How do you protect yourself?

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Shoei

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I know we all do our best to protector our horses from damage. But I just wondered what everyone does to protect themselves? What equipment do you use and what steps do you take?

We all know accidents happen and we take that risk doing the sport we love but I worry about the people that would have to pick up the pieces if the worse was to happen so try by best to protect myself.
 
I have to be extra careful as I have osteoporosis and I am on warfarin (thins the blood). I make sure I always wear the best standard hat, nearly always wear an air jacket. On top of which I am careful not to push my horse too much out of his safety zone. I've only had him 5 months and he is quite green so taking my time with him
 
Wear my hat(of course) and body protector - saving up for an air jacket. Also try and minimise risk - ie/ I would never jump a massive fence, am careful where I hack and who with and I don't ride if the weather conditions look unfavourable. I know it won't prevent an accident but at least I know I have done what I can to make it less dangerous. I have a young family too and worry terribly about how they would manage without me.
 
I always wear my hat and my air vest and of course hi vis. I had a near fatal accident 2 years ago and as a mother it was a real wake up call so do my best to minimise risks. Did think after the accident that perhaps I should give up but my mum who I thought would be the first to tell me to give up said 'if we all thought like that we would never leave the house'!
 
Other than wear a hat nothing obvious but I do think carefully about when and how I do things.
If I want to do something tricky with my boys I do lots of prep so it's not a big issue,
I work with them to have manners so the lead nicely, will stand nicely, pick their feet up nicely etc.
if they've had time off I'll lunge first and not get back on in strong wind.
If I'm in the school and my boys being stroppy I'll change what I'm asking him to do so we don't get into an arguement (usually I can go back to what i was originally planning within 10 mins of getting his mind onto something else).
I don't feed hard feed in the field
I try hard to learn and read their body language so I can predict as much as possible what mood I'm dealing with that day.
There is probably 100 other things I do out of habit now that are based on limiting the situation I'm in to one of least risk to me personally
 
When I ride my motorbike it's usually in full leathers and I have a very expensive arai helmet. By contrast I've got a very old hat which I got from a mate for riding in. This is shocking and shameful and I will be buying a new hat as soon as funds allow. Unfortunately my lad cut his fetlock a few weeks ago and I've had a lot of extra costs as a result which have eaten the fund (literally). Having said that I can't ride him anyway at the mo because of the cut! Ideally I'd like a body protector and a good tough hat, and I always wear good ankle covering boots.
 
I wear a hat to ride, & hi viz if hacking. Otherwise, my main safety focus is good manners & training, on the floor & under saddle. And common sense.
 
Its taken me over 35 years with horses to work it out, but I nowadays never put myself in a position that I could get hurt in. I used to be the type that didn't give up or let a horse win in a strop, but after having a year and a half off from my usual job, and the lower income to go with it because my husband's horse was having a strop when he had his teeth done, I try not to get in that position anymore. More so because I have my own yard and am often doing these jobs (clipping etc) alone. Nowadays I clip on days that hubby is around, I pull manes with a solo comb quite often, or do them properly while the horse is sedated for his teeth, I don't pull his tail - its not worth it, easier to plait it than have a battle every month or so!

I don't ride on main roads if I don't have to (hate the way people drive past horses on the faster roads), and do wear hi-viz nowadays..
 
I wear hard hat & Hi Viz ( he has Hi Viz rugs & leg wraps)- I have an old body protector which I rarely use as its cumbersome - Im regretting it now 6 weeks ago we hada blip and after 7 massive bucks he got me off and sent me flying and I broke my ribs - 6 weeks on Im still in a lot of pain - he's gone ferral due to lack of attention as in too much pain to do anything constructive with him and I lost my confidence. Lesson learned Im now having to do lots of remedial work seperating him from my mums mare will likely have to put him in livery and extra schooling for a wee while and more lessons for us both. Im saving for a decent comfortable body protector now which I am determined I will wear whenever Im on his back. We all need to remember that our horses are animals and no matter how well schooled etc they can be usually they can have their off days and we cant always predict when that may be.
 
