Snapshots of Safety: Riding Helmets as a Habit
- Posted by Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
Earlier this summer while preparing for the World Championships of TREC, which my teammates and I completed a few weeks ago in Segovia, Spain, I was flipping through a photo album of images from my previous experience participating in the event, 19 years ago in France. Memories came flooding back as I flipped through the pages of training and competition pictures É until I stopped at particular photo, perplexed.
There, in the 35-mm print, I was navigating into a patch of sun along a narrow trail, map in hand, and wearing a mere ball cap on my head. Then, on another page, standing with my horse after the happy-mayhem mounted awards ceremony with no helmet.
I was confused because as long as I can remember, I’ve always worn a riding helmet, without question, save a few silly photo-ops as a kid that I’m lucky I survived. Those training days in France were quite long, and there were plenty of precarious spots along the ground we covered
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Written by:
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
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8 Responses
re: Snapshots of Safety: Riding Helmets as a Habit
Years ago my wife declared that I would wear a helmet while riding. I went thru a few different ones before I found one that was comfortable. Now, as you note, I feel rather naked w/o it on; to the point where I keep a spare in my trailer just in case
re: Snapshots of Safety: Riding Helmets as a Habit
Years ago my wife declared that I would wear a helmet while riding. I went thru a few different ones before I found one that was comfortable. Now, as you note, I feel rather naked w/o it on; to the point where I keep a spare in my trailer just in case
re: Snapshots of Safety: Riding Helmets as a Habit
This was years ago before helmets were here. I was foxhunting with the then famous velvet hunt cap, which had a hard top and did protect your head some. I was approaching a chicken coop jump when my horse decided to refused it and I went ov
re: Snapshots of Safety: Riding Helmets as a Habit
Two and a half years ago I was riding my lazy, laid-back, bomb-proof Arabian gelding out on the desert trail across the road from my home when he wandered into a sink hole. It wasn’t deep (thankfully) but he fell on his side, unseating me in the
re: Snapshots of Safety: Riding Helmets as a Habit
April 14, 2016. My horse spooked just as I was about to finish mounting and took off galloping across hard packed ground. I lost my balance and landed hard hitting the back of my helmet, the right side of my back and hip enough to break L2 and L3 trave
re: Snapshots of Safety: Riding Helmets as a Habit
I, being 66 years old, was "new" to the advice of always wearing a helmet. Since I started to faithfully wear one ,I have been, I think, rewarded of not receiving at least 3 serious injuries over the past 20 years. My favorite was when my hor
re: Snapshots of Safety: Riding Helmets as a Habit
Almost all of my near misses with horses have been when I was on the ground and not wearing a helmet. I know as many accounts of serious injury and death while handling horses from the ground as from recreational accidents while mounted.
re: Snapshots of Safety: Riding Helmets as a Habit
I always ride with a helmet. I had a horse that I sent to a trainer to be started. I was riding this horse in the round pen and we were trotting then he started to canter then BUCK!! I came off and landed on my butt first then the back of m