Do people really hunt in the old style hunt caps?

[BeeHoney]

ISR, I appreciate what you are saying, but many property owners that allow horses to be ridden on their land/at their facility deal quite comfortably with the “floodgate of other questions.” First of all, a helmet is a very standard piece of safety equipment for many sports, and I think that not wearing one could easily be viewed as egregious by a landowner, as in, “I can’t believe I allowed those people to gallop their horses all over my property and they weren’t even wearing helmets. It’s no wonder an accident happened.”

As far as the other questions, if someone shows up for a hunt mounted on a horse that is behaving unsafely, or a rider is obviously over mounted/out of control, I think that it is the responsibility of the master to excuse that person from the field. For example, I as a BO would intervene if I saw a dangerous situation unfolding on my property, and similarly, because our landowners aren’t generally present when we hunt, this responsibility falls to the master instead of the landowner.

Also, in the US, liability is generally lessened if proper safety precautions have been taken.

[Lady_Eboshi]

What anyone does or doesn’t wear riding would be of no interest or concern to landowners AT ALL were it not for insurance companies suing every party in sight if there’s an accident. I have never heard of a helmet, vest, or air bag that can prevent THAT. If they CAN be sued, they WILL be. Straw-man argument.

Comes down to following the hunt’s rules, usually specified by the staff or their insurer. If they don’t specify, who else’s business is it really what anyone else wears on their head? The head is THEIRS.

Helmet pearl-clutching has become a “Virtue Cult,” subset of the Health Nuts. Subtext: “I’m better/smarter/more virtuous than you, because I wear the newest biggest ugliest most expensive ice bucket, flak jacket, air bag, etc.”

Frankly, that “plays” a little better in the Eventing world than it does among foxhunters, for whom traditional dress is important and there’s a lot less FEAR or they wouldn’t be in the sport to begin with.

Personally, I think the “virtue” aspect of nearly all pearl-clutchers and Social Justice Warriors jumped the shark a long time ago and is becoming self-parody.