The "freak" accident

[sally]

Often when I hear of a really bad horse/rider accident, it is referred to as a "freak" accident:something occuring to a reasonably well trained rider mounted on a well known, good minded horse. Of course, we all know "anything can happen".

Yesterday, my horse saw something out of the corner of his eye
that I didnt, and he spooked and bolted so badly I had no time to
think as I flew off his back, landing flat on my back, 15 feet behind him. Fortunately, I landed on a "forgiving" surface, the crumb rubber footing of an indoor arena. I am sore, but not hurt.
And I had a helmet securely on.

Horse has shied at certain things before,( like soccer flags in a field) but I have always "seen" the problem and anticipated it and moved him forward or some other distraction and have stayed on with no incident.

If it had been on the trail, it could have been really bad. Do any of you wear extra safety equipment for less worry about the "freaky" stuff? Do you just accept the risk and hope your number won't come up? Just wondering what you think....I have
been riding for 2 years and seen improvement in my skills and
have fallen before from my own balance "issues" but never from
the horse "freaking"...And my guy is a really good quarter horse!
thanks. sally

[Wally]

There is an old saying that the worst accidents always happen on the best horses. Simply because the rider has come to take for granted the good nature of the horse and ruled out the "freaky" stuff.

I tend only to wear the hard hat unless I'm doing anything really fast at solid objects...which I don't do anymore!.....If I was to X country again I would consider body armour, but I'd probably not wear it in the end!

For everyday mucking about I just wear hard hat and trust in the Almighty.

You may find as you get better a sudden shy, like you describe, won't fetch you off!

[sally]

Well the "shy" doesn't bother me as much as the"bolt"!
But I guess what you are saying is what I know, that you can't
take anything for granted when it comes to a sport with a living
animal, as opposed to a tennis raquet.
(Actually, I got hurt so bad on a tennis court once, after a coach popped a ball at me at 60mph(!) that I ended up in physical therapy for two months with a bad twisted ankle that is still weak.)
Hmm. But...sprained ankles, even broken arms dont scare me
like spine or neck injuries..... S.

[msp]

I tend to try and treat it like driving a car - odds are that sooner or later you will be involved in an accident - it may be your fault, someone else, or no ones - BUT hopefully no one is hurt too badly so you just have to pick yourself up and be thankful!

On the other hand, I also believe in trying to stack the odds... So I always wear a hat, and if I am jumping or its not too hot, a body protector (*). So what if I look look slightly silly, a body protector does you no good if its in the boot of the car :)

(*) After all it doubles up as a waterproof body warmer:)

[Showjumper]

I wear a body protector when jumping, or hacking in a place me and the pony don't know. When I'm schooling a young horse, or bringing an older one back into work, I'll always wear a body protector as well. I rarely fall off from bolts, bucks, rears, or shies - most of my falls occur at halt or walk, so I don't sustain many injuries. As you continue riding and increase in confidence, you should find that you'll be taken by surprised less and less often and start to see things the way the horse does - i.e. that flapping crisp packet will no longer be a harmless piece of rubbish, but a crouching tiger; the coil of rope on the floor is no longer the annoying object trying to trip you up, but a deadly rattlesnake....once you know what can scare a horse you can anticipate them and calm the horse before it spooks. Good Luck! :D

[floppy]

iw ear my hard hat all the time, even if its 35 degrees C and ++
(40 C when i use to ride in turkey)
body protector never worn one before but i think if i was to go back into showjumping..(shoud my riding instructor finally give me a horse that can jump) then i would get one, mainly because i know how painful it is to land flat out on your back on a jump!
but i have never fallen off when a horse has shied or bolted *knock on wood* i seem to stick to the saddle like superglue int hose occasions..the onyl time i fall off is if the horses goes into a buckign frenzy like you see in the rodeos or if i am jumping and choose to jump the jump with out the horse :D
I think ti woudl also depend ont he hrose with me, i woudl never hack out an excitable spook monster of a horse and if i did then i would probably wearing full armour!

