To those who wear air jackets...

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Elvis

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...what activities do you wear it for?

I've just managed to find my air jacket and it got me thinking, my last fall was on the flat, I wasn't wearing my air jacket and it was my worst fall to date forcing me to take 6 weeks off riding. Had I been wearing it I might not have done some of the damage I did.

To me my air jacket is for cross country, maybe showjumping competitions and maybe for riding quirky horses, otherwise I go without.

So how often and what activities do you use your air jacket for?
 
Now, every time I ride, hacking, dressage (even comps!) and jumping - never ride without it......

However, I was show jumping without it in June, had a reasonably nasty fall, partially ruptured my left kidney and badly broke me left wrist - cue a week in hospital on HDU. The wrist was unavoidable, i'd have broken it regardless due to the way I fell, the kidney was totally avoidable had I been wearing the air jacket!
 
I always wear my air jacket, like I always wore my BP. I do not care what others say or think it is my choice to do so. I always think why take an avoidable risk. It's comfortable, easy to use and reasonably discreet.
 
I wear my air jacket for riding my young ID in the school and at first when I took him to the hounds .
I think I will wear it for XC schooling as well.
 
All the time. I am recovering from spinal injuries so am hacking/schooling in BP with arm protectors, air jacket and a saddle made by Martin-Baker!
 
fairyclare said:
Now, every time I ride, hacking, dressage (even comps!) and jumping - never ride without it......

However, I was show jumping without it in June, had a reasonably nasty fall, partially ruptured my left kidney and badly broke me left wrist - cue a week in hospital on HDU. The wrist was unavoidable, i'd have broken it regardless due to the way I fell, the kidney was totally avoidable had I been wearing the air jacket!
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Ouch! Similar experience to mine except yours sounds far worse! My concussion was unavoidable and an air jacket wouldn't have stopped that, but the chipped hip and pelvic muscle/ligament/tendon damage could have been avoided had I been wearing my air jacket. 6 months on I still have problems with my pelvis... It does make me consider wearing the air jacket more often...it's an expensive piece of kit to just be sitting on a coat hanger.
 
always :)I have a hitair and love it :) I always used to wear a bp but had a nasty fall earlier this year and the bottom of the bp (racesafe) dug into my back. I really don’t care what anyone thinks or says, laugh away.. :D I’ve been good naturedly ridiculed for wearing it on my 13.1hh highland pony, she’s 4 and green and although I have every faith in her genuine nature even if the worst she does is trip and fall, I might be glad one day I have it on :) I’ve heard of more nasty falls recently where horses have tripped than ever before. I’ve got a 2 year old little boy who relies on me and my only family is my husband who is self employed.. i cant afford to be laid up.

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dressage ;) pony standing like a donkey but you get the jist of how the hitair looks over a show jacket!
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After watching my partner fall off at a slow trot in the school last friday, I will now always wear my air jacket....he's been inthe HDU since I took himto A&E with a massive internal bleed and is lucky to be alive having bled out 5 units of blood. It was the most innocuous fall I have ever seen yet with catastrophic consequences!
 
Always , air jacket & bp , not allowed to ride without , so say my family and friends . An up & over last year has left me an incomplete paraplegic with titanium rods ( onto second set, snapped first lot :( ) and spinal cage . I've just got onboard my first ever horse , a young cob , and I would hate to think Id left my air jacket in the tack room because I was only going round the block and the worst happened . If you have one , why not wear it I say .
 
Haven't got one at moment - too heavy to ride but doing something about it. BUT - at 60+ with arthritis and osteoporosis and a newly backed youngster (being started and brought on by best mate at moment - I hope to be riding in 12 months) I shall be investing in one and donning it every time I am in the saddle, whatever we are doing, like my hat!
 
tamsinkb said:
After watching my partner fall off at a slow trot in the school last friday, I will now always wear my air jacket....he's been inthe HDU since I took himto A&E with a massive internal bleed and is lucky to be alive having bled out 5 units of blood. It was the most innocuous fall I have ever seen yet with catastrophic consequences!
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Oh gosh that sounds awful, I hope he recovers quickly. How scary for you. Do you think if he'd been wearing his air jacket he'd have avoided his injuries?
 
It's interesting to hear about those who are wearing them because of an injury which means they are now fragile and can't risk another accident. I wonder if it takes either having an accident or seeing a loved one having an accident to make the leap to wearing the air jacket full time.
 
I wear mine every time I ride. Will ride if I have forgotten it or something, but can't see the point of having one and only wearing it sometimes. i work for myself and live on my own. If I get hurt it will be a total pita. I see it as just taking sensible precautions.
 
I used to wear mine all the time but I lost a lot of weight so it's really big on me now.
Can't afford to buy another smaller one :(
 
Elvis said:
It's interesting to hear about those who are wearing them because of an injury which means they are now fragile and can't risk another accident. I wonder if it takes either having an accident or seeing a loved one having an accident to make the leap to wearing the air jacket full time.
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An interesting point!

For me it was my OH , he bought my BP . It is his only request, he rarely has an opinion about what I do with my horses. However he insists on this, Sweet I guess but very sensible. My BP gave up this year and I tried a point two and loved it so made the change. Not tested it out yet, let's hope I can avoid that!!!!:)
 
fairyclare said:
Now, every time I ride, hacking, dressage (even comps!) and jumping - never ride without it......

