A former client of mine moved back to the barn recently and brought her 11 year old daughter and their horse out to the arena as I was finishing up with a student. As we were chatting, her daughter mounted their horse with her hair flying free and I said to the mother “You’re not making her wear a helmet anymore?”. She said “yeah, she has to wear it for the club events but I don’t make her do it here”, “it’s no big deal”.
I was appalled and said “yeah it’s no big deal until your child ends up in a wheelchair with traumatic brain damage for the rest of her life-once you’ve witnessed it, you won’t forget it”.
I know that I now that I have said my piece, there is nothing more I can do but I can’t stop myself from wondering why a parent would be so casual about helmet use. Is it because statistically she doesn’t believe is going to happen to her child-it always happens to someone else?
I’ve always required my students under 18 to wear a helmet with no exceptions even though I come from a generation who never wore helmets for anything (heck-there was no such thing as sunscreen-we baked in the sun on purpose!). One day I witnessed a bright, funny young girl (and a very good rider) fall off a horse without a helmet. She cracked her skull and now 20 years later, her parents still take care of her in her wheelchair. Needless to say, after the accident she was never again bright, funny or a good rider.
As a parent, could a person ever forgive themselves for giving in to a child’s desire to ride without a helmet and then something happens? Statistics are just statistics and are of no comfort when it’s your child that becomes 1 in a million.
I was appalled and said “yeah it’s no big deal until your child ends up in a wheelchair with traumatic brain damage for the rest of her life-once you’ve witnessed it, you won’t forget it”.
I know that I now that I have said my piece, there is nothing more I can do but I can’t stop myself from wondering why a parent would be so casual about helmet use. Is it because statistically she doesn’t believe is going to happen to her child-it always happens to someone else?
I’ve always required my students under 18 to wear a helmet with no exceptions even though I come from a generation who never wore helmets for anything (heck-there was no such thing as sunscreen-we baked in the sun on purpose!). One day I witnessed a bright, funny young girl (and a very good rider) fall off a horse without a helmet. She cracked her skull and now 20 years later, her parents still take care of her in her wheelchair. Needless to say, after the accident she was never again bright, funny or a good rider.
As a parent, could a person ever forgive themselves for giving in to a child’s desire to ride without a helmet and then something happens? Statistics are just statistics and are of no comfort when it’s your child that becomes 1 in a million.