Well I tried out the air jacket today.

Kite_Rider

Cantering cabbage!
May 18, 2009
11,159
9,496
113
Not literally thankfully! Felt a bit weird going out for a hack with 'nothing on' as it were as I'm so used to putting my BP on before a hack. After a while though it all felt normal and you honestly can't tell your wearing anything, have to say it feels very liberating, nice not to be trussed up like a turkey, the only downside at this time of year is it's flippin chilly brrrrr but all in all I love it and I didn't forget to unclip when I got off either :) just wish I had bought one earlier now. No more chaffed under arms in the summer for me (the velcro on my BP is horrible for that)
 
Sounds good! So you don't have to wear a bp with it? I am confuses cos I thought you still had to wear both? Please enlighten - I keep reading about this but am still not clear. Thanks.
 
You don't have to for general riding - it is just a choice. However, if you are competing in XC (for example) where a BP is compulsory you must still wear one but you can but the air jacket on top (but not instead of a BP)
 
You don't have to for general riding - it is just a choice. However, if you are competing in XC (for example) where a BP is compulsory you must still wear one but you can but the air jacket on top (but not instead of a BP)

Ah right. Is that because xc is more risky in a falling sense?
 
I was worried for a second when I saw the thread title but so glad kr! I know what you mean with the cold but it is very liberating not wearing a bp. I hope to get an air jacket when i can afford one. Which one did you plump for in the end?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kite_Rider
Ah right. Is that because xc is more risky in a falling sense?

I would think so. You are generally travelling faster and the objects you are jumping are usually "fixed" and heavy, unlike showjumps, they are not as forgiving if you fall off onto them! There there is the higher chance of things like rotational falls. I don't think it is only to do with the risk of crush injuries.
 
I was worried for a second when I saw the thread title but so glad kr! I know what you mean with the cold but it is very liberating not wearing a bp. I hope to get an air jacket when i can afford one. Which one did you plump for in the end?

I went for the Point 2 - I tried the point 2 at HOYS last year and was impressed then by their customer service. Bought from Two Times Tack following on from Squidsins thread. It was a £175 bargain!
 
I find it interesting that the air jacket isn't considered as safe as a pb in the eyes of xc.
My bp I don't know I am wearing, but I realise not everyone feels that.

I am glad the thread is about testing it out and not in the falling off sense. I would worry about it going off when it shouldn't and forgetting to unclip.
 
They do different jobs. Going xc is the highest risk sport ( worse accident record than F1) a conventional BP will provide protection for your upper body organs ribs etc in a fall including hitting a solid object. The worst sort of fall is when the horse rotates and falls on the rider trapping them on the ground or betweeen horse and jump. As the result of a series of high profile accidents resulting in rider deaths ( one being my husbands's God Daughter at Thirlastone in 1990) two things happened, air jackets to protect agaist crush injuries and frangibel pins to allow jumps likely to cause rotational falls, collapse on impact.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessey
newrider.com