What safety equipment do you wear?

What safety items do you use most times you ride?

  • None

    Votes: 2 1.8%

  • Helmet only

    Votes: 75 67.0%

  • Air jacket + Helmet

    Votes: 17 15.2%

  • Body protector + Helmet

    Votes: 22 19.6%

  • Gloves

    Votes: 71 63.4%

  • Proper riding boots

    Votes: 78 69.6%

  • Cricketers box

    Votes: 1 0.9%

  • Hi-viz

    Votes: 68 60.7%
  • Total voters
    112
The Trooper

The Trooper

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Off the back of the Air Jacket thread, i'm curious to know what people use. I don't suppose anyone who uses an AJ or body protector wouldn't wear a helmet so that is why those options arent there. Please answer honestly and feel free to discuss below.

Personally I only ever wear a helmet. I don't think i'd be comfortable in any sort of substantial torso protection however if all goes to plan and i get Bonnie out XC i believe i will be required to wear a body protector for trials/classes/competitions etc?
 
always a proper hat (except sometimes competing when I can wear a top hat)

No longer own a BP since I stopped competing xc. I'd consider an air jacket but tbh the horses I have at the moment would probably object to the sound of one going off so I'd be a bit concerned about making little whoopsies worse (tho obv it might be very helpful in the case of a bad fall :confused:)
 
Its been a very long time since I rode without a helmet, but I got a body protector when I came off 3 years ago and hurt my back. It was a twist injury so unlikely the BP would have helped, but I was paranoid for a while about coming off an re-injuring it so got a BP.

I don't wear it all the times. Always out hacking and in the school if the horse is a bit fresh.
 
You're missing a few things that many people would consider safety equipment.

  • Some people insist on wearing gloves, not just for comfort and warmth.
  • I always ride in either ankle boots or (most of the time) full height boots.
  • I've often thought that I should get myself a cricketer's box.

I've not worn a body protector, yet. I'm naturally warm, and when both working physically and concentrating mentally, I get even hotter. It would be a requirement if I was doing XC jumping, but I don't wear one for hacking, either. It might have saved me from some nasty bruising when I fell twice in the space of ten or fifteen minutes, onto packed soil, rocks and tree roots... but I survived with no permanent damage, anyway.
 
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I wear a hat whenever I ride, but only a BP when I'm doing XC or backing a baby.

If you go XC OP, you will need a level 3 body protector with either a 2009 or 2018 date on the label.

Fiona
 
Keith_Beef said:
You're missing a few things that many people would consider safety equipment.

Some people insist on wearing gloves, not just for comfort and warmth.
I always ride in either ankle boots or (most of the time) full height boots.
I've often thought that I should get myself a cricketer's box.
Click to expand...

Those didn't occur to me, i have added them and also enabled multiple selections to be made as well.
 
Keith_Beef said:
You might want to change "Helmet Only" to "Helmet", and also remove the "+ Helmet" from the other options
Click to expand...


That was my intention but unfortunately i'm not able to change the options as they have been voted on. The poll was more to satisfy my curiosity so it doesn't need to be 100% accurate.

On another thread there is a discussion about air jackets and torso protection seems to be quite common place. On my livery yard there are only 3 that i see regularly wearing such safety gear, 2 of which are under 16 and do so at their parents insistence i'm sure.

I just wanted to see how common place these items really are.
 
The Trooper said:
That was my intention but unfortunately i'm not able to change the options as they have been voted on. The poll was more to satisfy my curiosity so it doesn't need to be 100% accurate.

On another thread there is a discussion about air jackets and torso protection seems to be quite common place. On my livery yard there are only 3 that i see regularly wearing such safety gear, 2 of which are under 16 and do so at their parents insistence i'm sure.

I just wanted to see how common place these items really are.
Click to expand...

I see a lot of young girls wearing body protectors, a couple of adult women wearing them too. I've not yet seen anybody wearing an air jacket, though a friend told me she had seen them at a fair, and was thinking about getting one for her daughter who competes in XC.
 
For schooling I wear...
- Hat
- Gloves (not for safety, just hate the feel of reins without them)
- Proper long boots (again not really for safety, but prefer wearing my stiff boots when schooling as they remind me not to draw up my legs)

When hacking I wear...
- Hat
- Gloves
- Boots (soft ariat ones so my "good" ones don't get scratched)
- Hi Viz (jacket for me, boots, saddle pad, ears and depending on weather a quarter sheet for M)

I do have a BP but only tend to wear it if I'm on a youngster or jumping/at a sponsored ride. Possibly foolish, but I feel it would restrict my ability to sit to some of M's more abstract moves so I'm better off without it for the most part.
 
Hat always and either boot and chaps or long boots. Only wear a BP for xc (reluctantly, I hate wearing it!). I don't like riding in gloves but will when it's cold.
 
Hat, gloves and proper riding boots or short boots and leather gaiters, hi viz for hacking.

