Snapshots of Safety: Riding Helmets as a Habit
- September 16, 2016
- 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. What was I TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com. Already have an account?Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.
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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