Body protectors - to wear or not to wear?

[XelaM]

Having just spent £200 (😱) on my daughter's latest body protector, I am told that many actually advise against wearing them because apparently they restrict movement and could make an injury worse? It doesn't quite make sense to me how not wearing one can be safer than wearing one, but apparently it's a popular school of thought.

My daughter does a lot of SJ and the yard (large riding school) we are currently in says body protectors are a must for SJ, but the yard we are moving to in a few weeks (which actually is much more specialist SJ yard than the current one) advises against wearing body protectors for SJ. I find that so strange and quite scary. Surely it is safer to have a buffer between your body and the ground?

So what do you all knowledgeable horsey people think about body protectors?

I hate body protectors and grew up in a time when health and safety wasn't a thing. Think bareback chase me Charlie's, riding around in a headcollar etc. I now personally only wear one when I have to, so doing X country.

They really do affect your riding, and partic in sj where you don't have as much time/space to prepare for a fence I find them restrictive.

Also you have to remember they really weren't a thing up until recently. I spent many happy years at pony club doing horrendously dangerous activities. Lots of Mounted games, riding ponies everyone knew to be unrideable, no saddles, no bridles. my entire childhood I spent being trampled on by naughty and often out of control ponies. It was the norm.

Honestly don't overthink it. Wear it for X country, but unless your daughter is nervous at the thought of not wearing it, I wouldn't put her in one for sj.

Personally I always wear a back protector. Particularly for a younger rider I would be skeptical of those telling her not to wear one. For me the pros would out-way the cons. To put into context I am old enough to have started riding when hats were held on by thin elastic and often fell off before the rider did. When my mother bought me a hat harness, after a nice walk home with concussion, even some folk within the pony club were happy to tell me how dangerous they were as you could get caught in trees! I guess there is this possibility but the risks associated of hitting an unprotected head are no doubt greater. Thanks partly to a campaign by Ester Ranzan things have moved on considerably with hats and I thought the same was more latterly true with back protectors, particularly with the intro of the air ones that many eventers are using. As aside think how many people were also resistant to seat belts in cars and how some riders still won't wear hats. Hopefully someone with more experience of SJ will be able to advise but plenty of people who do lots of jumping seem to manage just fine while wearing them.

I would always advise wearing a body protector!! As a teen I fell off my horse and landed badly on my back. I fractured one vertebrae and crushed another. A body protector would have taken the impact and it would have been very unlikely I would have damaged my spine in such a bad way. Yes they may restrict movement slightly while riding, but in the event of a bad fall they are invaluable. X

They can make you fall a bit funny. I wear one for XC and fast work (taking a horse out on to gallops etc) but nothing else…

I’m an experienced rider but by no means great at SJ or CX, but I always wear one.

I’d consider stopping if there was some sort of research showing they make you fall funny/badly and that could make the fall worse, but wearing one affecting my riding wouldn’t be enough for me to not wear one.

It would affect my riding far more if I permanently injured my back in some way.

My dd only ever wears one for XC and that’s because she has to - she doesn’t wear one for SJ because she says it affects her position in the saddle and makes her more likely to fall off

I had one but never wore it , like the pp I grew up in the days where the hats invariably fell off before you ever hit the ground and in the summers used to hack hatless and in flip flops and shorts - it’s a wonder any of us survived really . I would have thought that if you were taught to ride wearing one it’s second nature but like wearing a seat belt .

Thank you you all! I was just pondering whether I should return it and get my money back 😬or if it's a sensible investment. Not being horsey myself, I have absolutely no idea about how it affects position etc and what that actually means in practical terms. My daughter has had countless falls over the years and the last body protector she had was a very cheap one of Amazon and I don't know whether the body protector actually protected her or whether the fact that it was very flimsy and flexible was actually better because it didn't affect her position 🤷‍♀️ The one we bought yesterday is Racesafe. They are meant to be comfortable, but it's definitely more stiff and bulky than the cheap one she had.

I think they are probably thinking about the inflatable air jackets. There are some kinds of falls where they are meant to increase the risk but others they decrease so not so clear cut.

DD wears hers for XC but not SJ unless the comp rules dictate it.