[sally]

I have seen protective vests in tack stores( u.s.) but they seem so huge! so thick! and over 300. dollars. Are there any recommended models that are actually comfortable and protective? ( for adult woman)Perhaps my strategy would be to wear it out on trails,
fields or if i get into jumping( so far just baby jumps) but know that in my indoor arena, I am more secure because of the unique
footing...s.

[Wally]

Every set of body armour I've seen comes with a disclaimer form the manufacturer along the lines of:

"This vest will only reduce injuries. Spinal, torsion and crushing injuries are not covered by this item of equipment!"

If you are going to do fast things, at big objects on bold horses you have to accept a degree of risk.

Riding slow, fat, cobby ponies, along quiet bridle ways and roads also involves a degree of risk, you have to decide how much you are willing to take!

[elle]

hi

most of ya probably know by now that i work at a racing stables, and if ever thet put on horse i havnt rode before i always ask, 'whats it like.'

there answer always is 'its a horse, it could do nething'

obviously some horse are gonna be quiet and others nutters, but at the end of the day they all have their moments.

sally, i know *** u mean about bolting, i can normally cope with bucking and rearing without getting to nervous, but when a horse bolts it sacres me, a horse i rode last week was really strong and i couldnt hold her and she bolted quite badly, a horse had never scared me so much before. I dot fall of very often and when i od its for stupid reasons, like the otha month i the horse was broning and i lost my stirrup (my fault) so i slid off cus the horse did a really big buck, then last week a horse i was riding (my fave horse at work) stopped dead from canter and shoulder and it was my fault i fell off beasue i wasnt concentrating, i was to busy looking around.

soz, this was a bit of a long boring message, basically i would just say always wear a hard hat and concentrate on what you are doing, (which is my problem, cus i get distracted easily, im gettin better though):)

[katie_did]

Elle, I'm shocked that they would let you exercise race horses if you were unable to control them or got frightened by it. When I worked at a racing stable, they were very particular about the people that they hired, and would never hire someone who was not able to handle the horses. And to add my two cents to the original topic, I do preliminary jumping and eventing, and never, ever, wear my body protector. My mom bought it for me, because she worries a lot, but I only wore it once. I only wear a helmet at shows and when I'm doing large jumps or out on cross country.

[floppy]

not many people do wear body protectors. the last show i went to there were only 3 people wearing body protectors- one was my cousin, the other was her friend who trains with the same trainer and the other was a short girl riding a big cobby type horse called irish stew(hehe just had to add that in because i thought it was a funny name but suited the horse well)

[msp]

Hi Sally,

It is possible to get a comfortable body protector!

I'm a guy, but mine is unisex and adjustable via two webs on each side and velcro at both shoulders, so I suspect it would fit you too.

It is a Weather Beeta (BETA level 3 (*)) which is made of segmented stuff, which means it bends much more than the old fashioned ones do. The more modern styles are also much shorter in the front and so don't dig in when you crouch for a jump.

Price was about 80 pounds uk (so I guess multiple by 1.6 for US dollars?), I'm sure its much less than 300 dollars.

The downside is that they are hot, and some people think you are a bit of a wimp! On the other hand, if I go over the top and land on a jump I am much less likely to end up with a load of broken ribs - I think the trade off is ok! Though I must admit I don't wear it when the sun is shining, unless jumping...

I was gald I was wearing it today, stayed on but we met someone on the hack who promptly cantored off at high speed, and all 4 horses bolted all the way round the field, including a dicey downhill bit....

(*) BETA level 3 is a UK rating, meaning rated for all riding, the lower levels 1 and 2 are only for professionals and jockeys!

