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Helmets - Do you wear one?

12K views 116 replies 56 participants last post by  Radiowaves 
#1 ·
I've been riding for a couple years and whether I'm trail riding or reining, I wear a helmet. I figure the first time I opt not to wear one, that's the day I'll fall off and bump my head.
At my lesson ranch, NO ONE wears a helmet. I get a few weird looks for wearing one. Everyone else wears a cowboy hat. It's kind of disappointing that there's a stigma.

Anyone else insist on wearing a helmet?
 
#2 ·
I do if I have a bad feeling or if I'm riding an unknown horse. Otherwise hell with the helmet. People say it might be asinine but if I die it'll be doing something i love...

Do I look down on ones who wear a helmet? Of course not! Everyone has there own personal preference !
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#15 ·
I disagree. Safety should always be number one when riding an unpredictable animal. No matter how broke they are, they are still horses and accidents happen.
I have had many friends saved by helmets.
You can still enjoy riding with a helmet on, I do not even notice.

If you wear a helmet, it protects you. As you say "but if I die it'll be doing something I love" you can be saved by a helmet and will be able to ride for alot longer "the thing you love" than if you didn't.
Then you won't have to worry about death-and you will get to ride longer!
I do if I have a bad feeling or if I'm riding an unknown horse. Otherwise hell with the helmet. People say it might be asinine but if I die it'll be doing something i love...

Do I look down on ones who wear a helmet? Of course not! Everyone has there own personal preference !
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#4 ·
I wear a helmet every time I ride. Dying from a horse injury isn't my concern - being damaged for life is. I know a helmet won't protect me from everything but I think it will help a lot.
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#5 ·
i haven't worn one since i was 15 probably. i do want to get into the habit of wearing one again, but i'd have to buy a new one. I've been looking around a little but i hate buying one online that i cant try on. and theres no tack shops within an hour from me that sells many helmets. so i've been putting it off forever.
 
#6 ·
i do not wear a helmet, and i have never hit my head on any of my falls, will i? maybe one day. but they way i see it, if i'm meant to die, then i will die whether i am wearing a helmet or not. people have died, and had head injuries while wearing a helmet, and without. but this is just how i see it.
 
#7 ·
Cowgirl, I rode cutting and reining horses and I DID wear a helmet. I was the only one doing that, and frankly I didn't care at all how I look or what other people think. When people tried to laugh or make comments about it, I directly asked if they'll be willing to pay for my recovery something would of happen. That shut off all comments completely.
 
#11 ·
I never wear a helmet when I'm riding my girl but I do when I'm riding horses I'm not familiar with or horses that might be a little fresh. Mostly the reason I don't wear one is because my helmet now doesn't fit my head well so it's uncomfortable for me.
However, I just ordered a new one online that I really like the look of so hopefully I'll like it as much in person and I'll actually wear it (I'm finding that I often don't do things with my mare for fear that I might fall off and be injured, I think if I were properly protected I'd be less concerned).

My lesson kids ALWAYS wear a helmet and anyone under 18 who rides Lacey has to wear a helmet. Over 18, I give them the option but really push for wearing a helmet - I figure it's my duty, as the horse owner, to push for safety even if I don't necessarily follow my own "rules".
 
#12 ·
I absolutely hate wearing a helmet, but I do it anyway 80% of the time. If we're just walking around in the arena, I may skip it, but for my lessons I always do, anything faster than a walk, and always trail riding. I still don't like it one bit anymore than I like wearing a bike helmet, but I have a family and it would be selfish of me not to do something so simple as protect myself for their sake.
 
#14 ·
My barn technically requires everyone to wear a helmet. I will not put it on occasionally, but most of the time I'm out there by myself and I figure anything I can do to lessen my chances of being knocked unconscious if something were to happen, is a good thing. My horse is is pretty quite and I have a good velcrow seat, but I know the one time I don't wear it will be the one time I get tossed and knock my head.

I don't wear one when I'm showing though.
 
#19 ·
Having been on a trail ride, a horse bolted and killed it's rider. We found her laying in the woods dead, after hitting her head somehow. I still don't wear a helmet. But just having been ejected from my bombproof horse with a broken rib, I'm in the market for a helmet. Will wear it from now on, cool or not.
 
#22 ·
I find if your not scared after seeing that, I feel it is wrong. I want to continue to ride horses for another 50 plus years and know I am doing as much as I can to protect myself while still competing in this wonderful sport.

If anyone would to be against a helmet, it would be at my age. (15-22) and I choose to wear one, to be safe and responsible for my life.
 
