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Helmet importance - Why?

12K views 102 replies 49 participants last post by  SarahAnn 
#1 ·
Hello everyone.

I’m a 20 year-old college student, trying for veterinary school. I’ve been riding for 12 years now. I just want to talk about the importance of helmets. I heard of people riding without helmets (or with cowboy hats) and it drives me crazy. Here’s why:

In 2006, I didn’t have my horse yet, and I was riding a school horse. A very, hard-mouthed school horse. I was having my lesson with my coach, and we were going straight for a jump stand. I tried to turn left; he decided that we were turning right. Of course, I fell. Head first on a jumping pole. My foot caught in the stirrup so the horse then dragged me for about 20 feet when my parents were finally able to stop him. My coach and I went inside for the rest of the lesson because she didn’t want me to continue. So we had the rest of the lesson as a theory class. Well, I was babbling about horses in the prehistoric times and how they came to have only one toe. My dad was looking at my helmet and he realized that my helmet was split open. Completely. They brought me to the hospital, worried about my condition. I was diagnosed with a minor concussion and broken neck vertebrae. It took 4 weeks for the vertebrae to heal. Do you realize, if I didn’t have that helmet, it would have been my head that would have split open? Until this day, I don’t remember what happened.

In 2009, I had my horse, and I was at my first ever eventing competition. My coach wasn’t there since all her other students were at another competition. So, I’m entering the jumping ring, really stressed. I start the course, everything was fine. Until, I came to an oxer with the poles set at an angle. My mare and I had never jumped that. So, of course, she jumped it higher. I wasn’t ready for that. So I fell after the jump. I lost consciousness. The officials called the paramedics and I was put on an ambulance. They put me on the backboard because they thought my mare might have stepped on my back. I had regained consciousness but I wasn’t aware of anything. At the hospital, they diagnosed me with another concussion. It took me 2 months to rehabilitate. And, to this day, I have trouble with my memory, my concentration, and my eyes are very sensitive to the light. Before, I was a top class student, able to remember everything. Now, I have trouble remembering why I went up the stairs. All that because I had 2 concussions. And I was wearing a helmet both times. Now, because of this, I will probably have trouble with my memory and my concentration for the rest of my life. So please, put a helmet on. It WILL save your life.

Thank you
 
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#3 ·
Well, we horseforum folks have had a lot of threads on "do you wear a helmet and why do you or dont' you". It tends to raise the ire of a lot of folks.

However, if you wanted to, we could make this thread a "How my helmet probably saved my life" thread. Whaday think, guys?

I started riding 12 years ago, at 41 .. took a good fal at the canter in the arena and my helmet cracked in two, so hard that a listener thought I had broken a fence board, but the sound of it. "No, that was just my head in my helmet", I said. Was SOOOO sore the next day, but back in the saddle in a week.

My story isn't very dramatic, but I do wear my helmet, always.
 
#4 ·
Ill admit I dont always wear a helmet on trail rides even though I know Fable could fall etc. >_>
However I ALWAYS ride with a helmet with anykind of schooling especially when jumping. I also always wear one when riding Rem even on lazy hacks, becuase he is a type A personality and green broke.
About a month ago, Rem buck 3 gigantic bucks, I was falling in front of him so I pushed back off his neck, however, he also took this moment to turn right, so I ending up not back in the saddle. My right foot got stuck in the iron as I fell off to the left, (my right foot and the iron come up over the saddle) luckly this caused me to get dragged off the side off him instead of getting pull under, however I landed completely on my head! Twice as he bucked again with me hanging before dragging. Luckly my boot slipped off and freed me.
I had a horrible headache the whole day and vomited, as well as seeing stars the rest of the day when ever I turned too fast, I cant imagina all that with out my helmet, luckly my helmet also came out of it okay lol, those are pricey, but worth it!
 
#5 ·
That is a horrible description of a horrible experience! Just about my worst nightmare' being dragged by the horse with foot caugth in stirrup!

if your helmet hit the ground with any force, it may have suffereed small cracks and now be not able to protect your brain as it would if fully without cracks. Please check it out and replace if necessary. How much is your brain worth?
 
#8 ·
Siiiiiiigh.........I never wear a helmet. I've been riding for almost 50 years and I've come off many times and cracked my head a few times. My trainer used to say, "Musta made ya damn near normal." and that was the end of that. I know they save lives, cognition and so on, and I have a lovely brand new Troxel that's never been out of the box. I just ....forget I even have it until one of these discussions comes up.

So, for you young'uns out there, YES! Please wear your helmets! And if I ever fall off hard enough to need someone to change my Depends or hold my sippy cup, my husband had instructions to take me out back and shoot me.
 
#25 ·
I am tired of threads like these.

If I don't want to wear a helmet, then I won't, no matter how many "horror" stories are told.

