Comment

Comment by Lee Kelly on August 27, 2009 at 8:56am

I never ride without a helmet, it is a regulation for stables in Ontario. I also use the saddle, helmet, bridle order of tacking. Do not care how I look after riding, I am usually covered in horse hair and dirt from grooming anyway. ;) So just pull the hair back and place a clip in it.

Comment by Jackie Cochran on August 26, 2009 at 2:05pm

I remember that some 40 years ago Kauffman's carried a safety Western hat in its catalogue. Obviously it did not take off.
Could it be because the western riders subconsciously think that hanging onto the horn is enough to stay on? If I rode western I'd probably think that way.
I started out hunt seat, and by 1970 it was helmets for all riders all the time. Would you believe that people used to jump BIG jumps bareheaded? What were (or weren't) these people thinking?

Comment by Pat Valliere on August 25, 2009 at 8:35pm

I live in Ontario and it is mandatory to wear a helmet at our barn and the majority of us ride western. It is just getting use to it, then you feel like something is missing if you don't wear one.

Comment by Gail Morse on August 25, 2009 at 1:03pm

We sure are getting some good feed back on the helmet issue. I wonder why the western riders do not wear them. I have seen some hemets that are covered with a western theme and the place I have the horse for summer all ride their gaited horses with western gear and yet they all wear helmets. Gail.

Comment by Linda White on August 25, 2009 at 12:41pm

Wow, it's amazing to see such agreement on the helmet issue. However, where I live - southwestern Ontario - it is extremely rare to see anyone who rides Western wearing a helmet. They think we're nuts! I don't know how that's going to change - they sure laugh it off when I suggest everyone should wear a helmet.

Comment by Lori Revis on August 25, 2009 at 10:30am

It's our barn rule too, no helmet, no riding. In a discussion with some friends that ride without helmets, I brought up the point that if you don't do for yourselves, do it for your family and friends. It's a huge responsiblity to place the burden of taking care of a TBI patient on a family. It's not only financial responsibility but also the mental stress and strain.

Comment by PJ on August 25, 2009 at 10:20am

If you don't wear a helmet how will we scoop up your brains???

Hey..that would be a good sign to hang in a barn.......................hmmmm

Comment by Jan Jollymour on August 25, 2009 at 10:00am

Helmets are the rule in our barn, and in all the barns in which I teach. Helmet wear has become the norm for me, and now riders without helmets look somehow undressed to me.

I found it striking and peculiar at a CDI3* and CPEDI3* in Chicago this spring watching the FEI warmup ring, in which the CPEDI Para dressage riders (all wearing helmets) were warming up with the CDI riders, none of whom wore helmets. The disparity did not seem to catch the attention of the CDI riders, all of whom apparently believed that they are immune to injury, even as they were surrounded by disabled riders, some of whose injuries were sustained riding horses! I salute Ashley Holzer's decision to wear a helmet in the warm up ring for the World Cup in Las Vegas, in an atmosphere which can only be described as "electric"!

Comment by Mary Ann Algeo on August 25, 2009 at 9:40am

As an R.N. who has worked neurosurgery and neurology for many years and also an avid hunter/jumper and dressage rider, I hope everyone wears a helmet every time they get on a horse. If it was left up to me everyone would have a helmet on in their car as well. I have seen more trajedy than anyone should have to. The people that get injured and have the best outcomes have taken their safety seriously and still live to enjoy their respective sports.

Comment by Pat Valliere on August 24, 2009 at 1:23pm

I am an over 50 rider and would not think of riding without my helmet either. Last year while riding one of our horses in a lesson he spooked and I went off hard enough to break the inside of my helmet, luckily not my head. We need to spread the word to stay safe wear the helmet.

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