Comments on: Do seatbelts on horses improve safety?

Question: Do seatbelts on horses improve safety?

UbuRoivas — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:31:06 -0800

If you wore a seatbelt on a horse, would you be safer or less safe than if you didn't use a seatbelt?

By: n'muakolo

n'muakolo — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:32:57 -0800

Less safe! You're kidding, right? You need to be able to get off that thing, if he decides to roll, or run dangerously close to a wall or fence or tree, etc.

By: violetk

violetk — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:35:13 -0800

omg, less safe! what n'muakolo said.

By: HotPatatta

HotPatatta — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:35:26 -0800

It would make it very uncomfortable to ride the horse when it's trotting or galloping. Perhaps tail bone or spinal damage due to repetitive shock?
If the horse falls over, it would easily roll over on the rider because rider can't roll away before the horse hits the ground.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:35:38 -0800

Well, seeing as most injuries that happen when horseback riding come from falling off the horse, I would disagree. I rode horse for more than a decade when I was younger and never needed to leap off one.

By: HotPatatta

HotPatatta — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:36:14 -0800

You need to be able to get off that thing, if he decides to roll, or run dangerously close to a wall or fence or tree, etc.

Or a cliff.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:37:15 -0800

Because horses would rarely run directly in to immobile objects (as a car may be prone to), but are quite likely to buck, roll, fall, or run under something too short for the rider to pass under I think this would be a losing proposition.

By: violetk

violetk — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:39:13 -0800

particularly as because, if you are riding a horse at anything more than a walk, you are not really "sitting" in the saddle so much as elevating off it by standing in the stirrups so that you're not getting your ass pounded by the saddle from the movement of the horse. that's why you need to be gripping the horse with your thighs to stay on.

By: kellyblah

kellyblah — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:47:02 -0800

In the times I was thrown from a horse, if I were somehow attached, or somewhat belt in, I think I would have been a lot more damaged. The spine injuries mentioned, also, if the person getting tossed about gets partially disentangled, but remains tethered somewhat... you could be dashed into a rail or tree or whatnot.

By: click

click — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:58:23 -0800

Less safe! I "needed to get off that thing" and I actually was near a cliff. Many broken bones and physical therapies later I still had nightmares about being unable to jump ship due to a stirrup mishap or similar.

No horsey seatbelts!

By: fshgrl

fshgrl — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:18:58 -0800

ex-pro trainer and long time catch-rider here.

if you are riding a horse at anything more than a walk, you are not really "sitting" in the saddle so much as elevating off it by standing in the stirrups

uh. no.

You don't stand in the stirrups, most of your weight should be in your inner thigh or, in an active full-seat, dividied between your legs, seatbones and pubic arch.

Seatbelts= super-fucking-bad idea. Falling off a horse sucks for sure, but getting fallen on= SO MUCH WORSE. Take it from someone who has done both, anything that involves your potentially unconscious body being somehow attached to a horse? not good. AT ALL.

Side saddle is quite dangerous for that very reason, it is too hard to jump free. The two-head version of side saddle was invented in the 1800s and many women have been killed or maimed since because they couldn't bail out over a fence once it all started to go pear-shaped. Once you start to go ass-over-tea-kettle, which is the scenario that leads to most deaths, you want to be as far from the horse as possible. It is not at all unuusal to be knocked unconscious before you come off by being hit in the face with the top of the horse's head. If the horse falls too, the last thing in the world you want is to be stuck to it.

I get sick just thinking about it.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:21:47 -0800

Oh god dangerous. How would it work? The best you could have was a lapbelt, and I can't think of any fashion where that would prevent you sliding under the belly. Attached to the horse, and close to its pounding hooves. Yowch.

By: burnmp3s

burnmp3s — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:25:21 -0800

A riding helmet and some kind of safety stirrup would probably be much more sensible and effective ways of increasing your safety while riding a horse.

By: thehmsbeagle

thehmsbeagle — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:27:20 -0800

A seatbelt?

I rode competitively when I was younger. I've taken a tumble a number of times, and if you learn how to fall (tuck your head and roll with the impact) and you wear a helmet, the odds of you being injured are not very high.

The ground is not what's going to hurt you. What's going to hurt you is getting your boot caught in the stirrup and dragged, not knowing how to fall, or getting stomped on. Getting your boot caught is incredibly scary, because a horse is a huge animal with sharp hooves that is prone to getting spooked and running away from terrifying things. It's why people make stirrups that snap away. Being strapped to a horse strikes me as a really terrible idea.

Plus, anyone who ever had a hardass riding instructor knows that if you keep your heels down, you can't fall. :-p

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:39:48 -0800

I have indirect anecdotal experience in this. I rode horses when I was younger (Western, no saddles) and I know two people have died from falling off a horse.

In both cases they were killed not when they hit the ground but when the horse trampled them. It strikes me that both would have been saved had they been more tightly strapped to the horse. How often, after all, does a horse roll over?

