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 I hate cooking and cleaning
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Location: Jersey Girl | Swannranch - 2016-03-02 11:53 AM I have a question, but don't really want to sound argumentative but wasn't the actor, Christopher Reeve, wearing a helmet? I know there is also some information that they can cause neck injuries if you land on certain angles. I would have to look them up again but have been reading so much in the past few days.
In Florida there was a law passed that requires any equstrian events to wear helmets but EXEMPTS Western and Rodeo eventing.
I think it should be a personal choice. Recent events in the Southeastern Rodeo world have caused a lot of conversation. The specific situation that caused a death, I do not believe would have been changed by a helmet. The rider hit the pavement face first at a high rate of speed. As with so many things, I think it should be personal choice.
His was kind of a freak accident. From what I understand his hand got hung up in the bridle during the fall causing him to land directly on the top of his head. He had a body protector on too and unfortunately just the way he fell it didn't really seem to make a difference. |
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 Color Coordination Director
  
| This has been a really imformative thread I think and I want to say Thank you for everyone keeping it nice and friendly. I know emotions are running high right now. |
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 Last Comedian Standing 
Posts: 10919
Location: South Texas | azsun - 2016-03-02 11:53 AM This is cool looking! This accident not only got me thinking but my husband is pretty adamant that I wear one for my son at least! Thus, I wore my son's helmet yesterday. Felt like Toad from the Nintendo Mario games ... but oh well.
THESE ARE COOL LOOKING I SENT A MESSAGE TO THEM FOR PRICES ETC......ANYBODY HAVE ONE?????
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| Bibliafarm - 2016-03-02 1:09 PM
love2ridepre - 2016-03-02 8:57 AM rodeoveteran - 2016-03-01 10:27 AM love2ridepre - 2016-03-01 9:12 AM I am wondering if it will get to a point where wearing a helmet will become mandatory for insurance reasons. I know the USEF requires all riders in English disciplines to wear one while in the show grounds. That better not happen. I am beyond tired of insurance companies dictating things to us. Letting them impose seat belt laws was the top of the hill for this slippery slope. Let them dictate the wearing of helmets and it won't be long before they will not cover you if you participate in ANY dangerous behavior. And owning a horse in itself will be considered dangerous behavior. Be careful what you wish for! I don't wish it, I truly don't as I think is a personal choice but it would not surprised me any if it does come to that!
Until they tell us all that just owning a horse is too dangerous. THEN what will y'all think?! |
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| I don't feel that helmets should be forced on anyone but saying that it would lead to horses being considered too dangerous to own.... hmmm... we have been required to wear set belts for some time and I'm not concerned about them taking our vehicles. |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| GLP - 2016-03-02 11:46 AM
stayceem - 2016-03-02 11:39 AM
This tragedy has really made me think about making the switch. I wore one as a little little kid until about 5 and then started with a cowboy hat. My nieces wear them when they ride. But I hate hate hate anything on my head. Cowboy hat, baseball cap, helmet etc. I just know I wont wear it on an average day. I would likely only wear one for competition where its required. Then I feel like thats silly...
Anyway, there are enough respectable girls that wear them that I dont even notice them anymore.
I, too hate anything on my head. I always overheated, even with a ball cap on. Then, I lost my confidence and wearing a helmet has really helped. I got one with a lot of vents and even in the South Texas summer, it's not bad at all.
But don't feel silly about wearing one only at competitions.
If you won't wear it, don't buy it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
People should not make fun of people wearing a helmet.
People who wear helmets should not try to make others feel bad for not wanting to wear one.
To each their own, people. 
Thank you... I guess I was putting my own thoughts through the keyboard as to where I stand on this topic. Conflicted is probably the best word. Again, I catch myself wondering if I should be wearing a helmet but not sure I actually will use it aside from in shows/barrel races where attire is required. My issue with things on my head is visability. When I wear even a small brim hat, I walk around loke a doofus looking up at everything because I am convinced I cant see LOL...
oiy the struggles..  |
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 Elite Veteran
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Location: The South | snazzy - 2016-03-02 3:23 PM azsun - 2016-03-02 11:53 AM This is cool looking! This accident not only got me thinking but my husband is pretty adamant that I wear one for my son at least! Thus, I wore my son's helmet yesterday. Felt like Toad from the Nintendo Mario games ... but oh well.