She does complain that she feels restricted in it and can’t move how she wants, but she also had a nasty XC fall and acknowledges it would have been a lot worse without her body protector

I was advised against them on here and by the stables for Dts apart from Xc. It's a difficult one, I'd be happier if they wore them but I have tried to ride in an admittedly bulky one and it does feel odd.

I have a Racesafe one and now I'm used to it it's v comfortable and flexible. I wear for jumping and honestly don't notice it. I used to avoid wearing the old models as way too restrictive. £200 is a lot but totally worth it.

My daughter wears airowear and says she doesn't even notice it after a few minutes. Her school like them once you are regularly cantering and once you start jumping they do insist.

My DD has racesafe (I think she rides at the same yard you are currently at...) - as long as it's sized correctly (she wears short back length) it shouldn't interfere with position. They are definitely the most flexible we have found.

@DrHildegardeLanstrom Hah, small world! 👋🏻

Most large riding schools insist on them for jumping (I expect it makes their risk assessments look more proactive). However virtually none of the pros my dd rides with wears them unless doing XC. The jumping position for XC is different to that used when showjumping as you need to ride in a more defensive way, so the body protector doesn’t interfere as much. Your dd will have to wear one when doing XC but otherwise I’d go with what her instructor says when doing flat work or show jumping. Dd has a correctly fitted racesafe btw

I don’t ride without one.

Interesting thread. I have a Racesafe body protector which I haven’t worn as it was incorrectly fitted by the saddlery, but that’s another story. However - I have been told by another saddlery I took it to that it wouldn’t protect my back - it’s to protect organs. So I assume there’s a difference between back protector and body protector? I’m a novice as you can probably tell. 😂

My sister wears one (mostly) she has a lot of back problems and it probably saved her an injury when some idiot revved his car on the road and the horse threw her (she ended up on his bones).

Relatives take their kids skiing and they wear them too (and they are doctors and pretty relaxed about things that would freak out other parents).

Bonnet! On the bonnet!!

Racesafes are definitely the most comfortable and flexible option, but I still wouldn't choose to wear one day to day. Mine does affect my flexibility in the saddle, and my ability to fall well out of it, so I only wear it for XC. However, that's not to say that one can't have falls in other disciplines where a BP would help prevent injury - it's a personal risk assessment that has no absolute right or wrong answer.

It's also important to be aware of their limitations - I notice a post in favour of them refers to them as "back" protectors - they aren't actually designed to protect the spine, and will only protect from penetrating type injuries in most cases. They're designed to reduce the risk of injuries to the torso, but will not necessarily protect against spinal injuries. This is why they're referred to as body protectors in marketing.

I don’t wear one for SJ, would for any xc. For people learning to ride I think they make you really restricted and unable to move properly, people appear to bounce in the canter rather than using their backs to absorb the movement.

There's an interesting article here that addresses the pros and cons of wearing one www.horsefactbook.com/fun/equestrian-body-protectors/ It also cites a study in the BMJ which shows they do reduce injuries.

Personally anyone who's ever told me not to wear one has only ever produced anecdote rather than evidence. I suspect if they're not comfortable it's because you're wearing the wrong one for you. I remember the days before many people wore them. I remember being forced into one for cross country and feeling like I was a mutant ninja turtle. But I've had a couple of crashing falls resulting in soft tissue damage to my back of the kind a body protector would probably have reduced, so I do now wear one. The more I've worn it, the more I've got used to it.

A word of warning re. air jackets - they are fail dangerous rather than fail safe. A body protector, if it doesn't work, doesn't create any more danger, so it is fail safe. Air jackets have very occasionally been known to fail to detach, meaning riders have been dragged. So if they fail in that way, they create a danger.

Im in my 50's and grew up in the day when a riding hat was an optional extra for many adventures especially riding back from the field / bareback etc. I wear a body protector for X country, drag hunting and some fun rides and am glad to do so. If I'm doing SJ class that might stretch my horse beyond the comfort zone ( when she might refuse and I therefore might fly off) I do too. Otherwise, I don't ... though I do have a really good hat !

Thank you all! We moved to the new SJ yard I mentioned and they all only use body protectors for XC. I must say it makes me tense 😬but my daughter and her friend (who also moved with us) say it's much more comfortable to jump without a body protector.