Hey bloggers,

This week's blog is going to be comparing the two air vests that are currently on the equestrian market. Safety is paramount, and wearing the proper equipment while riding gives you a sense of security and relief if you were to have a mishap while riding. It is a great addition to everyones tack collection to own an air vest for ultimate safety while participating in the equestrian sport. Both the Hit-Air Vest and the Point Two Air Jackets provides riders with greatly increased injury protection as seen through the already prevented injuries from upper level riders such as Oliver Townend during Four star competition. I will give a comparison about each air vest, outlining the benefits and features of these new safety innovations for our equestrian sport. 

The first air vest to outline is the Hit-Air Vest, which you can find at Baker's. The Hit-Air vest is a shock buffering system formulated by Japan Protection Technology. Its airbag system inflates fully at an extremely speedy rate of 0.5 seconds. This is caused by a CO2 gas that is released from the gas cartridge mechanism that is built into the vest, and that inflates the urethane airbag instantly. The Hit-Air Vest is an amazing safety item because its airbag protects the neck, chest, hip, sides of the human body and internal organs. Unlike other safety vests on the market, the Hit-Air Vest has put major emphasis on their vests to the neck area and to cover a great surface area around the body. If you take a look at the images on the Hit-Air website, you can check out its effective design and the different parts of the vest http://www.hitairusa.com/. What makes the Hit-Air Vest the air vest everyone wants to wear is because it is more convenient while riding. The vest ends at the base of the rider's back and prevents any baggy equipment interfering with the rider while in the saddle. With this in mind, the Hit-Air vest still provides ultimate safety for your tailbone area because when the vest ignites, the airbag will release a segment that hangs down when it is inflated and activated. By tiding up the air vest to make it more comfortable to wear and ride in, it still provides optimum safety in all areas of the body. The Hit-Air vests are also used for motorcycle riders and racers, providing safety if dislodged from their bike at speeds of over 150 miles per hour. Exemplifying the safety of the Hit-Air Vest in both an equestrian setting as well as on the motorcycle track conveys how there is no other air vest quite like the Hit-Air Vest on today's market. 

The second air vest to outline is the Point Two Air Jacket. These air jackets provide safety in a similar fashion to the Hit-Air Vest through an airbag system. The Point Two Air Jackets also uses a CO2 canister that inflates when released and provides airbag protection to the body. These vests extend longer down the tailbone when not inflated and when inflated this vest distributes pressure and supports a rider’s spinal column. The Point Two Air Jackets can be customized in a variety of colours to fit your colour scheme perfectly and are a very popular air vest used by eventers. If anyone has any further questions on either the Hit-Air Vest or the Point Two Air Jacket, please leave your comments below. Hope everyone's having a fabulous long weekend :)