#25 · (Edited)
They would be pushing their views onto me which is wrong. People need to mind their own business. I did not ask for their opinion. I am not a child. I am a middle aged woman who is more than capable of making a choice, which I am entitled. My choice is not affecting any other riders. Black Beauty, you are looking down on non helmet users.
 
#29 ·
No matter where you are, people are going to state their opinion, no matter if you like it or not. You need to take that, be poliet and just decide what your going to take or NOT take from it.

I think it is wrong, but I am not more "superior" than one that doesn't, I am just making a better choice for my safety, once again .
 
#28 ·
I have been known and photographed without helmet, which personally were my biggest mistakes. When I was training for a lady not far from my high school years ago, I got a thorough "talking to" from one of my teachers who had driven by and seen me without a helmet - this happened several times. Of course, being obnoxious and wanting to defy my superiors, I still chose not to wear it, even on greenies (which I had been thrown from, sans helmet!). The dumb part is that my helmet was always there, in the tack room, so I could have worn it at any time.

Now, I am a little more cautious. I came across a blog a few years ago about a girl who had been riding alone, with no helmet, and had been thrown by her otherwise bombproof horse. The blog was her family giving updates as she slowly died from her brain injuries (amongst others). It terrified me to think that without a helmet, I could end up worse off than dead; in a comatose state, placing the responsibility of ending my life on my family. No thanks, I'm much too stubborn and proud for that ;)

So, now I wear a helmet, regardless of if it is uncomfortable, hot, itchy, or embarassing. A little humility could do me good. I'm not Shawn Flarida or Anky, even when I think I am ;)

If others choose not to, that is there problem, but if I have a say, they are wearing one. I don't want to clean up that mess (figuratively or literally) if they get seriously injured. When I start giving lessons, I will be looking into getting body protectors for lesson riders to wear as well. Would rather everyone have a helmet and body protector if they can't afford one, than have broken ribs/skulls and lawsuits :)

Cheers,
RSS
 
#35 ·
Let us not let this turn into my "Modesty around the barn" thread.

Everyone has their opinion, simple as that. By saying "you have no right to tell me what to do!" you are saying you have the right to tell someone else they have no right, but they do not have the right to tell you the same.

Confused? It's hypocrisy. Let sleeping dogs lie, and unless you actually have legal authority in the matter, the best you can do is state a good argument for your case.

The best tool in debates, in my opinion, is not constructing your own counter argument, but simply deconstructing the other person's argument. Let them find the solution on their own rather than ramming it down their throat.

The end.
:)
 
#75 ·
Let us not let this turn into my "Modesty around the barn" thread.

Everyone has their opinion, simple as that. By saying "you have no right to tell me what to do!" you are saying you have the right to tell someone else they have no right, but they do not have the right to tell you the same.
:)
oh my gosh I was reading this thread from the beginning & thinking the exact same thing..lol
I'm not claiming a position on this 1. However, I have spent 20+ years taking care of trauma patients of many different mechanisms of injury. Helmets can definitely affect outcome many, many times but they are not absolutes! Casein point most of you probably have heard of was Christopher Reeves of superman fame. He sustained a C-2 fracture when his horse refused a jump rendering him a quadriplegic on a ventilator until he died later of sepsis from an infected pressure ulcer...he was wearing a helmet!! as I said not claiming a position but do believe in live & let live!
 
#37 ·
I make my children wear one, and as a parent who prefers that my children not think me a hypocrite, I wear one also. As does my mom. When my mom began riding, I told her that if she was going to ride around my children, I would appreciate her setting the example I am trying to set, and wearing a helmet. She has had to replace her crushed helmet four times since then, but I still have my mom, with some new scars, some old broken bones, but the same woman I grew up with and love.

Everybody has a right to decide whether to wear a helmet or not on their own, nobody should feel the need to make excuses for why they don't wear one, a simple "I choose not to" should be enough.

On the same token, just because I wear one does not give me a right to belittle, humiliate, or try to terrify anyone who doesn't, and it certainly doesn't make me a better or smarter person. I just don't understand why this topic has to degenerate into an argument every time.
 
#96 ·
I just don't understand why this topic has to degenerate into an argument every time.
It's a "hot button" topic. There are just some subjects that light folks up. Too bad, because good points have been made, but we probably all knew where the discussion was gonna wind up.

Oh well....
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#38 ·
Maybe one day a bronc will stomp my noggin till it looks like a meatloaf. If it does, and I'm a vegetable, yall don't have to worry if I'll be costing taxpayers money keeping me alive cause my family won't hesitate to pull the plug. I'm the black sheep and not much count anyways so I give it 24 hours at the most and they'll vote on it and I'll lose. :)
 
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