Helmet struggles

[OfCourseItsAnAlter]

With respect to whether or not wearing a dial helmet counts against you in the show ring, wasn’t there recently a thread in this forum and maybe an article or blog post or something on COTH from a judge, with input from other judges, saying that the widespread notion that you must wear whatever brands/styles are currently in vogue in order to win is utter nonsense?

Now I know this is irrelevant to the OP because she is a teen and is going to bow to peer and trainer pressure. I was the same way. When I was a teen I remember having a minor meltdown over not having the right brand of breeches (Harry Hall, maybe?). But still, I feel obligated to say that the idea that your placings in the show ring depend on what kind of helmet you’re wearing is ridiculous.

[Renn_aissance]

@TheJenners

Just want to point out that recently the COs have changed to a removeable liner system in their helmets, so the above advice about compression may or may not be accurate based on “other” helmets with removeable liners.

And this is a great example of why the OP would get better advice from the tack shop than from well-intentioned people on the internet. Thanks for this info. I don’t have a CO head, so I’m not up on the latest of what that brand is doing!

As regards whether brand or features matter (other than bright turquoise, which I think we all agree is a home color) I have been involved with IEA in zone 3 region 1 in some capacity or another for 15 years and in this area it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference what anyone is wearing on their heads, shoulders, knees, or toes provided it is clean, safe, and well-fitted. As for A-circuit riders coming out to IEA shows, that happens. My horse qualified Jacob Pope for either zones or nationals one year. I assume his riding may have had something to do with it as well.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

@Renn_aissance

My horse qualified Jacob Pope for either zones or nationals one year. I assume his riding may have had something to do with it as well.

Completely off-topic, but I love his riding. He’s one of those few riders who looks equally in tune with his horses in the hunters and jumpers (and when he did it, the equitation). He’s such a kind, sensitive rider, but also a fierce competitor.

This is the Charles Owen I ride in, and which I believe the OP has. It does have a removable liner. https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/charles-owen-jr8-plus-helmet-5418

[trubandloki]

@OfCourseItsAnAlter

Now I know this is irrelevant to the OP because she is a teen and is going to bow to peer and trainer pressure.

In this case she is not so much bowing to peer and trainer pressure, more that she is part of a team and is, for lack of a better way to describe it, wearing the team uniform.

I am sure if this OP wants to ride outside of this team, she can wear wear whatever helmet she wants, no matter what her trainer says (as long as it meets the safety requirements, clearly).

When you join a team, some of your self choice is lost.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it some of the riding team requirements are silly. But…

[Kaspercat]

As a non-American I’d be really grateful if a couple of things could be cleared up.

On this thread the OP said that she had to get her hair in the riding hat or it would cost her places at the hunter/jumper competition. From reading the replies it appears that having your hair in your hat isn’t required in the rules, you just need to be neat and tidy. So why is the OP’s trainer insisting that it will cost them places if they can’t do that? As an outsider I am confused by this.

The OP said that being an IEA made a difference. Are IEA judges more fussy about rider turnout compared to other hunter/jumper judges or is it just the trainer’s preferences in regards to hair style that this is about?

I just find it bizarre that a young lady would be made to wear her hair in a painful way just because the trainer thinks it looks smart. If she can comfortably have her hair neat (as per the rules?) but not stuffed into the hat, why isn’t that OK?

[OfCourseItsAnAlter]

It mostly boils down to imitation of successful people and group identification, both of which are powerful forces influencing the behavior of people, especially young people, but older folks are certainly not immune to it.

Susie is one of the cool girls at the barn. Susie does her hair like this. Susie is also a really good rider with a really nice horse so she wins a lot. Other girls want to be like Susie, so they imitate her hair style (among other things).

It’s the same way other ridiculous fads percolate through the horse world and become unofficially official. It’s like braids with gigantic bows on little kids showing ponies. Everybody does their hair that way.

I’m old, so I’ve seen lots of them come and go over the years. Eventually “hunter hair” will be replaced by some other fad. When I was a teen/college student, the “official” hair style for those with long hair was a bun at the nap of the neck with a hair net over your head and the bun.

[Renn_aissance]

@Kaspercat

On this thread the OP said that she had to get her hair in the riding hat or it would cost her places at the hunter/jumper competition. From reading the replies it appears that having your hair in your hat isn’t required in the rules, you just need to be neat and tidy. So why is the OP’s trainer insisting that it will cost them places if they can’t do that? As an outsider I am confused by this.

