When to use body protectors?

I wanted a riding coat for the winter and got a Mountain Horse Body Guard one with BP pads built in to the chest, back, shoulder and elbows - it is comfortable and warm and doesn't restrict movement.

It isn't BETA3 approved but the pads are EN1621-1:1998 approved as for motorbike riders crash protection so I reckon it is OK. It also has a pad over the cocyx so that would be protected from a horizontal blow but not from a vertical one.

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I wear one all of the time, regardless of what I'm doing.

I have to - my mum won't let me ride without it (though on holiday, etc, i often don't and I have ridden BP-less in the past).

But also my mum has a friedn who became paralysed following an incident where the green horse she was riding (she specialised in youngsters) reared up completely out of the blue, unbalanced and fell back on her.
She has been in a wheelchair ever since and had to give up all of her horses completely.

I also know someone who was kicked in the chest whilst moving around her horse on the ground, which punctured her stomach and required a lot of serious medical treatment: the doctor later told her that a BP would probably have saved her.

In my opinion, it's just not worth the risk and for all those people who suffer from a lack of confidence - wear a BP! It makes you feel so much more secure and safe knowingly that you have the best protection should anything happen.

Yes, they make you stiff and often feel like cardboard at first whilst being 'broken in'. But if it saves your life ...

xxxxx
 
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Don't know if I've replied to this OP but I wear mine when out hacking and when show regulations stipulate I have to. I HATE wearing them in the summer. I hate feeling sweaty and after a long ride in the summer I'm so hot from wearing my body protector it makes my skin crawl.
 
I wear mine for jumping and XC. Last year I fell off my old horse when he cat leapt a drop jump and spun off to the right. I landed with my back on the log at the bottom of the drop jump and came away without even a bruise thanks to my BP. Had I not been wearing it, I could have ended up with a broken back :eek:
 
I learnt to ride nearly :eek: 40 years ago - no hat, no bridle, no saddle, just a muddy shettie in a muddy field, and a halter :eek:

Daughter has a professionally fitted hat, profesionally fitted body protector, neck strap etc - lessons with a professional - and has to wear hat & bp every single time she gets on, even for 2 seconds.

I broke my back in 1980, I hit a tree head on and it was a compression fracture of the lumber region. A bp would have not made one iota of difference to my injury.

BUT I also had a few falls where it would have taken some of the impact from a hoof - in 1984 I had a skull fracture from a fall in a jumping competiton where my hat (remember when you put the strap over the front of the hat - you'd never ever acutally use the strap - that was just SO uncool) - flew off. The horse caught my head with her shod hoof and my skull got knackered :rolleyes:

Which is why I feel a small child should wear a bp as if they fall, and get caught by a hoof, it may reduce some of the injury.

She has always worn it and the more she wore it the more it moulded to her so its second nature to her -she is learning to ride with it

I personally don't like them for comfort but I have to wear one as I have to set an example to small child - can't make her do one thing and then myself do something else :(
 
With Samson I ride in a body protector religiously because he is only young and unpredicatable.
 
I Am Ashamed To Admit That Mine Is Gathering Dust In The Tack Room, Saying This When I Was Out With Friends A Couple Of Months Ago, One Of Them Had A Nasty Fall In The Field And Was Taken To Hospital With Damage To Her Shoulder And Neck, Basically The Damage That She Sustained Was Told She Would Be At Risk Of Breaking Her Neck If She Ever Rode Again And Had Another Fall, So I Am Cautious That I Should Probably Be Wearing Mine, But Am Also Aware That They Cant Prevent Serious Injury To Certain Parts Of The Body, My Friend Now Has A Very Expensive Pet Has She No Longer Rides.
 
every time

I wear my body protector all the time. Every single time i ride. Wether its out on a hack, or in the paddock, or even just for a sit. I never even thought of wearing one until about 3 years ago when i was thrown off in the paddock( onto soft sand) and landed flat on my back and broke 2 vertebre in my back!:eek::mad: I didnt think i had done much damage apart from being winded badly, until alittle later i wasnt breathing properly so i thought id get it checked. T10 + T12 were broken.
No one fully realises just how bad things could be unless they have had a serious fall. I would NOT ride without one now, you just never know whats round the corner. Im lucky i can still ride. I was thrown off a couple of weeks ago when Mary decided to have a bucking fit when i asked for canter. I landed exactly the same as when i broke my back, and im convinced that if i hadnt had it on i would have broken it again. Would i have been as lucky the 2nd time? I think not.
 
boe said:
I Am Ashamed To Admit That Mine Is Gathering Dust In The Tack Room, Saying This When I Was Out With Friends A Couple Of Months Ago, One Of Them Had A Nasty Fall In The Field And Was Taken To Hospital With Damage To Her Shoulder And Neck, Basically The Damage That She Sustained Was Told She Would Be At Risk Of Breaking Her Neck If She Ever Rode Again And Had Another Fall, So I Am Cautious That I Should Probably Be Wearing Mine, But Am Also Aware That They Cant Prevent Serious Injury To Certain Parts Of The Body, My Friend Now Has A Very Expensive Pet Has She No Longer Rides.
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But the neck wouldn't be protected by a BP - I even heard of someone who went to an A&E department well used to receiving riders, and was told that if she had been wearing a BP the injury to her neck would have been worse due to the rigidity of the BP at the bottom of her neck :eek:
 
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