diff --git a/src/client/mod.rs b/src/client/mod.rs
index ececc3e9..dec8a91d 100644
--- a/src/client/mod.rs
+++ b/src/client/mod.rs
@@ -221,10 +221,26 @@ where C: Connect,
                 e.into()
             });
 
-        let resp = race.and_then(move |mut client| {
+        let resp = race.and_then(move |client| {
+            use proto::dispatch::ClientMsg;
+
             let (callback, rx) = oneshot::channel();
-            client.tx.borrow_mut().start_send(proto::dispatch::ClientMsg::Request(head, body, callback)).unwrap();
-            client.should_close = false;
+
+            match client.tx.borrow_mut().start_send(ClientMsg::Request(head, body, callback)) {
+                Ok(_) => (),
+                Err(e) => match e.into_inner() {
+                    ClientMsg::Request(_, _, callback) => {
+                        error!("pooled connection was not ready, this is a hyper bug");
+                        let err = io::Error::new(
+                            io::ErrorKind::BrokenPipe,
+                            "pool selected dead connection",
+                        );
+                        let _ = callback.send(Err(::Error::Io(err)));
+                    },
+                    _ => unreachable!("ClientMsg::Request was just sent"),
+                }
+            }
+
             rx.then(|res| {
                 match res {
                     Ok(Ok(res)) => Ok(res),
@@ -256,8 +272,8 @@ impl<C, B> fmt::Debug for Client<C, B> {
 }
 
 struct HyperClient<B> {
-    tx: RefCell<::futures::sync::mpsc::Sender<proto::dispatch::ClientMsg<B>>>,
     should_close: bool,
+    tx: RefCell<::futures::sync::mpsc::Sender<proto::dispatch::ClientMsg<B>>>,
 }
 
 impl<B> Clone for HyperClient<B> {
@@ -269,6 +285,15 @@ impl<B> Clone for HyperClient<B> {
     }
 }
 
+impl<B> self::pool::Ready for HyperClient<B> {
+    fn poll_ready(&mut self) -> Poll<(), ()> {
+        self.tx
+            .borrow_mut()
+            .poll_ready()
+            .map_err(|_| ())
+    }
+}
+
 impl<B> Drop for HyperClient<B> {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
         if self.should_close {
@@ -497,3 +522,4 @@ mod background {
         }
     }
 }
+
diff --git a/src/client/pool.rs b/src/client/pool.rs
index f56403e3..c8ee8883 100644
--- a/src/client/pool.rs
+++ b/src/client/pool.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,15 @@ pub struct Pool<T> {
     inner: Rc<RefCell<PoolInner<T>>>,
 }
 
+// Before using a pooled connection, make sure the sender is not dead.
+//
+// This is a trait to allow the `client::pool::tests` to work for `i32`.
+//
+// See https://github.com/hyperium/hyper/issues/1429
+pub trait Ready {
+    fn poll_ready(&mut self) -> Poll<(), ()>;
+}
+
 struct PoolInner<T> {
     enabled: bool,
     // These are internal Conns sitting in the event loop in the KeepAlive
@@ -256,7 +265,7 @@ pub struct Checkout<T> {
     parked: Option<relay::Receiver<Entry<T>>>,
 }
 
-impl<T: Clone> Future for Checkout<T> {
+impl<T: Ready + Clone> Future for Checkout<T> {
     type Item = Pooled<T>;
     type Error = io::Error;
 