In the US, it is most common (“traditional”) for older junior and adult riders to wear their hair inside their helmet. Some will use the word “correct” instead, but there’s no rule about it. Because it’s been “the way things are done” for so long, doing it another way can draw attention, and some think that anything that draws the judge’s attention is a distraction from the performance at best or something to be penalized at worst. You can see in this thread that there’s been some input from each perspective- the OP has been taught that she wouldn’t place as well if she didn’t conform to standard attire, and some of us have said that as long as her hair is contained tidily the judge won’t care. Equitation, the division the OP is showing in, is one of the more traditional disciplines and people tend to be most cautious about attire in those classes.

I was just talking with one of our farm’s trainers the other week about how that trainer expects hair outside of helmet to become much more commonplace in the next few years. I’m working the ingate at an IEA show in a few weeks, and one of the coaches for a local team herself shows with her hair braided outside her helmet. I’ll be interested to see if we have any takers.

[Posting_Trot]

I have found this an interesting thread because there’s a lot of good information, but also in a kind of anthropological way about the quaint cultures and customs of a particular tribe.

On a more directed point: shouldn’t this junior’s parents be involved in the discussion? The proper use of a helmet is a safety issue, and if the coach is promoting an improper use then shouldn’t the parents know that? And intervene?

How is this different from, say, a football coach wanting his players to use an old-style helmet because, in his view, it looks better? If it were your child, wouldn’t you want to know that the child’s safety was being compromised?

[trubandloki]

@Posting_Trot

How is this different from, say, a football coach wanting his players to use an old-style helmet because, in his view, it looks better?

But they can’t, because I assume most governing bodies have safety requirements.

In other words, this coach can not make these kids ride in an old style hunt cap. I am betting the rules state that an approved helmet is required. (Why then the western riders do not have to wear one, who knows.) What the rules do not address is how your hair is to be worn.

[Posting_Trot]

Thanks, yes, I get your point.

But my larger point is that parents (if enough of them complain to the coach and/or the governing body) can effect change.

I’d agree that wearing your hair up by itself is not the same kind of safety issue that wearing an old-style hunt cap is.

But, stuffing your hair into a helmet that was not fitted for you to wear it in that way does detract both from the comfort of the helmet (as the OP attests), and may potentially affect the degree of safety it provides, particularly (obviously) if the OP does do anything to the helmet to alleviate the discomfort.

[Posting_Trot]

I’ll add that I also get that the OP would probably be mortified if her parents complained.

That doesn’t mean that it is not the parents job to complain. Either that or they can shell out for another helmet specifically fitted for wearing with the hair up.

[Kaspercat]

Thanks for the replies, I will never complain about daft British turnout rules again. I can cope with having an uneven number of plaits in a horse’s mane (not including the forelock) being ‘correct’ but stuffing your hair in your hat so you get headaches and the safety of the hat is compromised… no. A step too far.

OP, you need to embrace the rebel within and say ‘stuff this snobby hair style rubbish’ and wear your hair so it is comfortable and your riding hat is safe.

[OfCourseItsAnAlter]

@trubandloki

But they can’t, because I assume most governing bodies have safety requirements.

Sure. You have to wear a helmet that meets the designated ASTM standard. But, the compliance of a particular helmet with the designated ASTM standard is predicated on the assumption that one will wear the helmet under the same conditions in which it passed the ASTM testing. And, as others have already pointed out, when you buy a bigger helmet so you can stuff your long locks up inside it, you’re no longer wearing the helmet in the way it was intended to be fitted and worn.

At work, our field crews are sometimes called upon to use certain types of PPE (personal protective equipment). There are pretty strict rules for how that PPE must be worn in order to ensure that it is most effective. That same thing is true of helmets today.

[Equkelly]

@Posting_Trot

How is this different from, say, a football coach wanting his players to use an old-style helmet because, in his view, it looks better? If it were your child, wouldn’t you want to know that the child’s safety was being compromised?

Because it’s not just this one trainer. I think people here don’t realize that this is just the look and this is how it is for all of them in hunters, eq, IEA, IHSA, and NCAA.

IME, in general, the more competitive, the more prevalent the hair in helmet thing is. Can you wear your hair out of your helmet? I mean sure technically you can but you will stick out. Is a judge going to place you lower because of your helmet? Well no, but it’s like riding in a really dated and ill fitted hunt coat. Theoretically, it shouldn’t matter because the best ride should win but you’re walking in with a bad first impression.