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:01:53 -0800

Each of a horse's strides have totally different movement and force. Walking, trotting, cantering and galloping/loping all require different body position and balance to be comfortable for both horse & rider (and to avoid falling off). It's also different depending on what kind of saddle you're riding with... western, english, dressage, or even bareback. The key is NOT sticking yourself to the saddle, but moving with the movement of the horse. And particularly in english and dressage, you'll need to rise out of the saddle often, especially when doing the posting trot or extended canter.

The key is, YOU are riding the horse, and you have to use not just your hands but your legs and your balance to cue a horse about what you want from him. So it's not about being a lump on his back along for the ride.

And yeah, like everyone has said... being attached to the animal would be mighty dangerous. If you've ever been drug around by a horse, it ain't fun.

By: unSane

unSane — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:06:08 -0800

From the perspective of a mountain bike who rides gnarly shit while clipped into the pedals, the biggest nightmare is crashing without your clips releasing. Bad, bad juju. A horse? Yikes.

By: Ugh

Ugh — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:20:02 -0800

I use to ride in a quadrille that did a square-dancing on horseback routine at rodeos all over the county. This one actually. The last possible thing you would want is a seatbelt to keep you attached to a 1200 pound animal.

By: Ugh

Ugh — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:22:10 -0800

Oh, and you are much more likely to get hurt from a horse attempting to get you off (bucking, raring up, running at a full gallop) than you are from quickly falling or jumping off in order to get away from the animal behaving badly.

By: oneirodynia

oneirodynia — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:51:31 -0800

I used to do this equestrian sport, and have fallen or jumped off horses more times than I could ever possibly count. The most serious injury to anyone on our team was when a new horse being trained reared up and went over backwards onto one of my teammates, breaking her pelvis- for some reason, the coach at the time didn't tell her to jump off. There are definitely times when you need to get off a horse quickly.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:08:08 -0800

Wearing a seatbelt on a horse isn't a completely stupid idea...

...unless you also attach it to the horse.

By: arcticseal

arcticseal — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:37:39 -0800

No way. If a seatbelt was an improvement, one would have evolved over the thousands of years that we've been riding them.

By: anaelith

anaelith — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 03:29:10 -0800

Riders already have a big safety tool which would be negated by a safety belt, the Emergency Dismount. Like others have said, horses can go under low branches, fall sideways on steep or rocky terrain, fall backward from rearing, fall forward from getting caught on a jump, or sometimes decide to roll just for the heck of it. (No, I'm not kidding, it's not that uncommon for a horse to want to roll while being ridden over a water crossing, although it's usually prevented by the rider getting the hell off and giving the horse what for.)

An emergency dismount gets you away from the hooves and hopefully lands you on your feet (or if not, on your most padded area), and it's possible to do one even when you've already started to lose your balance. Most bad injuries are caused by being kicked accidentally, trampled, or otherwise in contact with the horse, with a secondary cause of trying to cling to the horse to keep from falling which naturally puts you right under the horse when you do fall...bad bad bad bad bad. The other major cause of injuries is landing on something with your head or exposed back, being prepared to leap and let go gives you a better chance for picking the spot where you land (hint: Dismount to the right if there's something unpleasant on your left!) and landing on your feet or doing a soft roll so that your momentum is dissipated over time.

Anyone who has not had a time where it would have been better to dismount in a controlled way (instead of just falling or being stuck on) is incredibly lucky and should not expect that to last.

By: weezetr

weezetr — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 05:03:39 -0800

As almost everyone has said-- way less safe with a seatbelt. An extreme example: I do a lot of foxhunting, and in two instances, I have seen older horses have heart attacks and go down at the gallop. In one instance, the ground was soft and the woman riding the horse was able to extricate herself from the stirrups rather quickly-- she was uninjured. In the second case, the rider got caught up in the stirrups and ended up rolling down a hill attached to a (now-dead) 1200-lb weight. She was severely injured.

Horses are animals, and anything that can happen to a person (getting scared, itchy, injured, sick) can also happen to a horse when you're sitting on him. You need to be able to react and get the hell away when you need to do so.

By: fshgrl

fshgrl — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:21:07 -0800

How often, after all, does a horse roll over?

Pretty often, especially in speed sports or jumping but I've seen it happen at a walk or trot. I was once warming up a dead-broke kids horse at a slow trot, when he stood in a hole, landed on his face and did a complete endo. I seperated all the bones in my lower leg where he landed on it. If I'd been wearing a seatbelt? I'd have been dead. That accident was more dangerous because it was slo-mo so I wasn't thrown free, when your'e going fast you usually have some time as you sail through the air to pick a soft place to land.

Horses are pretty unsafe. I often wonder what the traffic death rate was when people used horses for transport!

By: JujuB

JujuB — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:16:21 -0800

Have you ever watched bull riding competition in a rodeo? There is a strap that is wrapped around the bull's chest. The rider must dismount on a certain side to unwrap the strap. If he falls off of the wrong side, his hand is trapped in the strap. Kind of looks like a rag doll being flung around.

I imagine a seat belt on a horse would be similar.

Yes, horses do fall, trip, slip etc.