Air Jackets

[Flixon]

Any thoughts / advice / experience welcome

Last Saturday I went jumping with my pony. All well till he got scared by some planks and shied. I lost my balance, but didn't fall off, but he's young and the loss of balance scared him into being a bronco... I ended up falling off hard on to my left side and , long story short, I've cracked a couple of ribs which is VERY painful.

I have a race safe that I wear for X country ( because its compulsory) but I've been wondering about an air jacket. On the negative side they are VERY expensive, and I worry that if it went off when I was on board the horse would freak... how likely is that ? Anyone fallen whilst using one ? How did you choose which one to get ?

I don't seem to bounce these days and although I don't fall off very often, when I do ( almost always when jumping ) I seem to injure myself !

Air jackets seem like they should be a really good idea. However, there are a few things to be aware of - there isn’t a set standard of minimum requirements that air jackets have to meet, unlike body protectors and riding hats. They go off when pressure is exerted on the lanyard attaching them to the tack - this means that they don’t always go off in some of the most serious rotational falls when the horse and rider fall together. And they can sometimes go off unintentionally - usually when the rider forgets to unclip before dismounting but one of dd’s friends from pony club had a nasty fall at an event partly caused by an air jacket. She was jumping from light into shade, her horse found it difficult to read the jump and massively over jumped bouncing her out of the saddle. She was getting her balance back but unfortunately her air jacket just registered that she was momentarily out of the saddle and inflated - the noise terrified an already adrenalised horse - he started to buck, this time she did come off and her horse took off, jumped out of the park and was eventually found half an hour later by the onsite vet team in a field two miles away, surrounded by bullocks and with his legs cut to ribbons by barbed wire. Thankfully they both had relatively superficial injuries and both made a full recovery but it was extremely scary. Our pony club banned air jackets from rallies after that. I know that some of them are much quieter when they go off and of course horses vary in how sensitive they are to noise but it’s something worth bearing in mind. I’m sure they are very useful in certain types of fall but they’re not a universal panacea.

our local show centre has banned them in the warmup as they’d cause chaos if one went off, I have also heard horror stories like PPs where someone’s got a bit left behind or jumped out of the plate but would have stayed off and it’s gone off and scared their horse.

Personally I see the benefits but also the less good and they aren’t for me

I know folk always talk about the horror stories but I personally don’t know anyone who has had a bad experience. They are lightweight, much more comfortable than regular body protectors and work really well.
i came off schooling my mare xc and hit a tree, air jacket inflated and definitely saved me from more damage, orthopaedics definitely thought so.

We all have them in our class ( ladies of a certain age). My friend came off and had a neck injury and her neurologist advised her against getting back on a horse without one. Since then we have all had a fair few falls, nothing untoward happened - no huge explosion and the bag inflated perfectly. Also, super comfortable.

The pop they make can spook some horses but it's rare in my experience, and the newer ones are much quieter. The early ones sounded like gunshots.

On balance, having had a life changing riding accident which would have been avoided if I had been wearing one, I think they are brilliant. My kids wear them too.

Generally you only forget to unclip once when dismounting as it's an expensive mistake to make.

Lots of people use them at my stables, I use DDs occasionally. They don't go off unless you come off and, at least where I ride, the horses are absolutely fine with it.

It is true that in certain circumstances ( horse rolling on you) they offer less protection that a rigid body protector but you forget you are wearing one and they don't constrain you in the same way.

At LaMotte last year ( french open) it was like a shooting range with airbags going off every few minutes, usually to a chorus of "20 euros" - the cost of a cartridge.

Forgot to say it's worth going to a specialised shop and trying them on because the fit is very different between models.

Having previously been a skeptic I am a convert to air jackets, the more modern models go off with much more of a delicate pop and less of a huge bang, of course it still has the potential to spook your horse further once you're already off which is a bit of a concern when hacking as of course ideally you'd keep hold of the horse if you have a soft fall, but it's not the big deal it once was - you do need to get into the habit of unclipping yourself before you get off or you will cost yourself £££ in gas canisters, and they are quite pricey to purchase, but infinitely more comfortable to ride in than hard shell body protectors and certainly safer than riding without any kind of body protector, but it's all a balancing act and risk assessment depending on what activity you're doing and your knowledge of your horse etc...

I have one, as does my son.
Surprisingly not once have either of us forgotten to unclip before dismounting.
My son has fallen off a few times while wearing one and the pony or others around him have never been bothered at all. He wears his at pony club and at competitions.

I know they wouldn't necessarily help if a horse falls on top of you but not much would.