How much protection does a body protector actually give?

H

HorsesHavingFun

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 November 2012
Messages
415
Visit site
How much protection would you say a body protector gives? If you have had a fall with it on did you still get injures where the BP should have protected you? This is only body protectors, not air jackets.

Just interested to hear experiences, opinions etc :) Thanks.
 
Well I can't say my BP has save me from X injuries because you never will know.

I've had a 16.2 fall and land on top of me whilst wearing my BP and I was straight up and walking around with no problems. I was dragged across a field by a galloping pony, ended up with a dislocated hip but not even so much as a bruise on the areas covered by my BP, also things like being thrown against XC fences with no damage :)
 
I came off my 17hh tb at weekend when he bronced me off, i was wearing a body protector, i have come away with just a sore shoulder which i pulled as i held onto him. I landed on my bum/back and have no sore areas or bruising.
Would i have been same without the body protector i don't know but glad i wore it!
 
Are there any body protectors that come down over the hips? That and the corresponding back area are where I got hurt!!
 
I have had 2 falls whilst wearing mine and both times think I would have sustained worse injuries without it. The first I was completely unscathed the second I was bronced off and also landed on my bum like one of the posters before me. I broke my coccyx and was winded (I think the bp contributed to that) but am sure without it as I say things would have been worse. I never ride without it now.
 
I was bucked off while wearing my body protector and broke 2 ribs. It's difficult to know whether it helped or how many ribs I would have broken if I wasn't wearing it at the time.
 
A friend of mine fell off jumping into a wingand the metal jump cup sliced through her body protector, cutting her chest but not badly enough to leave a scar. imagine how bad it would have been otherwise. Not directly what they are for, but potentially made the difference between a shallow cut and a dangerous injury.
 
Well, I suffered a bad fall while I was wearing one. He bronced and I bounced off the post and rail. The bit of my very lower back that wasn't covered suffered deep tissue damage and I couldn't even go to the toilet unaided for a few weeks. Since then I have spent a lot of money on physio and treatments and this week has been a really bad week - it is throbbing now actually, all because I dared to wear a one inch heel on the last day of term!

So, it offered a lot of protection - no issue with the bits of me that were protected but I am left with a lifelong issue concerning the bit that wasn't. The accident was 8 years ago!
 
I broke 6 ribs and damaged my spleen last year when I was bronc'd off onto a road. I spent 4 days in hospital and the doctors told me that my RaceSafe saved my life as without it, they think my internal organs would have been mush from the impact. You never know what might have been but I guess they've seen enough accidents to have a good idea.
 
They are specifically designed to protect your internal organs whilst offering protection the the bones they cover at the same time but if you call any of the body protector companies they'll tell you their primary function is to protect organs :)
 
I remember Domane's accident and since then I have always worn one, though mine is only a cheapie RaceSafe Knock off, I figure it is better than nothing. I have also discovered they act as an excellent sport bra.
 
Thanks everyone for your opinions and experiences :)

I went out and bought a Racesafe that I had fitted and I think I'll be wearing it a lot! Especially after all the stories on here :)
 
I was wearing my BP when I was bolted (proper bolted) with in a school on a just backed welsh cob.

My arm was torn apart on the school fence which I didn't know about until I had made an emergency exit as the horse was clearly going through the end fence.

When I took my BP off it had been ripped through right the way through the foam across the back piece and was just held together by the net/airtex fabric inside.

The hospital said I would have had lacerations across my back, probably going through to my spine and internal organs if I hadn't been wearing it.

They don't just save ribs and bruises!

One thing though, I like my BP to have a snap fastening as well as Velcro. The one I was wearing had been almost pulled off by the fence as it was Velcro only.
 
I also want to say I always wear mine, and so far, it has protected me from bruises and sore areas. I have landed on jumps and the other side of jumps flat on my back.

I also wear it for flatwork and hacking, as everytime I've had a near fall has been faffing about on a hack where the horse has spooked at an invisible monster (Even sometimes a horse standing up from having a snooze can be potentially life threatening....apparently). I figure if it can help at all, I might as well wear it! :D

My friends tells me that it will stop my riding position progressing but I would rather have it as protection than supposedly look better to other people.
 
Libbyblackberry032.jpg


I was lucky that I was wearing my BP (which I hardly ever wear) when I fell off at high speed into a fence.
Apart from a bad friction burn/cut to my wrist I was lucky that I had no other injuries. I owe thanks to my BP for this as without it I probably would have broken ribs and a pretty torn up chest!
 
Chottsy said:
My friends tells me that it will stop my riding position progressing but I would rather have it as protection than supposedly look better to other people.
Click to expand...

I have this problem. I forgot my body protector once and discovered just how much it had been restricting me (it's a RaceSafe - the most flexible I could find). I found my hips and lowere torso could move a lot more freely without it. For this reason I don't wear it for flatwork with my loan pony because he's a 14.1hh lazy, sane cobby thing:rolleyes:. He hardly ever spooks and when he does he just gives a little start. It's very unlikely (although not impossible I know!) I'd ever fall, let alone injure myself badly while doing so. But I wear it for jumping and hacking (jumping is unpredictable as are road users!) and also for flatwork if I'm riding any other horse. Such a shame it restricts my position as it's always been something I've prided myself in:o.
 