I wear my hat and have a neck strap and d to d strap on for hacking and jumping to help me stay in the saddle if anything happens. I wear high viz tabbard and hat band and he wears reflective boots for hacking whatever time of day or weather conditions. I work him pretty hard so to keep his mind occupied and to minimize the risk of him showing any exciteable or exuberant behaviour which he does when he has too much energy.
 
I always wear a hat, body protector and hi viz. I am currently backing my young mare so its very important right now. I did wear the BP with my late mare too, I felt odd without it on, my late mare Seren never gave me reason to wear it, in fact I never fell off her in our 19 years together (I had come off another I had years ago mind)

ETS: I take calculated risks as sometimes you have to, and do not like to over face or push myself or my horse. I had to recently take the risk of hacking solo on my newly backed mare as I love to hack alone and the sooner she see's it as the norm the better. I am a careful rider though and try and listen very carefully to my horse and be aware of potential hazards ahead
 
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Just a hat and a high viz, your post has made me think and as I'm going to be breaking in my youngster this year and I have a young baby I'm going to invest in a body protector, I'm too old to take the risks now :)
 
Having found out that I no longer bounce, I have bought a very sensible 'bombproof' horse, I always wear a hat and long boots when riding (even on a mechanical horse), a reinforced jacket when hacking, plenty of hi-viz on me and the horse, am VERY choosy about who I hack with and careful about the route, e.g. no riding into the low sun/avoid rush hour. Both I and the horse wear a luggage label with contact details on in case we get separated and I have my phone with me if hacking alone.
 
Hat, hi vis on the roads and don't hack in low visibility. Mind you, the latter two are as much about protecting the horse from cars as myself...
 
JFTD said:
Hat, hi vis on the roads and don't hack in low visibility. Mind you, the latter two are as much about protecting the horse from cars as myself...
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I agree with this - when I put on my hi viz I do think more about protecting my horse, and when I see riders with a tabard and nothing else I worry whether their horse would be sufficiently visible if they parted company.

Apart from that, I rely very much on my instincts to keep me safe - for example I feel safe with my horse, so I will do pretty much anything with her. But if I was riding another horse I would want to ride it in the school before taking it out and probably want to see it on the roads first. I was going to do my riding and road safety test recently (then didn't because of dates) and would have hired transport to do the roads bit on my own horse that I know and trust rather than ride a safe and reliable riding school horse for a short section on the roads.
 
I always wear my hat and long boots. I personally think body protector is a lottery as it depends on how you fall. Now I don't wear it at all. I do have a Hit-Air vest but my instructor doesn't like me wearing it for lessons...
 
Wear a hat, decent boots and hi viz when riding. Use a bp when jumping and an air jacket xc. But the most important thing I do nowadays is really listen to my horse, properly: really read the feel and body language to stay ahead, responding to his thoughts and that keeps me much safer than any piece of kit.
 
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Agree with Littlelegs. In general handling on the ground at feed times, bringing in, in the field etc I wear no protection and rely on the training and manners instilled in them. Lungeing I wear hat and gloves although I can be naughty and forget the hat. Riding is hat, gloves when needed and hi-vis always.
 
i wear a hat and try to wear long sleeves as i have lost far too much skin to bushes when horses have bolted in the woods :o i lunge or long rein rio before riding as he has far too much energy for my liking and hi vis for hacking but other then that not much really as i hate body protectors! ground work im very bad and dont put anything protective on including gloves as i hate them... whether im leading in from the field or lunging or long reining i dont wear a hat, gloves or anything protective which is bad but i expect them to have some manners on the ground... doesnt always work though!
 
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I Always wear a body protector now as discovered that I don't bounce back in August:o I always wear a hat when handling and feeding as well as riding but most importantly, I think, I keep trying to improve my riding ability by having lessons weekly.
Also as someone else said earlier, pay attention to the horse at all times so I can tuned to how they are feeling.
 
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