Maybe it’s different in other areas but I’ll be honest. In my area outside of jumpers, the majority of the people riding with their hair outside of their helmet tend to be novice/ beginner types. After awhile of seeing the same thing, your brain kind of starts to associate that style with a lower riding level. Same thing with ill fitted and dated show clothes… the only riders I ever see wearing them are beginner level riders so whenever I see someone wearing show clothes like that it’s just what my brain goes to. And this is coming from someone that wears their hair outside of their helmet and also has pretty dated show clothes.

This is why I think we need a rule change, because most people aren’t going to stop doing this unless someone makes everybody else stop it too.

[Equkelly]

One more thing, if you think this is dumb, unsafe, and not inclusive, and needs to stop, then write to USHJA and ask them to ban this stupid style and/ or write to helmet brands and tell them to stop modeling their helmets in an unsafe and not inclusive style.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

Yes, I agree–because hunters and equitation (which are the disciplines the hair-in-hat thing really comes up) are subjectively judged, many show barns are obsessed with controlling every possible variable that might impact results.

Think of how many earnest posts there have been, wondering if it’s okay to wear a grey jacket in the equitation, or a burgundy coat in the hunters. And that’s at the silliest and least harmful level. Every time it’s 90F degrees, I also see FB memes floating around about how your trainer never permits you to take off your jacket, even if jackets are expressly waived. Add in barns that pressure kids to get horses of a certain color and size, regardless of suitability, for “the look.”

A lower level barn with kids that rarely show is just happy to get the kids out there, in somewhat appropriate gear, and not get run over in the beginner warmup ring, forget hair. So I agree that it would be helpful if higher level riders and barns people admire started adopting safer styles, as was the case when Charlotte and a number of other highly successful dressage riders began wearing helmets. Even so, a rule change is obviously going to precipitate change faster than fashion (again, as with helmets in dressage).

[HipNo34]

“But, the compliance of a particular helmet with the designated ASTM standard is predicated on the assumption that one will wear the helmet under the same conditions in which it passed the ASTM testing.”

I’ve learned ASTM testing involves steel headforms. Hair doesn’t seem to factor into it all. Here is a link to what the forms look like – one would presumably have to be completely and utterly bald to fully replicate the simulation.
This does make the point that a closely-fitted helmet is optimal but how one gets there will vary – thus, as has been pointed out, the most important thing you can do is be fitted with the help of a professional.

The Charles Owen site overviews testing and shows the headforms in use, theirs adds computer simulations – there’s also a great Laura Kraut video about her personal experience.

The only study I can find related to hair and helmets is one for football helmets, funded in part by the NFL. PDF here. While football players don’t wear their hair up, this report does note “The fit of football helmets varies widely [1] and football players have varying amounts of hair, ranging from bald to long dreadlocks” – therefore, even down, fit is still an issue and not necessarily guaranteed.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommended for high-school football players in 2016 that “The risk factor of poor helmet fit should be minimized through mandated adult supervision and midseason spot checks” because “Helmet fit can change and evolve during the season and games, due to sweat, hair style, rain, cold weather clothing, and other factors.”

Presumably spot-checks are more hands-on than visually observing the athlete’s hairstyle.

As a side note, I was amused to see the NFL has the opposite problem - players’ hair, flowing free from their helmets, has been a point of discussion and proposed rules given the dangers associated with hair-grabbing and pulling during tackles.

[Jo]

Well, I for one am dying to know how the hair helmet debacle was solved for the weekend’s show!

[LSBC]

Just to add, I started with a JR8 and found it a bit tight when I put my hair up. FWIW, we were required to ride with our hair in hairnets and in our helmet (2008ish time). I ended up switching to an AYR8 which I found gave me more room for my hair and was more comfortable on my head.

I put my hair up in two ways depending on the day:

1. If my hair is freshly washed and will slide out of my helmet, I put my hairnet on and then I grab the excess hairnet that is hanging with my ponytail and slide the ponytail into my hairnet and straighten it out. Then I put the whole thing up in my helmet. The hairnet has some grip so my hair doesn’t slide out of my helmet.
2. I can put my hair straight up into my helmet, but then I fold the top of the ponytail back so it doesn’t stick out the front. I had really really long and thick hair when I did IEA, and that is how I had to put it up most of the time.

[CQequestrian]

So I talked to my barn’s tacking assistant and she said that the hairnets were too loose. I tried using smaller hairnets and making them tighter and my head was slightly sore after I rode with it, but that much I think is normal.