A mounted shooter showed us how to make one with a straw hat. It isn't as fancy as these, but you basically just cut the top off the hat and cut slits in it to get it to stretch down over the helmet, and then duct tape around to hold it on. It's like a duct tape hatband lol. Super redneck compared to these though! |
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Location: California | My friend, Melanie Southard Thompson, just bought one of Fallon's helmets! |
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Location: California | Now that Mel has bought one, my sister is finally getting one! She just suffered her second concussion last week. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
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| cheryl makofka - 2016-03-02 1:06 PM Now my next question. For all that wear helmets, if you have fallen off and bumped your head, and for those who haven't yet, Have/will you replace your helmet each time? If you haven't replaced your helmet, do you realize the integrity of the helmet has been compromised, so you are riding with a false sense of security. Even if the helmet falls off of the horn onto cement, you should be buying a new one
I will replace mine. I live in the south and also told not to keep it in the trailer as the heat will degrade it. I plan on getting a new one every year or two. |
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  Warmblood with Wings
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Location: Florida.. | rodeoveteran - 2016-03-02 5:03 PM Bibliafarm - 2016-03-02 1:09 PM love2ridepre - 2016-03-02 8:57 AM rodeoveteran - 2016-03-01 10:27 AM love2ridepre - 2016-03-01 9:12 AM I am wondering if it will get to a point where wearing a helmet will become mandatory for insurance reasons. I know the USEF requires all riders in English disciplines to wear one while in the show grounds. That better not happen. I am beyond tired of insurance companies dictating things to us. Letting them impose seat belt laws was the top of the hill for this slippery slope. Let them dictate the wearing of helmets and it won't be long before they will not cover you if you participate in ANY dangerous behavior. And owning a horse in itself will be considered dangerous behavior. Be careful what you wish for! I don't wish it, I truly don't as I think is a personal choice but it would not surprised me any if it does come to that! Until they tell us all that just owning a horse is too dangerous. THEN what will y'all think?!
well professional football is still playing.. I think its absurd anyone would think this taking effect would come to that.. really....... also we wear them mandatory and no one has told us that. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Bibliafarm - 2016-03-02 7:03 PM
rodeoveteran - 2016-03-02 5:03 PM Bibliafarm - 2016-03-02 1:09 PM love2ridepre - 2016-03-02 8:57 AM rodeoveteran - 2016-03-01 10:27 AM love2ridepre - 2016-03-01 9:12 AM I am wondering if it will get to a point where wearing a helmet will become mandatory for insurance reasons. I know the USEF requires all riders in English disciplines to wear one while in the show grounds. That better not happen. I am beyond tired of insurance companies dictating things to us. Letting them impose seat belt laws was the top of the hill for this slippery slope. Let them dictate the wearing of helmets and it won't be long before they will not cover you if you participate in ANY dangerous behavior. And owning a horse in itself will be considered dangerous behavior. Be careful what you wish for! I don't wish it, I truly don't as I think is a personal choice but it would not surprised me any if it does come to that! Until they tell us all that just owning a horse is too dangerous. THEN what will y'all think?!
Professional football has class action lawsuits regarding concussions.
As per the seat belts, yes cars are considered dangerous, look at all the laws brought in, no children under 40 lbs in the front seat as risk of death is higher if airbags deploy, speed limits, stop signs, distracted driving. |
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Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | its pretty simple.. it has been mandatory for jumpers and eventers to wear helmuts competing for many manyt years..and now dressage.. and they have yet to tell us horses are too dangerous and taking away any more rights.lol.. why would it be any differant with barrel racers |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| I've decided to actually wear my helmet this year. Wore it at the arena today practicing and plan on wearing it at home and competing. I have a Tipperay Sportage. Very light, forgot I had it on. I live about 90 miles from Hattiesburg where Laura was hurt. Could have happened anywhere to anyone. Her mom posted on FB that she felt God was planning to use Laura and thought that meant she would recover. She passed the next day. Maybe the tragedy of her death will save others by encouraging helmets. I've known I "should" wear one, but now I will. And she is the reason. |
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| weder - 2016-03-01 4:43 PM
TrailGirl - 2016-02-29 12:11 PM I wear mine every ride now. It becomes habit. People tend to make one of two assumptions in the arena... 1: She must be a newbie rider or 2: Must be a green horse On trail it's different...They either assume... 1: She must be a Newbie rider or 2: She must like to go FAST Eventually if enough of us wear our helmets in the arena...#2 will start to trend toward's the same assumptions as the trail folks. We go so darn fast we need that helmet! Honestly...I used to run without one as I was insecure and wanted to fit in. Thankfully I have been granted the wisdom of age to where I no longer care what anyone else thinks...I will protect my noggin. Anyone anti helmet just needs to ask themselves...Do I choose not to wear it because I don't think it is a good idea for safety? Or do I choose not to wear it because I don't like how it looks? Watching the American yesterday I looked at the bull riders. Some wear a helmet with a face shield. Some wear a cowboy hat. I saw two injuries that would have been lessened/prevented if a helmet/face protector had been worn. Both happened to be on the older Brazilian riders. I was glad to see the younger Brazilian wears head gear. Maybe even there the culture is changing.
