
i think that you do need a key to get them off baydale because they are rigid and the hole for your head is not quite big enough to get the thing off otherwise. they are like a frame that sort of fits over your torso. a friend of mine used one for a good while to test it. i will ring and ask her.
and i expect spotted cat is quite right now about the keys now, i have barely been in the country for the last 18 months so have noticed little rule changes. you certainly had to let the powers know you had one when they came out.
 

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AutumnRose - I defy anyone to prove that in the event of a rotational fall they were aware enough what was going on to roll out of the way of their horse - not a chance IMO! Normal falls happen so fast XC that you've usually hit the gorund before you realised you were falling, to get out of the way of the hrose in a rotational fall involves not only you hitting the gorund, but also being aware of a horse, directly above you, about to land on you, when you may not have realised in the first place it was rotational. I don't see anyone being able to get out of the way then I'm afraid.
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i certainly am completely unaware of where i am when i fall but it was just an artical i read and thought maybe some people are more mobile than me. You often see things about the correct way to fall/roll etc etc. Could have been written by a rival company for all i know.....
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I'm really interested in this post as I am a paranoid mother who would definately buy one and damn the cost if I thought it would keep daughter safe. Who makes them?
 
Article in H&H today, designers are cutting their 'six figure' losses and donating the patent for the protector to Riding for the Disabled. Too few have been sold.
Can see the pros and cons with it, wounder if it would have been possible to have had a sceure pocket to keep an allen key on it. If an accident occured anywhere else other than an organised event emergency services would be able to release the casulty in any situation, eg hacking, yard xc schooling.
 
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SC, i know what you mean, but it's still weight that the horse has to carry. when i tried one i was eventing a 15.3 homebred mare, and i am 5'10" and struggled to get to 10 stone... if i was 8.5 stone i wouldn't mind at all and would have one.
baydale, you can open them from the front without an allen key, but if you have to open the sides (because you daren't move the rider, i guess) you need an allen key to take apart the metal cage, i think.

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I do see your point - I just think there are plenty of men out there who weigh far more than you or I ever will who ride small horses XC and it makes no difference. Ok, maybe you need to get your horse slightly fitter too....but again, so be it...I dunno I could be wrong.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Article in H&H today, designers are cutting their 'six figure' losses and donating the patent for the protector to Riding for the Disabled. Too few have been sold.
Can see the pros and cons with it, wounder if it would have been possible to have had a sceure pocket to keep an allen key on it. If an accident occured anywhere else other than an organised event emergency services would be able to release the casulty in any situation, eg hacking, yard xc schooling.

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How sad! I don't buy H&H so had no idea about this.

FWIW they all ahve an allen key on them in a secure pocket with a green cross on it so the emergency services know where to look - it's just if you fall and are lying on that it doesn't help much, hence paramedics etc having a key.

ETA: Hmm, so the RDA now have the patent, so conceivably, BE could now make them compulsory and RDA could license the patent to all the BP companies and one of the massive issues with making them compulsory is removed - that of there being no rival to the company that makes them and people being sponsored etc. I wonder....
 
moyraL, they are made/distributed by Woofwear.

AutumnRose, i agree with SC, it isn't possible to roll out of the way of a horse in a rotational fall, at the most the rider would hit the ground a split-second before the horse did. no-one's reactions are that fast.
i think the "learn how to fall" stuff is for falls like those we witnessed at the Burghley Mushroom this weekend - fall without sticking out an arm to save yourself (and breaking your collarbone), learn to "tuck and roll" as you hit the ground.
 
Ah, I see. I've just been on their website and had a good look - they do look bulky and the weight of them would bother me. Surely it's only a matter of time before they make a new improved lighter version. Or if they don't, that another company make something similar?
 
I am fully aware of making weights and have done so when I p2pointed - my mother was a jockey herself and when she trained she insisted her work riders were never "underweight" for the very reason horse should never carry dead-lead.
One of my greatest friends suffered with an eating disorder in her teens and set herself the goal of pointing again once she didnt have to wear a lead cloth to make the weight - she is as tall as me - Im like Kerilli - 5.10, (would love to be 10stone!) and have a 16/1hh TB he has never complained about carrying me and I wont mind being fitter/stronger to deal with BP but for 6mins XC how bad can it be?....
I am giving it some thought - its certainly Mums main concern (she wishes id go back to National Hunt!) with me eventing.
 
Kerilli, completely agree re rotationals and as i said i have no idea where i am when i fall!! I think it was the tuck and roll types thing that the article was talking about restricting.

Anyway i would have been interested to try riding in one if had found one to fit
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.
 
They told me that it would have cost a lot more to make them out of carbon fibre from the start. shame, because i bet i'm not alone in worrying about the weight. i found it comfy and not restrictive at all, fwiw. i think they retail at about £300, is that right? since a good pair of boots costs more than that, i don't think it's expensive tbh!
in fact, reading all these posts i suppose i sound a bit mental, worrying more about the horse having to carry an extra half a stone for 6 minutes or so, than about myself getting crushed....
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There is also a big article in todays H&H with various pro's & con's being banded around. It seems the makers who have invested loads into these bp's have now 'donated' the patent to the RDA because they feel that there has been too much opposition to the idea behind the exo cage and they claim they have not had the backing of BE.

Apparently they have sold very few mainly due to the concerns you mentioned about whiplash and being unable to roll away (although if you ask me there is limited chance to 'roll away' in a fast rotational fall anyway) But as you say, most of us would take whiplash over being crushed. Oddly enough though none of the bp's on the market have to undergo any form of crush test as part of the BETA checklist
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Size and weight have also been contributing factors and, as has already been mentioned perhaps an element of vanity has also crept in?

Good news though if you are thinking of getting one is the RDA are planning to make it in a wider range of sizes and are also considering carbon fibre models so the horses aren't carrying un-necessary extra weight.

I think at the end of the day, anything that has been proved to save even one life should be endorsed and promoted in a little more positive light, perhaps then we may see more people giving them a go?
 
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