However, I was show jumping without it in June, had a reasonably nasty fall, partially ruptured my left kidney and badly broke me left wrist - cue a week in hospital on HDU. The wrist was unavoidable, i'd have broken it regardless due to the way I fell, the kidney was totally avoidable had I been wearing the air jacket!
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Ha reasonably nasty! That sounds more than reasonably nasty- I hope you recovered swiftly!
 
redders said:
Ha reasonably nasty! That sounds more than reasonably nasty- I hope you recovered swiftly!
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I am going back to work tomorrow, 1st day back since the fall - I am recovered!! Still have to be very careful with the kidney although it doesn't give me any real bother.
The wrist is plated and is very strong again, I had to have a second op on the hand as the original break caused the tendon in my thumb to rupture.

2 bits of good have come of this, 1) I now wear my air jacket (I have 2, I have no reason to ever get on without 1 of them on!)
2) I have spent so much time in and around the physiotherapy departments at hospital and a police rehab centre (I am a police officer) that I have decided to follow something I started when I was working with horses - back to uni to do a degree in Physiotherapy!

Sorry for the post hi jack!
 
My boyfriend wandered around your horse live a few weeks ago without me (he is not really horsey so got bored of my shopping!) and came back at the end of the day sounding like a point two salesman. And I do keep wondering if he's right, and if it will take a bad accident to make me take notice and get one. The probability of coming off my horse is a lot higher than with a lot of other horses, I had a bad fall last month that left my helmet with a big hole in it. My biggest worry is that at some point when the jacket goes bang it will scare the life out of him and he'll take off across a road or something. Understandably my boyfriend thinks that my safety is much more important than my horses, and after all, what would happen to my horse if I was badly injured anyway. But like the rest of you say I'd have to be sure I wore it all the time. My last 3 falls have been in the flat, 1 out hacking, 1 in XC warm up and one on the flat XC schooling.
 
Elvis said:
Oh gosh that sounds awful, I hope he recovers quickly. How scary for you. Do you think if he'd been wearing his air jacket he'd have avoided his injuries?
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Almost certainly, nothing broken, so the internal bleed was caused by the impact and his pelvis being forced upwards diagonally, air jacket would have prevented the worst of the movement...he may still have been sore, but not facing a prolong3d period in hospital!
 
Elvis said:
It's interesting to hear about those who are wearing them because of an injury which means they are now fragile and can't risk another accident. I wonder if it takes either having an accident or seeing a loved one having an accident to make the leap to wearing the air jacket full time.
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I started wearing mine full time a year ago at my partners insistence (ironically) and have fallen off once with it on...at high speed onto a tree root from my 17.2 TB....it probably saved me a severely damaged back. Until that point I would happily have ridden without any form of bp as I had for nearly 30 years. I have been known to school without it on, but not any longer!
 
Do you not have to wear a bp under your air jacket? Or am I thinking of eventing where you have to wear a bp regardless?
AJ on it's own, looks handy.
 
Im a mum and therefore practice what i preach, i insist both daughters wear them all the time, without waiting for that nasty accident before actioning. If i show them i do, they respect my decision and follow my lead.
 
Are they better than BP's? I'm recovering from a nasty fall out hacking on the road - I always wear my BP, but I broke my left femur. I can't work out whether I would have more injuries without it or I would have been less stiff and therefore less likely to have gone splat on falling? I've worn a BP (aero wear) for all horsey riding for 12 months after docs and OH asked me to. Would an air jacket have inflated out and helped absorb the impact?
 
I don't ride without it, whether it be my sharp young hirse or bombproof old mare if I don't have it I don't ride. We do everything Rc In it
 
I recently bought a Hit-Air. I've only worn it once so far, for a team chase, and horse has been on holiday since then basically! I plan to wear it for XC schooling, XC phase of eventing, TC if I do any more, plus am going to be occasionally riding a friend's horse so will probably wear it if I jump him.
 
Ceriann said:
Are they better than BP's? I'm recovering from a nasty fall out hacking on the road - I always wear my BP, but I broke my left femur. I can't work out whether I would have more injuries without it or I would have been less stiff and therefore less likely to have gone splat on falling? I've worn a BP (aero wear) for all horsey riding for 12 months after docs and OH asked me to. Would an air jacket have inflated out and helped absorb the impact?
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It would be hard to answer that, but from my own experience I find a BP quite restricting, pretty much every fall I've had with a BP on (when I'm forced to wear one) I've landed flat on my back, been winded and sore the next day. The two falls I had with my air jacket on I bounced straight back up, felt fine and wasn't sore at all the next day.
 
Elvis said:
It would be hard to answer that, but from my own experience I find a BP quite restricting, pretty much every fall I've had with a BP on (when I'm forced to wear one) I've landed flat on my back, been winded and sore the next day. The two falls I had with my air jacket on I bounced straight back up, felt fine and wasn't sore at all the next day.
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Thanks - I find mine quite comfy to ride in but it's the worst injury I've had and whilst I had very little other damage (remarkably v little given I had a displaced femur) impact appears to have been on the back of my left leg. It might just be the fall but I have considered whether it made me rigid on the way down and left my floppy unprotected legs to take the impact.
 
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