I insist on children here wearing a BP if having a jumping lesson but not the adults as it is their choice, no one on my yard owns an air jacket and I cannot remember the last time I wore a BP, probably the last time I went xc which was some years ago, it never got used for backing youngsters and must have been binned.
 
Strapped hat always, boots or paddock boots and chaps.
Always wear jods too rather than jeans ('cos jeans can chaff knees and ruin saddles)
Sleeved top - drummed in from childhood
Hate gloves so only in bad weather or lunging/long reining
Ambivalent about body protectors, but wonder if that's because I've not found the right fitting one yet. Did use one for backing though.

Hi-viz when hacking
safety stirrups on saddle
 
One of my regular instructors insists on long boots or short boots plus chaps, as a member of her family had a serious injury to her calf being stood on in a fall.

I don't ride without as I like the grip of chaps, but it has caught the odd lesson participant out....

Fiona
 
A hat is the absolute minimum i will ride in.

I tend to ride in the correct footwear as well but there has been occasions when I have forgotten to change my boots for 'riding boots' or in the summer, wore 3/4 length leggings and ankle yard boots to have a quick hack in.

I only wear BP for XC and gloves I usually wear but often forget!
 
I'm another who covers her shoulders, even in the hottest weather, having seen too many cases of "gravel rash" from riders falling while wearing a vest. I can cope with scrazed arms but shoulders are a different matter!
 
At work i wear a hat, body protector, proper boots with chaps abd gloves on the gallops. At home i wear a hat and boots for breaking in but other than that safety gear is optional ...
 
Most time I ride is hacking.
Always wear my hat and hi viz.
Footwear tends to be muckboots as forget to change into my riding boots.
Always wear gloves as find them comfy - didn't used to wear them ever but had to get used to wearing them for competing and continued using them.
I have a Racesafe BP but don't wear it as current hi-viz doesn't fit over it.
 
I always wear a hat. I wear gloves if it's cold and I remember. I usually ride in country boots, but will wear long boots/short boots and chaps for lessons. I have a bit of a clashy-clashy problem when it comes to hi-viz, and bare minimum for hacking out is yellow leg wraps, pink exercise sheet with red light on the bum, and yellow breast strap, and orange vest for me. If I know I'll be on the roads, I'll also add wrist bands or hi-viz gloves to make my signals more visible, and carry a hi-viz crop.

I've never even tried on a BP or an air jacket, but I don't do anything very adventurous. I may invest in an air jacket if I start getting out more, but BPs look really uncomfortable. Also, the time I did break my back, it wouldn't have been helped at all by wearing one.
 
I always wear a hat and gloves - I hate riding without gloves and I wouldn’t get on any horse without a hat ever. 95 % of the time I wear long boots but occasionally will ride in short boots if I have them on from the yard and just pootling down the lane or something. Air jacket sometimes but not often and a back protector only when across country.
 
Always a hat, and hi viz for hacking. I also carry a phone and Swiss army knife. I used to wear my BP a lot, and it was very comfortable but as I mostly ride a 13.2 at the moment I don't bother. False sense of security I suppose. I am thinking about upgrading to an air vest when I back the youngster though, as I need to save as much weight as I can. I think we'll probably do a bit of jumping, and there are some good logs and low walls on our hacks so I'd rather have something as I'd prefer not to make an orphan of Baby NB.
 
moleskinsmum said:
I'm another who covers her shoulders, even in the hottest weather, having seen too many cases of "gravel rash" from riders falling while wearing a vest. I can cope with scrazed arms but shoulders are a different matter!
Click to expand...

I hadn't really considered a proper long-sleeved shirt to be protective gear... I burn easily in the sun, and many of the paths we hack along in the forest are bordered by thorns: climbing roses, hawthorns, blackthorns, brambles, robinia...
 
What's a cricketers box?

I wear hat and BP everytime I ride, BP is from parents insistence I wear one as a child it's just stuck, I now have a race safe so I don't really notice I have it on. Hat wouldn't get on a horse without one.

I wear hi via tabbard everytime I hack.

I stable at a riding school and interestingly a lot more of the people having lessons now wear body protectors than when I used to be an rs client, I was one of the few now they are a lot more of a standard item.

If I did xc I'd probably invest in an air jacket.
 
As a happy hacker I wear helmet and body protector. I hate hi viz but wear it. Having come off in the wrong footwear I now wear boots to reduce the chance of my she getting stuck again. That was painful.
 
Boxes ticked!

Sorry but there are some of us who have no idea what a "cricketers box" is??? And would you wear this riding??

Re. footwear where it mentions special equestrian footwear; some yards I'm aware of, are now insisting on steel-toecapped boots - as part of my job I regularly accompany special needs learners to a BHS training yard, where ALL of us have to wear steel-toecaps........
 
What constitutes "proper" riding boots? I mostly wear Ariat ankle boots, but also hack in mid-calf muck boots (with heel and chunky tread) when it's very wet. I don't think they'd qualify, given that I think chunky tread is frowned upon as something that might potentially catch on the stirrup. Still, I have an old pair of Barnes Buckles on my stirrups, so feel pretty safe in that respect.
 
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