Body Protectors: What Level 3 Means, and How to Size One
A helmet is not negotiable and everyone knows it. A body protector is the second decision, and most riders make it on the day the rule book forces them to.
Cross-country entries ask for one, pony clubs require one, and an increasing number of yards recommend one for anyone backing a young horse. The labels say BETA 2018 Level 3, EN 13158, sometimes both, and the sizing charts run to three measurements. What the standards actually certify, why the 2009 label matters, how the segmented designs changed the heat problem, how to measure, and where an air jacket fits in.
Buy the current Level 3, size it by chest, waist and back length with the chart, wear it for anything with solid fences or a green horse, and replace it after a real fall.
What the label certifies
Two standards appear on a body protector sold in Europe. EN 13158 is the European standard for protective jackets and body protectors for horse riders. BETA is the British Equestrian Trade Association’s scheme, which tests to the European standard and adds its own labelling and audit. Both define three levels. Level 1 is the lowest, for licensed jockeys. Level 2 is for lower-risk situations. Level 3 is the one competition rules ask for, providing the highest impact protection short of a full-scale racing standard.
The certification covers the amount of energy the protector absorbs in a defined impact test, the areas of the body it must cover, and how it must be labelled. It does not cover comfort, breathability or how it feels on a horse. Those are the maker’s problem and the rider’s judgement.
Why the date matters
The standard was revised in 2018, and a protector certified to the 2009 version is no longer accepted by most rule books, whatever its condition. The revision moved the test criteria and the coverage requirements, so a 2009 Level 3 is not a 2018 Level 3 with an older label. It is a different level of protection. Look for BETA 2018 Level 3 or EN 13158:2018 Level 3 on the label inside the protector. A secondhand protector without a visible 2018 label is a garment, not a piece of safety kit.
The same logic applies over time. Foam hardens with age and with heat. A protector left in a Mallorca horsebox for two summers has been baked, and most makers give a working life of three to five years from purchase for that reason.
BETA 2018 or EN 13158:2018, Level 3, visible on the label. Nothing else is current.
Segments, foam and the heat question
The complaint against body protectors on the island has always been the same: too hot, too stiff, too much of a board across the back to sit properly. The answer from the makers over the last few years has been segmentation. Instead of a few large foam panels, a modern Level 3 is built from dozens or, in the best of them, over a hundred individually hinged sections, so the protector bends with the rider’s back and the segments open slightly as the body moves, which is where the air gets in. Multi-density foam puts the heaviest protection over the spine and ribs and lighter foam where flexibility matters.
None of that lowers the certification. A segmented Level 3 and a solid Level 3 pass the same test. What it changes is whether the rider wears it in July, and a protector that stays in the tack room protects nobody. Mesh outers, aerated fabrics and a jacket that can be worn over a sun shirt rather than a thick base layer are the details that make the difference here.
How to size one
Body protectors are sized by three measurements, not by clothing size: chest circumference at the fullest point, waist circumference, and back length from the prominent bone at the base of the neck to the top of the pelvis, measured sitting down, because a rider is measured for the position they ride in. Makers publish charts against those three numbers and most offer short, regular and long back lengths in each chest size, which is the measurement most people get wrong.
Fitted correctly, the protector sits close over a thin layer, covers the last rib by two or three centimetres, reaches the top of the pelvis when the rider is sitting, does not touch the back of the helmet when the head goes back, and does not push up under the chin when the rider is in a jumping position. Adjust the shoulder and side straps in that order, and try the jumping position on a chair before deciding. A protector that is too long lifts the helmet on landing. One that is too short leaves the kidneys uncovered.
Children are measured the same way and grow out of a protector in a season or two. Buy the size that fits now with the straps in the middle of their range, not the size for next year, and check the fit every three months. A protector that has ridden up and shortened is one that has stopped protecting the lower back.
Air jackets, and what they are not
An air jacket inflates from a gas canister when a lanyard connected to the saddle pulls free in a fall, and it cushions the neck, chest and back for the seconds of the fall itself. It is a genuine addition to protection. It is not a replacement for a body protector: the air jacket protects during the fall, the body protector protects on the ground and against a kick, and the current rule books require a Level 3 protector underneath for cross-country even when an air jacket is worn. Makers now build protectors with a compatible zip-on air layer so the two are one garment.
For a rider on the island who jumps solid fences a few times a year, the Level 3 protector is the first purchase and the air jacket a second one. For a rider who events regularly, both.
When to wear it, when to replace it
Wear it for anything with a solid fence, for backing and first rides on a young horse, for the first hacks on a new horse, and for a child in any lesson that leaves the walk. Wear it for schooling if you like. No rule requires it in an arena and many riders choose not to. What matters is that the protector that is bought is one the rider will actually put on, which on this island means a segmented, ventilated one.
Replace it after any fall that put real load through it, even without visible damage, because the foam has done its job once. Replace it if it has been stored hot, if the foam has gone hard, if the rider has changed size, and in any case within the life the maker states. Store it flat or on a wide hanger in the tack room, not folded in a car.
A protector that stays in the tack room protects nobody. Buy the one the rider will wear in July.
- Level 3 is the competition standard. Look for BETA 2018 Level 3 or EN 13158:2018 Level 3 on the label, and treat a 2009 label as expired.
- Segmented, multi-foam designs pass the same test as solid ones and are the reason a Level 3 is wearable in Mallorca heat.
- Size by chest, waist and back length measured sitting. The protector should cover the last rib and reach the pelvis without lifting the helmet.
- An air jacket adds protection during the fall and does not replace a Level 3 protector. Rule books require both for cross-country.
- Wear it for solid fences, young horses and children’s lessons. Replace it after a real fall, after heat damage, or within the maker’s stated life.
General editorial guidance from published standards and makers’ documentation. Fit and suitability for a particular rider are the retailer’s and the rider’s judgement. Competition eligibility is set by each discipline’s rule book.