I'm an adult, and can make my own decisions, thanks.
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thats on the ball,its down to personal responsibility,why worry about what the next person is doing,if your happy wearing a helmet good luck to you,by the same measure if you don,t wear one good luck to you as well
 
#10 ·
AMEN!!! There's too many preachy holier-than-thou types that want to stir up trouble in these "helmet threads". They want to say I'm irresponsible for not wearing a helmet and I want to respond that I wouldn't swing a leg over half the ill-mannered dinks that are passed off as riding horses. I've had a few close calls but not many for the amount of horses and number of hours I've ridden. I guess it all comes down to "when it's your time, it's your time" there's not much that can be done about it. Nobody gets out of this life alive.
 
#11 ·
How many of the "Super Safety Club" pushing helmets also consistantly wear body protectors? If not, then there are no grounds to call people who choose not to wear helmets out, considering they, themselves, are not doing all they can to protect themselves. Just two cents from a person who is tired of being looked down on.
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#12 ·
You should wear a helmet riding a horse, a seatbelt in a car, a helmet on a motorcycle, I wouldnt ever support laws forcing you to do it nor even bat an eye at people that choose to or dont. Which brings me to an interesting point.
How many of the overly critical helmet people wear safety toe shoes/boots around horses ?
Broke toes are way more common than broke skulls.
 
#13 · (Edited)
My goal was NOT to judge people but to make them aware. And I'm sorry, but a broken toe is NOTHING compared to having a concussion. I think you guys don't understand. I will have repercussions of this for the REST OF MY LIFE. I will probably NOT be able to go to vet school. It IS your choice to put on a helmet or not. But, I'm just trying to make you realize that putting on a helmet is not a big deal.

Tinyliny, if you think that it is better, please change it.

P.S.: Dressage top hats also fall in that cathegory.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I posted this thread in March:

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-riding/helmets-injuries-some-studies-long-81416/

I use a helmet about 90% of the time, but the preachiness of helmet fans drives me the other way.

Jumping horses, with a helmet, is much more likely to result in a serious head injury than riding flats without them. How much? Depending on the study, the answer is anywhere from 10-80 times more likely. Meanwhile, wearing a helmet reduces your chance of serious injury by around 50% during a fall.

Folks need to think of the total picture in risk management. If you jump, you accept your risk of serious head injury going up at least 1,000%, and maybe much more. Meanwhile, wearing a cowboy hat instead of a helmet increases your chance of serious injury by 100%. Who is living more dangerously?

Do I run around trying to stop folks from jumping? Nope. Do you see threads started by western riders attacking jumping as a sport? Nope.

Riding in an English saddle is also associated with greater risk, although no one has tried to quantify it. Why? Less support when things go really wrong.

But do you see threads from western riders attacking those who ride English as a bunch of crazy fools? Nope.

The worst fall I took hurt my back enough that I can feel it sitting here 3.5 years later. Fortunately, I was wearing a baseball cap! Who knows what would have happened without that layer of cotton!

Do you see why I don't like anecdotal evidence in these debates?
 
#15 ·
...So I fell after the jump...They put me on the backboard because they thought my mare might have stepped on my back...It took me 2 months to rehabilitate. And, to this day, I have trouble with my memory, my concentration, and my eyes are very sensitive to the light. Before, I was a top class student, able to remember everything. Now, I have trouble remembering why I went up the stairs. All that because I had 2 concussions. And I was wearing a helmet both times. Now, because of this, I will probably have trouble with my memory and my concentration for the rest of my life...
I'm very sorry for your injuries. Maybe someone in the jumping world should have told you how much more dangerous it is to jump with horses than to ride flats. But again, jumping while wearing a helmet is much more dangerous than riding flats in a cowboy hat.

If folks want to jump, they can. My daughter won't get that choice. Not as a child. But it sounds like you should be preaching the danger of jumping instead of the need for a helmet that you were wearing when you were badly hurt.
 
#18 ·
Ok, you're not reading what I was saying. I'm not preaching, judging or whatever else you can think of. I am stating a fact that if I hadn't worn my helmet at that time, I would be dead now. People saying ''it's your time'' would that mean I should be dead at 15 years old? And, yes, jumping has a higher risk. But flats have a risk too. My first concussion was on flat. My second, on jumps. You can do whatever you like. But you can't deny the fact that wearing a helmet decreases your chances of serious injury. I posted this thread not to yell at people ''you should always wear a helmet!!!''. I posted it because it's a fact that I would be dead now. You can either take the risk or not. It's your choice. I'm not judging anything. But I like being aware of the dangers of things before doing them. So please, the hatters, stop it, you're going nowhere. You're criticizing me because I supposedly criticize you, which is NOT the case. Riding horses IS a dangerous sport. But you can reduce those risks by protecting yourself. I posted this thread for the younger kids that don't realize that it COULD happen to THEM.
 
