Anyone who participates in eventing should be rightly concerned about their safety in the event of a fall and will undoubtedly have heard of Body Protectors, Point Two Air Jackets and the Exo Bodycage. All have their admirers and critics - so lets have a look at these products but first let us consider 'conventional' body protectors.
There are a huge range of body protectors available and all of them are constructed from 'impact foam'. General advice at the moment is to replace body protectors every 3 years as the foam looses its shock absorbent properties. That said; there are models available where the foam does not need replacing, such as the Kan Body Protector.
The vast majority of Body Protectors have a zip up the front and thankfully the days of leg straps are virtually gone. The distinguishing factor tends to be in the foam. All eventing body protectors have to satisfy the BETA level 3 criteria and the foam protection is therefore of a uniform minimum. However, more expensive brands tend to use more flexible foam or 'moulding foam' that greatly increase comfort. Many brands have put huge amounts of research into improving performance without producing a bulky monster of a body protector that is uncomfortable to wear. For example some manufacturers have come up with methods to increase flexibility by using small squares of foam, such as Racesafe's (the current British Junior Team's sponsor) RS 2000.
It is a matter of personal preference as to which type you wear but it is of vital importance to wear one that you feel confident will protect you and one that you are not going to leave hanging in the tack room because it is too uncomfortable to wear!
Before we move on to consider Point Two's there is one addition to a standard body protector that will make the world of difference if you hit the deck - the hardest thing about learning to ride (and we are all learning) - is the ground...
Shoulder pads. Visualise what happens when you are thrown - you are thrown forwards and land on the shoulder region of your upper body. Wearing shoulder pads significantly reduces the risk of a broken collarbone if you land in this way. What is more you will barely notice you are wearing them.
Now lets think about the latest phenomenon to hit the eventing world, the Point Two Air Jackets. Basically the jacket is just like a waistcoat but with a lanyard attached to the saddle. When you fall the lanyard breaks and inflates the jacket in 0.1 seconds, which then provides protection to all major thoracic, upper abdominal organs and to the collar area of the neck. (Studies have shown that these are the most likely body parts to be hurt.)
Recent studies also show that these jackets do not worsen a fall so previous accusations regarding this have been challenged and the critics silenced but there are still other concerns being voiced. For example, some argue that the force required to break the lanyard means the trajectory of a fall is altered so that the rider lands closer to their horse (the danger zone). Critics also say the sound emitted when the CO2 canister inflates the jacket, can terrify a horse. (Having seen several canisters go off including accidents when riders did not unclip themselves before getting off, I have not personally seen any horses bothered by this sound, although all horses are different.)
Others have expressed concern saying that if under normal circumstances you could have rescued yourself from a fall (even when thrown out of balance significantly) that a Point Two will have activated by then, thus causing you to continue to fall because you become even more off-balance. On the other hand, lets face it how many times does an average rider manage to pull themselves back if thrown that far - given the length of the lanyard it would have to be a very impressive recovery.
Remember that the Point Two does have to be worn over a conventional body protector, as it will not inflate until you are well out of the saddle. This means that if the horse were to fall with you or say, run into a tree, the jacket would not be activated.
On a very positive note, by all accounts Point Two gave out only a small number of jackets for free to top professionals when they launched. Now if you go to any BE event a huge proportion of competitors are wearing them including big (experienced) names - the uptake has been very high, which indicates a belief in the protective benefits of this product.
So some mixed views on the Point Two but frankly it seems a little like the 'should I wear a seat belt/shouldn't I wear a seat belt' debate - there is always the potential for injury (typically of only a minor nature) from the very thing you are using to prevent (typically serious) injury.
Last but by no means least, is the Woof Wear Exo Cage. It is what it says on the packet - a body protector with an aluminium exo skeleton inside. They have different qualities to a Point Two: an air jacket will not protect against crushing injuries whereas an aluminium metal frame will. On the other hand a metal framework provides far less protection from the bog standard bruising that a rider tends to suffer from a fall. Before you ask - no - you cannot wear both together - people have attempted it but it doesn't quite work as the cage moves the jacket too far away from the body.
There you have it - there is such a wide choice of body protection available and thanks to BETA's standards we know that they all meet an appropriate standard. Recent developments mean we are safer than ever before so make sure you keep abreast of this forever moving choice of products by reading equestrian magazines and looking at new products on the equishopping.com equestrian portal. Protect your body - stay safe.
Debbie works for equiShopping.com, an Equestrian portal based in the UK but operating across Europe http://www.equishopping.com/uk/index.htm. The site offers an equestrian only comparison shopping facility for thousands of products for the horse, rider and stable and horse classified ads for horses for sale across Europe and beyond - see http://www.equishopping.com/uk/equestrian-classifieds/index.htm. For Equestrian retailers equiShopping is an on-line route to market - visit the equiShopping Merchant Centre for more information.
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