Discover Why Riding Horses is 350% More Dangerous Than Riding A Motorcycle And How You Can Mitigate Injury And Death

I was stuck dangling over top of the fence, one foot stuck in the stirrup, and the bones in my arm giving up trying to break my fall.

 “HELP! HELP!” I yelled at the top of my lungs as my horse riding instructor laughed at me.

From her perspective all she saw was a horse with a pumpkin on its foot freaking out, and then throwing me over a fence.

At least my horse, JD, was kind enough to wait so I wasn’t dragged helplessly. For 5 seconds it seemed as if I would be stuck in this awkward position, my face right above the ground. It took 5 seconds until my foot released and my face planted in the dirt.

I really wish my stirrups had a safety latch, but that talk can wait.

Before you read further, I want to express the weight of the situation we are discussing. It is important you pay attention, because this could save your life, or at least prevent a serious injury. Injury that can change not just the course of your riding career, but the course of your entire life. Some products, like the air vest are not for everyone. Check with a medical professional first as the air vest has a magnet inside that can mess with certain medical devices.

I have a few products I’d like to share and dive into the actual studies behind them from hospitals all across the US to show you how important each of these are. I truly wish I had known about all of these sooner, luckily I am still in one piece today to tell you about them.

I have been riding Hunter/Jumper for 10 years, and got the chance to talk to hundreds of equestrians about their experiences.

There’s also a good chance your horseback riding instructor missed certain safety features of these(especially airbag vests).

Pay attention, this is the most important one. If you only read one of these, THIS would be it.

Riding Helmet

You’ve heard of this one, but maybe it didn’t make sense for you. If so you’re probably like 41% of riders who believe wearing a helmet can be too hot, looks stupid or is simply too uncomfortable.

 Personally, I can tell you I learned the hard way. I never told this to anyone before because I was ashamed, but I want you to see the right path as well. I really hope my horseback riding friends don’t see this.

I was 12 years old and I broke my leg from a horseback riding accident, as a result my helmet broke. At the barn I used to ride, they had community gear that was there in case you didn’t have something. The only helmet they had was a pink rainbow unicorn helmet. As a 12-year old boy, I would have rather died – and I almost did. The other kids at the barn did not hold back and made sure to comment on the stupid helmet I was stuck with.

I had enough with these cruel, unrelenting comments. My embarrassment had surpassed my own standards for safety, and for 3 days I rode with no helmet to silence them. I was leasing a horse so I did rides on my own, and I was jumping a green gate that was 2ft 4in tall. I fell off my horse and landed on my feet. At that moment, I said screw that and begged my parents to buy me a new helmet.

I was so lucky I didn’t land on my head on my rebellious tear. I’m very grateful to be here today and I don’t want you to go through the same thing. Chances are if you don’t wear a helmet, you already have one, but just in case you don’t there’s a few things you need to look for.

Since this is safety-focused, I would look for the helmets with the most safety certifications. Some other important features would be ventilation, extra padding, and of course it should look visually appealing to you. One of the best helmets to wear keeping these factors in mind is the Charles Owen Halo. It has one of the higher price tags, and for good reason, because it is one of the best helmets. It’s not all about the products but it definitely helps.

Horseback Riding Helmet – Charles Owen Halo

Of course we are a business and do want to sell products, but I am looking for the absolute best solutions to preventing injury and death and the science or statistics behind them. My primary intention is to help you be the safest and most comfortable.

So pay attention, I’m about to hit you with some hard facts!

Here’s how I came up with the title: Horse riding is 350% more dangerous than riding a motorcycle.

Hospitals across the US receive 3.5 times more horseback riding patients than motorcycle patients on a daily average. According to the same study, over 100,000 horse riding-related injuries occur yearly in the US, with close to 75% of them being head injuries. This means that 75,000 people in the US get a head-related injury by riding horses. Among the 75,000 people who experience these head injuries, nearly 50,000 of them can be prevented simply by wearing a helmet.

In other words, wearing a helmet can prevent 75% of these hospitalizations relating to a head injury. As in, if you just wore a helmet, you are more than likely not going to need a trip to the emergency room.

I’m about to show you some more crazy stats in the next section, as you will get a more clear picture as to why I have a sense of urgency and how easy it is to prevent injury and death. 

Just because head injuries have the most hospitalizations doesn’t necessarily mean it is the most common injury out of all of them, but it is definitely the most severe, and leads to the most death by far. I also want to give you the full picture of safety, so thank you for attention so far and let’s continue. 

Airvest

I did consider one other type of vest known as a body protector that uses a foam pad as protection, although they did not seem as good overall when compared. For eventing you should wear a body protector, but even then I would combine an air vest with it. 

Of course I had no idea in the 10 years I was riding that air vests even existed, so I cannot relate too much in that regard. When I decided to start my business LuxSteed, one of my friends from the barn I was at told me it would be a good item to sell. Naturally I was very skeptical, like most, of its cutting-edge technology that claimed to inflate with co2 in an instant if you were to fall off the horse. 