 Sure, some injuries can be prevented, but I have personally witnessed bull riding injuries that were significantly worse BECAUSE of the helmet and facemask.  My husband is a bull rider, and a very good friend of ours got jerked down on a bull, met his head with his chin and was knocked out cold.  Broke his jaw in 3 places and left him gathering his chickens for a day, and severe concussion where he could not do much for a month.  He still does not remember much of the accident or the following events.  The worst part....had he not been wearing a helmet, he would likely have cut his chin, big bruise and walked away.  My husband stopped wearing a helmet because of the higher frequency of getting knocked out and jaw injuries compared to when he wore just his hat. Â
So, when people say a helmet can never hurt....yes it can. Â They are designed to take the impact and redistribute the force, but where that force gets redistributed can have just as detrimental consequences.
This is interesting because I am a fan of the PBR and have watched every episode that has been televised for the last few years. I have quite often heard Ty Murray, Justin McBride, and JW Hart say " that was a good time to have a helmet on". But I have never heard them even elude to the fact that a helmet might have contributed to getting knocked out or making an injury worse. They have talked about the fact that it doesn't take much of a hit to knock riders out like Ben Jones who have suffered so many concussions in their careers. Thus the cumulative effects of multiple concussions.I have also heard them say that some of the older bull riders have tried going to helmets but just could not get used to them. Just the fact that they would try one leads me to believe that they must think there is some extra protection. I asked the physician I work for today (who has no horse sense whatsoever) if in his opinion there would be any downside to wearing a helmet. His reply was simply no. We talked about Christopher Reeves and the most recent tragedy and his thoughts were does wearing a helmet guarantee that you won't suffer a deadly or paralyzing injury absolutely not but he prefers his chances with one. I read the Jake Barns article posted on this thread and it really got me to thinking how true it is that had his accident happened when he was 25 and he would have won his world championship wearing a helmet we would probably see many of today's younger generation ropers wearing helmets because the stigma would be gone.
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 Zeal Queen
Posts: 3826
Location: TEXAS | Curious why it's mandatory for every equestrian sport except rodeo....wonder what the thought is there?  |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 682
Location: Northwest | UTAHCANCHASER - 2016-03-01 2:33 PM
 For those that wear helmets to run/ride in do you wear it anytime you are around a horse or just put it on when you get on?  ?I am curious as serious injuries can happen from being on the ground and not just coming off a horse.  I am not a helmet wearer, I am not riding right now due to a knee injury not related to a horse. It is something I would possibly think about though as I ride alone a lot of the time.
I always wear one. |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | slacy09 - 2016-03-03 7:51 AM Curious why it's mandatory for every equestrian sport except rodeo....wonder what the thought is there?
Goes back to the associations. It's mandatory for some of the english sports because they go by AHSA rules. Helmets being required to show dressage horses must be a very new rule. There's several other equestrian sports that don't require helmets tho. Gaited horses, western pleasure horses, reiners, cutters.... it's not just rodeo. |
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Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| MS2011 - 2016-03-03 9:01 AM
slacy09 - 2016-03-03 7:51 AM Curious why it's mandatory for every equestrian sport except rodeo....wonder what the thought is there? Â
Well and I think a lot of it goes with attire and the "old west" historical piece. It isnt even legal to wear a cowboy hat in an english pleasure, dressage, etc. There attire requires helmets. Like our western attire requires a cowboy hat and more recently helmets were officially added into the rulebooks at least in some associations up here. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 408
| MS2011 - 2016-03-03 9:01 AM
slacy09 - 2016-03-03 7:51 AM Curious why it's mandatory for every equestrian sport except rodeo....wonder what the thought is there? Â
I rode Dressage for 30 years (wow, it doesn't seem that long) and there was never a mandatory helmet rule until about 3 years ago when Courtney King had her accident. She was not in a competition arena, if I am not mistaken she was just warming up, the horse tripped and off she went. After that, AGAIN, if I am not mistaken is when the "mandatory" helmet rule came about even for Grand Prix riders.
Now, on a personal note, as I said I rode Dressage for quite a long time and yes, I ALWAYS wore my helmet!. Two years ago this coming April, I bought my first barrel horse (love of my life) and yes, at first I always wore my helmet, not matter what I had that thing on my head, it did not matter if we were at barrel races or working at home. . Around my area, you hardly see anyone wearing helmets at barrel races and YES, I ADMIT it, I did not wanted to be the "newie odd duck" and wear one so... I stopped wearing one even at barrel races. (For the record, NOBODY ever made fun of me when I first started and I was wearing my helmet, if anything, I encountered the MOST CARING, SUPPORTING AND ENCOURAGING group of barrel racers!).
Last month I bought my second barrel horse, a big guy with a big heart and a long stride! It is taking me a bit to get together with him as my other horse is the love of my life and my super babysitter pony! So the transition from one to the other is being a bit challenging but very enjoyable... anyhow... in the wake of recent events I decided to go back and start wearing my helmet.
Dressage riders do not go from 0 to 90 and try to turn a barrel and they have to wear a helmet, I would think it will be good sense for us (barrel races) to wear one, so, my own PERSONAL CHOICE is to start wearing one! As a matter of fact, I ordered a new helmet yesterday and I am going to ROCK IT! and after I am done running, I can wear my cowboy hat (as I look pretty darn good with it too!) |
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