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The time has come to return to the competition arenas. Equestrian airbag vests are set to become a common sight on the tracks. It is highly likely that, regardless of the event or the time of day, the paddocks will be filled with riders wearing this gear, just like Nina Mallevaey, Grégory Wathelet, or Laura Kraut.

Faced with this reality, you may be wondering: why has it become essential to own your own airbag? Throughout this article, you will discover that the new generation of airbags is nothing like the early prototypes, before we reveal the foolproof trick for selecting the best one on the market.

Pourquoi acheter un airbag équitation| sécurité et innovation|Horse Pilot

No longer fear combining equestrian airbag, fashion and aesthetics

Equestrian disciplines have long been steeped in heritage and tradition. Many of them are practiced in elegant, chic and refined attire. Fashion has moreover invited itself for more than a decade into clothing collections dedicated to riders, offering them a multitude of possibilities to refine their look and meet their need for aesthetics. It was therefore logical that brands would set about integrating a design criterion into the conception of their protective equipment.

The French company Horse Pilot has made this one of the main assets of its airbag vest. Developed in partnership with In&motion, an untrained eye would surely mistake it for a sleeveless jacket, so much emphasis has been placed on its style and discretion. It is moreover one of the rare ones to be worn in a fitted manner, close to the body, due to its outward opening at the moment of deployment.

In order to avoid the boredom of a monotonous outfit, a range of jackets specifically designed to be worn over the airbag, without hindering its operation, is offered by the brand for daily use. Elegant competition jackets furthermore allow its complete concealment on competition grounds.

Is feeling in harmony with one's aesthetic appeal enough for this rise in power of the airbag? Of course not: comfort is a key element leading to this choice and, here too, significant progress is visible on the most recent models.

Why the airbag has become so comfortable to wear for the rider

The era when one had to tighten the stomach (and grit one's teeth!) to move with back protection equipment is over. From now on, it is possible to practice one's sport wearing a thin and highly elastic airbag, like the Horse Pilot – In&motion vest. Making itself forgotten from the first minutes, it allows a highly appreciable total freedom.

Its low bulk is made possible by the use of technical materials and the recognized experience of the Lille-based brand in innovative clothing. The rider's speed is moreover used to optimize interior ventilation during effort, thanks to Aerotech technology. In this way, the airbag is less warm than usual and does not lose comfort during summer.

Small details sometimes taking on crucial importance with frequency of use, it is useful to specify a notable element: a new attachment system, based on the principle of a magnet, allows the vest to be fastened and then detached extremely quickly. Enough to train to remove it in full dismounting movement for the most absent-minded?

Twist Air 2.0 | Airbag équitation | unisex| Horse Pilot

The reasons why the airbag will not hinder your riding

It may happen that some riders fear seeing the function of their pelvis and back hindered by their protective equipment. This concern, however, no longer has reason to exist today. Beyond the aforementioned close-to-body positioning and fineness, the deployment unit has been specially designed to allow great ease of movement, particularly in the body's function at obstacles.

The system is the subject of two patent applications. Its originality lies in its horizontal presentation, made possible thanks to the distribution of gas within four small cartridges, as well as in its low thickness.

The protective cushion of the lower back is folded inside the lower part of the vest, avoiding unexpected encounters between it and the cantle of the saddle. Everything has been designed so that actions, balance and position are in no way modified by wearing the airbag.

ETWISTAIR|HARAS|AIRBAG|HORSE_PILOT

Changing the cartridge for a novice? A playful method

Horse Pilot and In&motion have reinvented the way to reload the equestrian airbag vest after its inflation. The procedure thus becomes accessible to all:

  • a colored mark delimits the level to reach when unscrewing;
  • a successive appearance of green indicators guarantees correct pushing of the piston;
  • like a gift rewarding the efforts made, the metal housing of the ball only appears on the last piston if the previous steps have been properly completed;
  • a system of arrows that can be paired facing each other provides reassurance about the final positioning of the caps.

To proceed with this reloading, you will need to know how to screw, unscrew and count in order up to four. The only Allen key required is provided with the packaging and available in any hardware store in case of loss. Thanks to these ingenious tricks, combined with video tutorials available on our website, the method is simple and reassuring for the rider.

Safety: tests to guarantee the reliability of the equestrian airbag

Good news: the numerous aforementioned advances on recent vests do not reduce their reliability in terms of safety.

The vital organs being, with the exception of the brain, concentrated inside the rib cage and abdominal cavity, the Horse Pilot – In&motion airbag inflates with two air-filled cushions on the front in order to protect these parts in the rider. The spine, whose protection is equally paramount, is secured thanks to an air chamber acting as a mattress at the back of the vest.

The lower back is spared by the deployment of two tubes concealed in the lower part of the jacket, while the cervical vertebrae are preserved thanks to a finely studied ratio between support and freedom of movement.

For the equipment to ensure maximum safety for its wearer, the designers carried out numerous tests and crash tests before its market launch. For example, they positioned pressure sensors in the airbag, then placed it in a sort of vertical catapult (called a drop shaft) to verify its good shock energy absorption capabilities.

They also conducted aging tests to ensure the functioning of the trigger and gas cartridge under all conditions, including several inflation/deflation cycles. The selection of materials most suited to the final use of the product was induced by tests on a wide range of textiles and plastics.

TWISTAIR|CLOSEUP|AIRBAG|HORSE_PILOT

What is the best airbag for riders? The secret revealed

All the innovations of the new generation of airbags having been reviewed, one last revelation remains to be made. How to choose the best possible protection for your equestrian practice? Simply by selecting the one whose comfort and characteristics will make you want to wear it every day, because the airbag vest placed on your back will always protect better than the one left in the closet.

The brand new Airbag born from the collaboration of Horse Pilot and In&motion

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