She seemed very enthusiastic about its features, and after conducting my own research, I confirmed that it was a great product with science to back it.

The air vest is great for reducing the impact of a fall, or something falling onto you.

This would support the most likely horseback riding accidents, 83% of them being caused by the rider falling off the horse.

When preventing injury and death you want to look for a few things in an air vest. You want it to be light-weight, have cheaper co2 canisters, and protect you in a fall. I don’t think there are particularly bad choices, but definitely get something light-weight that has the best coverage of skin for the best protection. Each one has their own cool features but certain drawbacks as well.

Seaver’s Airbag vest for example has the absolute most light-weight and quickest airbag activation times, but it is entirely reliant on bluetooth sensors instead of other companies that rely on a tether that you connect to the saddle to determine if you had an accident. The bluetooth sensors mean you have to charge a battery, but with the tether you have to remember to attach yourself for each ride. 

Seaver’s Airbag vest is the only one with newer technology, and we are lucky enough to sell them on our website here. Or click the image below:

SAFEFIT – Seaver Airbag Vest

Also the airbag vests make a very loud ‘popping’ noise when they inflate, that is totally normal.

Enough about features.

You cannot deny the facts. Right behind the most common injury areas: head, face, and throat is the abdomen, pelvis, and spine. As long as the air vest protects those areas and inflates promptly in the event of an accident, you are statistically reducing your chances of injury and death further. 

However, there is one really big problem with the airbag vest.

I was going to originally make my own survey but turns out one had already existed, and the big question was: Why were there complaints of airbag vests failing to inflate(along with efficacy)?

The overwhelming number one reason was because of user error. The vest would inflate for the user once and then they would forget to reset the trigger mechanism, next time they would get hurt when the vest didn’t inflate. 

Even if you have a shred of a doubt that there is something you missed, you shouldn’t hesitate to call us or anyone else you buy an airbag vest from to ensure the safety of yourself, your horse, and others.

I would like to once again thank you for sticking with me so far, and you are seriously in the minority by listening to this advice. Because most people stopped on the first page, statistically speaking.

  I’m about to divulge the final product, although certainly not the least important. Personally I think it’s even more important than the air vest thanks to its other benefits including reducing injury and death.

After this last product you will have the full picture of how to keep yourself the absolute safest you can be with the right equipment.

Stirrups  

Stirrups, more specifically, safety stirrups are the way to go. Mainly for its rough tread to stop you from slipping, the safety latch is a nice addition as well so you don’t get dragged helplessly by your own horse. So glad that didn’t happen to me in my unaware state. 

I am embarrassed to admit that once again, after many years of riding, I didn’t know these even existed. This seriously would have saved me so many times from being nearly injured from my foot slipping, but it’s also not fun to have people watch you slip up. 

As I type this I can remember one time when my foot slipped in the middle of a jump and my foot hit the post I was jumping. My ankle twisted far in one direction. This was also during a show, absolutely humiliating. I hate crappy stirrups with no tread now.

Not to mention the shock-absorbing technology that literally absorbs the impact from the ground with metal springs that your feet would be taking.

Which is why, if I do buy new stirrups, I look for a wide footbed with grips(tread), shock absorption, a reliable safety latch, and a size chart.

Currently there are a few good options, one of them being Tech Stirrups’ Venice Plus Evo stirrups with the fastest safety latch, best grip/footbed, and shock absorption. Check them out here:

Horse Riding Tech Stirrups – Venice Plus EVO

They really need to hurry up with their studies, I’m about to make one for everyone that buys one.

As a result, how big of a role safety stirrups play in reducing injury and death has not been refined to a statistic yet.

What we do know from customer reviews is that this is a product that works, and unlike the helmet and air vest, it doesn’t protect you directly, it just makes accidents less frequent as a whole. How much exactly would vary on the user. Not to mention it’s a huge quality of life purchase with shock-absorbing tech and grip.

Looking at it from a standpoint of just reducing injury and death, if you slip in your stirrups a lot, have joint pain, or find yourself having to readjust your foot/leg positioning,  I would absolutely consider buying these. All these factors play a role in your ability to focus on your ride.

Next Steps For You

I hope that you learned something new, more importantly, I hope you will take your riding safety more seriously. Because it is the equipment that does the job, but you have to take it into your own hands to find the best ones for you, maintain them, and use it each ride of course. 

You have now transcended safety standards in riding and are ready to take the next step. I’m not sure how long we can do this for, but I want to try and help every person that reads this book. I would like to offer you a sneak peek to our brand-new course on joint/back pain while riding and how to reduce it. I have here a 100% free PDF of the first two modules and what is to come. In these few pages you will learn:

1. The Impact of Riding on Your Body
2. Consequences of Ignoring Pain
3. The Causes of This Pain

Download this totally free sneak peak of our simple course on joint/back with an email by clicking here!

 If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me personally on our website through the contact page.  

Here’s to a better riding experience for you in the future, so you can reach your full potential in competition or anywhere else

P.S.

Any product you buy that I featured here will come with this course as well with all modules.