Eventingsafety John (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/eventingsafety) brings up a really excellent point – these are the best in the world, why are they not wearing helmets?
Perhaps there should be a “Shame Cam” campaign, and if you are attending and watching warmups, etc., and see a rider without a helmet, take a picture and post it. Perhaps shame can keep them safer. ? How sad.
I hope American riders wear helmets…and are not caught on the Shame Cam.
I am volunteering and watched some dressage riders practicing the other day. All of the riders in the ring were helmetless except one. The one that had a helmet on (GPA) was a USA rider! I apologize that I do not know who it was- I am a H/J rider. 
Habit and Helmet hair? Neither are good excuses for going helmetless. I would guess that if you wear your hair long so you can have the derigeur bun, helmet hair would be a PITA.
My suggestion–ditch the bun, cut your hair, and wear your helmet.
If the rules don’t require use of a helmet when hacking then these riders have made a personal decision not to wear one.
Your shame cam would be a joke to them., Better to spend your energies getting rule changes in place.
Not everyone wears helmets. Geez. :rolleyes:
I don’t understand that attitude, DLee.
It matters what the “best of the best” do on the world stage. We are missing a rider who should be on a WEG team because she didn’t wear her helmet schooling. I guarantee you this is why the USA dressage rider now schools in a helmet.
Messages like that matter, and it is an important reminder that even if you are the best dressage rider in the world, on the most fabulous horse in the world, you can get dumped on your head.
Don’t be so dismissive.
The reiners can do what they want, but I really am disappointed in the helmetless dressage riders. :no:
I’m not dismissive. I’m tired of the Helmet Police. It’s a personal choice. Period.
I choose to wear a helmet.
Parents, barn rules, horse show rules, etc. are important to make people wear helmets. “Shame cams” are not. But that’s all I’m going to say as this argument has been so done.
Jesus, what is it with you people and helmets?
G-I-V-E__I-T__A__R-E-S-T
If you want to wear a helmet, do so. Stop dispensing morality. More people die ever year from being overweight, don’t see every second post lambasting fat people, and I’m sure there’s more than a few of those on these boards.
Thank you. I am entirely with you, dismissive or not.
I am not advocating shame cams, and you are right, it is a personal choice.
Just as people can choose to forgo helmets were permitted, I can choose to find their choice ill-advised and disappointing.
you can choose to find their choice disapointing if you like
I’m quite certain I have made many choices my mother disaproves of.
Didn’t change my mind a bit.
Please people, stop ranting about adults not wearing helmets, go somewhere, look around at all the little kids pushing strollers with little kids in them and go make a difference and pass out condoms.
I was a confirmed “I don’t need no stinking helmet” whether on horse or motorcycle, never wore a seatbelt, indulged in questionable behavior in the 80’s… etc.
Somewhere along the line, I decided that I had too much responsibility to risk a TBI. No big catalyst, no big epiphany. Just life and being a grown up.
You don’t walk in someone else’s shoes. Go rail against drunk driving, because THAT kills innocent people. Stop smoking, eat sensibly.
If you can’t set a good example, then be a horrible warning…
worked for me for years.
Not really a response to Asterix, but to those all of those who would shame professional rider into wearign helmets because their actions are seen by impressionable eyes:
The riders in question know the rules of their sport and operate within them. It isn’t their job to model sound headgear decisions for the youth of the world; it IS their job to be competitive for their team and nation. As of yet, the FEI hasn’t inserted itself into the personal decisions regarding protective apparel that riders make in the schooling arena.
There is no disputing that wearing an ASTM/SEI helmet makes a rider safer. However, until the FEI deicdes to make all competitiors schooling at their competitions lock one on their noggins, these riders are operating within the rules. Perhaps if it concerns you that greatly, you should be the one to articulate why you think this choice is unwise to the impressionable “rest of the world” you’re so worried about-- especially those young people over whom you may have some sway. Teaching children to make smart decisions about their own safety isn’t the responsiblity of professional athletes with whom they have no personal contact, it’s the responsiblity of the parents and trainers with whom they have contact daily.