@@ -282,21 +291,22 @@ impl<T: Clone> Future for Checkout<T> {
         let mut should_remove = false;
         let entry = self.pool.inner.borrow_mut().idle.get_mut(key).and_then(|list| {
             trace!("Checkout::poll key found {:?}", key);
-            while let Some(entry) = list.pop() {
+            while let Some(mut entry) = list.pop() {
                 match entry.status.get() {
                     TimedKA::Idle(idle_at) if !expiration.expires(idle_at) => {
-                        debug!("found idle connection for {:?}", key);
-                        should_remove = list.is_empty();
-                        return Some(entry);
+                        if let Ok(Async::Ready(())) = entry.value.poll_ready() {
+                            debug!("found idle connection for {:?}", key);
+                            should_remove = list.is_empty();
+                            return Some(entry);
+                        }
                     },
-                    _ => {
-                        trace!("Checkout::poll removing unacceptable pooled {:?}", key);
-                        // every other case the Entry should just be dropped
-                        // 1. Idle but expired
-                        // 2. Busy (something else somehow took it?)
-                        // 3. Disabled don't reuse of course
-                    }
+                    _ => {},
                 }
+                trace!("Checkout::poll removing unacceptable pooled {:?}", key);
+                // every other case the Entry should just be dropped
+                // 1. Idle but expired
+                // 2. Busy (something else somehow took it?)
+                // 3. Disabled don't reuse of course
             }
             should_remove = true;
             None
@@ -347,10 +357,16 @@ impl Expiration {
 mod tests {
     use std::rc::Rc;
     use std::time::Duration;
-    use futures::{Async, Future};
+    use futures::{Async, Future, Poll};
     use futures::future;
     use proto::KeepAlive;
-    use super::Pool;
+    use super::{Ready, Pool};
+
+    impl Ready for i32 {
+        fn poll_ready(&mut self) -> Poll<(), ()> {
+            Ok(Async::Ready(()))
+        }
+    }
 
     #[test]
     fn test_pool_checkout_smoke() {
diff --git a/tests/client.rs b/tests/client.rs
index c1f4f2e9..b3552163 100644
--- a/tests/client.rs
+++ b/tests/client.rs
@@ -954,6 +954,60 @@ mod dispatch_impl {
         assert_eq!(closes.load(Ordering::Relaxed), 1);
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn conn_drop_prevents_pool_checkout() {
+        // a drop might happen for any sort of reason, and we can protect
+        // against a lot of them, but if the `Core` is dropped, we can't
+        // really catch that. So, this is case to always check.
+        //
+        // See https://github.com/hyperium/hyper/issues/1429
+
+        use std::error::Error;
+        let _ = pretty_env_logger::try_init();
+
+        let server = TcpListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").unwrap();
+        let addr = server.local_addr().unwrap();
+        let mut core = Core::new().unwrap();
+        let handle = core.handle();
+
+        let (tx1, rx1) = oneshot::channel();
+
+        thread::spawn(move || {
+            let mut sock = server.accept().unwrap().0;
+            sock.set_read_timeout(Some(Duration::from_secs(5))).unwrap();
+            sock.set_write_timeout(Some(Duration::from_secs(5))).unwrap();
+            let mut buf = [0; 4096];
+            sock.read(&mut buf).expect("read 1");
+            sock.write_all(b"HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\nContent-Length: 0\r\n\r\n").unwrap();
+            sock.read(&mut buf).expect("read 2");
+            let _ = tx1.send(());
+        });
+
+        let uri = format!("http://{}/a", addr).parse::<hyper::Uri>().unwrap();
+
+        let client = Client::new(&handle);
+        let res = client.get(uri.clone()).and_then(move |res| {
+            assert_eq!(res.status(), hyper::StatusCode::Ok);
+            res.body().concat2()
+        });
+
+        core.run(res).unwrap();
+
+        // drop previous Core
+        core = Core::new().unwrap();
+        let timeout = Timeout::new(Duration::from_millis(200), &core.handle()).unwrap();
+        let rx = rx1.map_err(|_| hyper::Error::Io(io::Error::new(io::ErrorKind::Other, "thread panicked")));
+        let rx = rx.and_then(move |_| timeout.map_err(|e| e.into()));
+
+        let res = client.get(uri);
+        // this does trigger an 'event loop gone' error, but before, it would
+        // panic internally on a `SendError`, which is what we're testing against.
+        let err = core.run(res.join(rx).map(|r| r.0)).unwrap_err();
+        assert_eq!(err.description(), "event loop gone");
+    }
+
+
+
     #[test]
     fn client_custom_executor() {
         let server = TcpListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").unwrap();