#21 ·
During a chat with a safety specialist he bro't up the topic of helmets. His concern was - would there be a greater instance of broken necks because of the thickness of helmets just above the base of the skull. As one falls, the head stops but the neck keeps going. Good point, which raises more confusion over the helmet issue.
 
#47 ·
I don't know about broken necks, but maybe more neck injuries. I do wear a helmet about 90% of the time. The last time I fell it was sort of a rolling shoulder to back landing. Nothing major really and I wasn't in pain anywhere and probably would have had no injuries at all without my helmet. But the helmet did leave my neck sore and a bruise from one side to the other where the base of the helmet dug into my neck.
 
#23 ·
Based on the studies I linked to, if you fall on your head, a helmet will cut serious injuries by about 50%. That is based on reduced injuries seen, which would include any problems caused BY the helmet.

How much overall risk they cut depends on the odds of your falling on your head, which is a common fall in jumping and an uncommon fall in flats. Here is how your overall risk reduction would work, if the first number is the chance of the fall, and the last number is the overall risk reduction due to wearing a helmet:

50% cut 50% = 25% overall
10% cut 50% = 5% overall
1% cut 50% = 0.5% overall
0.1% cut 50% = 0.05% overall

Thus a helmet is very important if the risk of falling is high, and much less important as the risk of falling on your head goes down. I'd do most anything to cut my risk by 25%. I'm a lot less concerned about dropping my risk by 0.05%.
 
#24 ·
Thus a helmet is very important if the risk of falling is high, and much less important as the risk of falling on your head goes down. I'd do most anything to cut my risk by 25%. I'm a lot less concerned about dropping my risk by 0.05%.
Every adult (sorry kids it's your parents desision) should have a right to choose to wear or not wear a helmet. Though before making that choice i think they should be well informed of the risks involved. It is their responsibility to seek out the information. It doesn't seem to me that the OPs goal was to judge those who don't wear helmets but to share her experience and her reasoning as to why she wears one. Though there may have been a little undertone of judgment i think it was rather unintentional.

Here is when i wear a helmet:
-Sports (racing, jumping, polo, etc)
-Green Horse (if i don't know how a horse will react to some situations)
-Training (anything new to the horse i usually have a helmet)
-Rough Terrain ( bad footing, lots of low limbs)
-"new" horse (unpredictable)

I accept the risk involved with not always wearing a helmet and don't expect society to wipe my butt or hold my sippy cup if it comes to that.

If i am on someone else's horse or someone else's property i follow their rules.
 
#27 ·
I've worn a helmet a total of three times in my entire life of riding (and I started riding when I was three...I'm seventeen now). I've gone through tons of falls, three concussions, many broken bones, and a few near death accidents.

I'm not going to wear one. Never again.
 
#28 ·
Every time that I've fallen off, it's been while I'm doing flat work. Never once while jumping.

Times are changing and I'm fairly certain that wearing helmets will become as normal as wearing a seatbelt. I'm sure that there were many people who thought it was a dumb idea to wear a seatbelt at first, but now almost everyone does it.

The argument, "If you want to preach about wearing helmets you better wear safety vests too." doesn't make much sense to me. That's like saying, "If you tell people to wear seat belts in a car, you should have all of the equipment that a Nascar driver does." Yes, Nascar is more dangerous than every day driving but jumping is more dangerous than riding on the flat is. Is everyone going to stop racing cars/jumping. No.

People love to do things that are really dangerous so why not try to make it a bit safer? Even if that means by 0.05% .

Sorry if that doesn't make any sense. I began rambling.
 
#29 ·
I don't understand why some people are taking offense to this. I love my helmet <3 it has saved me so many times from bad falls lol. I think it's quite nifty how helmets are, me and my friends always compare them lol.

Anyways, I think it's an adults call on wearing a helmet. No one can force someone over the age to wear one, unless they are on someone else's property, or on someone else's horse.

As for the vest comment, I think all jumpers should wear them, even if your just schooling. I have fallen off so many times while jumping and I wished I was wearing a vest.

I've only ridden one time without a helmet and that was when my friend was with me and we rode double on Cowboy and I only had one helmet and gave it to her. I even cantered Cowboy without a helmet and wow it felt awesome, but it was in the back of my mind that he could have bolted or spooked and I could have fell.

Anyways, yes I think helmets save lives, no I wouldn't force anyone if I just saw them. Helmets, and seatbelts are all personal choices, but if you choose not to wear them you have to face the consequences. Helmet-injury, seatbelt-ticket (or injury)
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#30 ·
I have fallen off so many times while jumping and I wished I was wearing a vest.

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This is what you should focus on and fix. Christopher Reeves was wearing a helmet and vest and still ended up a quadraplegic.
 
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