When you see helmetless children them riding bikes on the side of the road, do you attibute this to Lance Armstrong’s weekend cycling habits? Of course not. Let’s let adults make their own decisions, and let’s be clear on who truly is most influential in the lives of up and coming riders-- their parents.
I would have thought that if the FEI could not impose a helmet-wearing rule (even though it can oversee all other aspects of competition, such as who can school the horse, what gear is permitted, and horse welfare issues) - the KHP - as a venue - would make the wearing of helmets when schooling or hacking, mandatory. Even for the reiners and the DQs.
It seems bizarre that there are legions of stewards out there monitoring every footfall and every bit of gear on every horse - and riders are choosing not to wear helmets.
If there should be such “freedom of choice” when schooling, why not then extend this to all competition? If you should have the freedom to choose what you wear to school in, then surely you should have the right to choose what you wear in the main arena, in competition? Or out on the cross country course…???
“Choice” is all very well (and is one of those lovely Motherhood words bandied about like a political football)…but at WEG, you don’t have a choice what uniform to wear in competition, you don’t have any choice about things out of your control, like an unseen hole in the arena base causing your horse to trip and catapult you into the sand, or another horse barreling into yours.
Well, they didn’t, and these are freakin’ ADULTS who are perfectly capable of understanding the risks and making their own choices. Let them do it in peace. Legislate your own little corner of the world and leave others to their own choices.
[QUOTE=DLee;5118920]
I’m not dismissive. I’m tired of the Helmet Police. It’s a personal choice. Period.
I choose to wear a helmet.
Parents, barn rules, horse show rules, etc. are important to make people wear helmets. “Shame cams” are not. But that’s all I’m going to say as this argument has been so done.[/QUOTE]
Yep Fully agree!!!
Everyone is an adult if they choose to wear or not wear a helmet it is THEIR OWN DECISION…not the decision of those with the “shame cam” or those on this board.
I would like to point out that I have seen a lot of reiners (several thousands being an understatement) and I’ve never once seen one in a helmet. I also don’t see nearly as many reiners with head injuries as I do eventers and jumpers. Can it happen: yes. Can it happen with a helmet on: yes.
If several head injuries were reported monthly in reining event maybe you would see a rule change that reflects that which is seen in jumping events where usef gets regular reports of head injuries and even a few deaths per year.
I agree they are adults and get to make a choice. I put my helmet on everyday, even for short walk on my saint of a horse I’ve had for 8 years. But that doesn’t give me the right to harass other people that are following the rules of competition they’ve entered.
If you want to make a deference, the only way to do so is enact a rule change requiring helmets. Everything else like a shame cam is done just to make you feel better… sorry, but it’s true.
Equa-
Good luck trying to tell the worlds best reiners who’ve probably never worn a riding helmet in their life that the WEG has a facility rule that requires everyone to wear helmets.
They even got the jog changed from asphalt to sand because they refused to jog on asphalt (understandably because of the horse’s different shoeing). So you think you could force this group of riders to go out and buy helmets for this event?? They would likely just give a lot negative feedback about helmets in their frustration and it would back fire.
Give it a rest, as said previously! I ALWAYS wear a helmet, my students ALWAYS wear helmets, but you know an adult can and should make their own decision! I had a H/J trainer come try a horse this week, he wore a ballcap. He did something VERY stupid trying the horse, ended up hitting horse with the spur when he lost his balance, horse kicked out on landing after a jump and he fell. Yes my heart was in my throat, and yes I thought “durn you should have a helmet on”. He was OK, but it was HIS decision. And to think that the reiners will wear helmets??? Comeon! They are COWBOYS, even many of the bull riders don’t wear healmets (altho now more and more are making the decision to do so). Yes, MINORS should be required to wear helmets, period. Adults, nope, its their decision if they want to deal wiht potential brain injuries or death.
shawneeacres. Not really his decision. If that rider gets seriously injured on your property and you don’t have a helmet rule, his insurance company is going to make it your business pretty quick. Even if you win in the end, it’s going to be a serious pain in the you know what for you in the process.
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