Sunday a week ago, I fell off competing show jumping without a BP on and was quite badly bruised on my right side (we jumped the jump but I was unbalanced due to young horse's leap and then high back end action so plopped off the side in an indoor arena so pretty soft). I roll well despite my advanced years as have had lots of practice falling off :p

Last Wednesday, exactly the same happened XC wearing level 3 BP and Point 2.

The second fall was on harder ground and landed on same side and same way. I ended up with a knee twice the size of the other one but apart from that, just a few bruises on legs/arms. I was going a lot faster too and it was a higher jump.

If I hadn't had double BP's on, it could have been worse, but difficult to say really. Extremely impressed with P2! First time it's gone off and the bits that it covered were like landing on a cushion.
 
My horse fell on the road when she was spooked by a car and lost her footing. She went down sideways and of course I went down with her with an almighty crash. I was absolutely unbruised and unhurt because for once I had my BP on.
 
If I hadn't have been wearing my Racesafe when I went through 2 rails of a post and rail fence I would probably be in a wheelchair now, as it happens I 'only' have a slipped disc!
 
Actually, considering the height from where you can start to fall, the speed you can fall at and what can land on you afterwards - a normal proprietory Horsey body protector is little better than a toy giving you a false sense of security.

This is what some guys wear - just to hit one another - powered by themselves on the ground :- http://americansports.co.uk/shop/american-football-shoulder-pads/douglas-dp-mr-d-shoulder-pads.html

They still get massive injuries - some of them caused by the armour itself!

There's no amount or type of armour that will protect your spleen for instance from a fall - that is damaged by the sudden deceleration of your body hitting the ground - your spleen and other soft internal bits usually carry on going for a while until some stringy things stop them!
 
I use to not other but since getting a young horse and hack out I wear it, fell off last week on to sand (not very forgiving) and bruised my bum cheek and hip, and lower back, but no bruising or soreness anywhere where the body pritector was... the problem with most falls is that we land either on your coccyx or hip... and a body protector (unless HIT air)dont protect that area... just reseached the net for lower protection, found these great jods with impact material built in ( actually designed by a motorbike safety company Dainese) or you could use sbow boarding imapct shorts under jods for when you think you may fall off...

http://www.dainese.com/uk_en/equestrian/arion-pants-lady.html
 
Hmm, I think it certainly depends how you fall. I got bronced off my youngster on Sunday(first fall off him and first throw-off episode in abotu 15+ years!) and I smacked the ground (grass field but pretty dry and hard), hip/bum first and then rolled back hitting my head. I suffered the next day with whiplash type pain I think and wrenched muscles in my right arm plus pulled muscles across my sternum. My back is absolutely fine and I landed bum/back/head and had no back protector on.

I think it's so difficult to say when a BP / air jacket has saved from more injuries as it's not like you can set up the same situation twice in 'real life'
 
Agree it depends how you fall.

If you look at them more as a thick protective 'barrier' then you can't go far wrong. It's easy to see in my above pic that I would have been introuble without the bp but there are times I have fallen off without it and also been fine. It's not going to protect you from some injuries but better on than off, although only really wear mine for XC and some jumping.
I'm trying not to make a habit of falling off to test it!
 
Mine has definitely saved me from some very nasty injuries in the past!
The best example being from a fall I had last year, which I always use as my "pro-back-protector" story. I was out riding someone else's horse and it suddenly spooked at a dog jumping out the hedge, and spun to bolt - I came off the side and somehow ended up caught under the horse, I got completely trampled and kicked to pieces as it galloped down the road in panic while I got dragged along behind it. I was in absolute agony, and it's no exaggeration when I say I was completely shredded, black & blue! BUT the area that was covered by my racesafe BP was totally scratch-free - there wasn't a mark there, and despite landing hard on my back, I had no pain in my back or upper body the next day, and as I had the rest of my body to compare it to, I know it was the BP that protected me from serious injury. A year on and my legs are still bruised!
It's also saved me from my own panicking horse who crushed me against the stable door when she spooked at something behind her (in a big way!) - she had her whole bodyweight against me trying to jump over the door, kicked at my upper body with her legs while she was trying to get over, she eventually broke the door off the hinges and sent me flying - but because I'd been wearing my BP (about to tack her up to go out!) I avoided some nasty injuries from both her feet and the solid door I was being thrown against - my shoulder was a mess but once again, there wasn't a scratch beneath my BP.

Definitely worth wearing! x
 
Landed unbalanced after a jump, mare got spooked and tanked off. Took off at speed, came off at speed into wooden arena fence which broke on impact from my back slamming into it. Bad bruising all down one of my arms , whiplash, bruised hip. Not an ounce of bruising to my back. Had I not been wearing back protector doc said I would have done serious damage. I never ride without one unless out doing a dressage comp and will take it off just before going in to do my test.
 
1stclassalan said:
There's no amount or type of armour that will protect your spleen for instance from a fall - that is damaged by the sudden deceleration of your body hitting the ground - your spleen and other soft internal bits usually carry on going for a while until some stringy things stop them!
Click to expand...

Armour, no, but the squashy material of the BP does reduce deceleration. It acts like the crumple zone on a car.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top