[sally]

RE body protectors, I thank you for your comments. As always,
I suppose common sense must prevail. I know nobody will guarantee anything on a protective vest, I guess, and there is the wimp factor, but if you are a 46 year old novice, riding in front of
all the smarty, bareback cantering teens, there already is a sense
of " care not what they think, care more how we do better each time". All further comments welcome! Sally

[floppy]

being armoured up can be a good confidence giver too so i hear!
If the body proctector is so expensive int he usa, do you know where it comes from? dont they maake their own theere?only askign because one of the expensive riding shops (which happens to be the only shop where i can buy things that fit me)orders alot of things from england, i got a new riding hat just before christmas and i foudn out that they order them from england so i got a catalogue and ordered it myself from england and it cost me £10 less.

[katyptaty]

i am sure that you can buy from some of the UK online stores and have it shipped to the US.... $300 sounds ridiculously expensive! As MSP mentioned, they are normally about £80 which is approx $190... with probably $30 on top for postage.

i had a bad accident 1.5 years ago after a train went over a bridge we were under. i vowed then that i would get a body protector. Much to my detriment i have not yet done so but know that if i don't very soon, fate will dictate that something will happen again whilst on the horse and i will think 'oh why did i not.....'

the ones we have over here are not unattractive i don't think. i am so used to seeing them that they have become part of the landscape...

Also, remember that older bones take longer to heal and we oldies know what pain feels like. The 'Smarty bareback cantering teenagers' have not as yet got any fear hence can be - smarty bareback cantering teenagers.

good luck. if you need any help with websites, just post a message and we will all be able to help.

[Bebe]

I never used to wear a body protector until I started hacking out on riding school horses a couple of years ago. The ground that these people were willing to canter on scared me, very stony and rocky and just asking for trouble imo. I didn't have much say in the matter, and they only hacked out in Summer (I started there in winter) so I got a body protector for one of those just in case moments. Thankfully I never fell off on hacks, did a couple of times in lessons though.

I was also riding a flighty mare at the time who can do a mean spin and bolt. The body protector gave me a little more piece of mind, and probably saved me from serious bruising one time when we got tangled in a gate and I fell onto concrete.

I recently stopped wearing it for hacking, mainly because my horse is less likely to do anything too bad (still possible though), and in the heat of this summer it was making me feel ill. I'll probably start wearing it come winter though, my horse will be exercised less so may be a bit fresher and we also do more riding on the roads. I'll always wear it when riding a strange horse or jumping.

Whilst it might not prevent an injury, it may well reduce it and it's a small price to pay just for that if you ask me.

[lamprellsarah]

i alway wear a hat and i always wear a body protector.
i lot of people don't wear BP but i had a very bad accident while doing a cross country jump, if i hadn't have been wearing my BP i would have broken my back, i was lucky i did slightly dislocate it and badly pull my muscles and bruise it. i still slightly suffer on my very lower back (monkey stump area)
my friend wasn't so lucky was a showjumper and has 40 horses, she only two weeks ago fell off her horse and broke her back she can longer do anything except lay on her back for the next year or so and let it mend but she will never be able to drive or do any sport again.

also a BP is a confidence giver to those who often feel unsafe.
and once you have heard these type of horror storys you will never want to take one off

[Janey Painy]

Having fallen off nearly 100 times, I can tell you that body protectors really do make a difference! Mine is the highest standard, a really fat ugly black thing, but falling off feels like a leap onto a cloud! I had a very bad fall in December, I still can't remember what happened since I was knocked out for I don't know how long. My hat (which was a VERY good hat!) was cracked, but all I suffered was bruises and neck ache (I did go to hospital to get x-rays etc though). I put this down to the protection I had on. I just believe safety comes first. No matter what the cost or how stupid we might look.

I think for hacking out and jumping and XC a body protector should always be worn. But for flatwork in a controlled environment I always think the bulkyness gets in the way and messes up my riding. If they invented one that was much thinner and more flexible I'd wear it all the time. Well, all the time I'm riding that is!

God bless,
Janey

[elle]

slightly different but for motor bike riders they make back protectors out of kevlar, its a really hard, i htink almost indestructable material, my dad has one and its only 1/2 inch think at the most,

if they made one a body protector out of kevlar for horse riders they might cost a lot but they would be much more comfy and easier to ride in.