Well, there has been an unofficial report that a rider has been seriously injured, possibly fatally in the opening ceremonies. In front of the whole audience. If it was from a head injury on a helmetless rider, that would be terrible.
Hoping not but as said above, either be a good example or a horrible warning.
To those who say the FEI or KHPcan’t make helmets mandatory: Bull.
It’s their playground, they get to make the rules. Tradition, convenience, “We’re adults” all are meaningless arguments. If either of those bodies imposed a helmet rule, then the riders have a choice: a.) wear the helmet and compete or b.) don’t wear the helmet and go home. Perfectly simple.
You don’t think those NASCAR guys put on safety equipment voluntarily, do you? Or bicycle racers? NO. Responsible, safety-minded sanctioning bodies mandated the change so they didn’t get their asses sued, effectively shutting themselves down as the sanctioning body.
I hate that we have become a nation of enthusiastic consumers of the legal system, but that isn’t going to change. Look at what has happened in the last decade or so with land closure, liability waivers, contracts, more releases, etc. And still the lawsuits continue. How many $20 million wrongful death suits do you think USEF can absorb just because they didn’t want to impose a helmet rule? Hunters and jumpers have a start, but they aren’t the only ones competing under the aegis of USEF. The lawsuit that puts USEF out of business could just as easily come from a reiner, a Tennessee Walker rider, or even someone driving a hackney pony. No, the injured and permanently impaired rider probably won’t sue. But her anguished parents or her fiscally injured health insurance company will.
I absolutely believe that it is an adult’s free choice to wear a helmet or not. But it is USEF’s or the FEI’s or KHP’s choice whether they can play in the competitive sandbox without one.
With NASCAR it took Dale Earnhardt’s death to mandate use of the HAN device because the drivers all said the same thing. Since the use was made a rule, no deaths from head/neck injuries.
Someone on another thread said that this was “tweeted” by “an onsite reporter.” No names, no quotes, no circumstances, and no confirmation.
We are now hypothesizing that said unknown rider who was allegedly mentioned as having been injured by an anoymous reporter in a tweet relayed via a nameless message board poster may have been helmetless? All so that we can coopt his or her unsubstantiated injury into a cautionary tale against for adults who may choose not to wear helmets?
Sheesh.
Then, please do NOT come on the board when another well known or not so well known rider has a fall and a brain injury to raise funds for their care. It was that rider’s choice to ride without a helmet. Consequences and all.
Well, now it is known that a man in a tuxedo on a black horse was thrown and injured at the end of “The Impossible Dream” song. His wife was brought to the floor. The reporter stated that it was thought he was dead.
If it was one of the Friesian riders, I believe they were all without helmets.
Arnika, I’m not trying to pick at you- I promise. In fact, ESPN does this sort of deep, deep background non-reporting all the time. To me, this latest report isn’t any more substantiated than it was the first time. As far as we know, no reporter name, no quotes, no witness names-- no one willing to attach their name to this report. “It was thought” by whom he was dead? A doctor? An onlooker fifteen rows back? Based on?
We don’t know what kind of injury this individual sustained or the extent of the injury at all other than what’s been passed along anonymously like a game of internet telephone. To me, it seems a bit premature to have so few facts and already be propping this alleged victim up as a cautionary tale for the purposes of this thread. Not that this is what you’re doing-- I would just hate to see this thread devolve into that given how little we really know at this time.
It is absolutely everyone’s right to dress as they please within the rules of the venue and competition. I’m sure I’ll take hundreds of pics at WEG, and whilst some will feature riders without helmets it will be because I’m loving the events, not because I want to shame them. Their heads, their choice.
BUT, there is absolutely NO reason that currently non-existent rules can’t be CHANGED so that PREVENTABLE injuries and fatalities do not need to mar our sports. At that point, as Madeline said, they can choose to wear a helmet or go home. And it is still their choice - it’s just nice for those of us spectating to have less of a chance of watching someone die in world-class competition (or warm up). And it’s nice for the sport not to lose a top rider for absolutely no reason.
(And, before the anti-helmet people jump on me, of COURSE I know not all injuries are prevented or even lessened by helmets. But they do tend to stack the deck in one’s favor.)
All the pictures I saw sofar from the german team on the showgrounds (made by one of the riders) shows them with helmets GPA with German colors !
I’m a helmet Nazi. I’m convinced that when people say they understand the risks of not wearing a helmet they really do not. It’s impossible to understand the impact of a traumatic brain injury on family and friends, not to mention the lifelong negative impact on the victims life. Go visit Courtney King Dye. I don’t harass people who are not wearing helmets. I do think the WEG athletes are role models whether they want to be or not. As such, their behavior is taken as a template for younger riders. Kudos to those riders in all disciplines who are willing to buck the “fashion trend” like our own eventer Allison Springer and wear a helmet during the dressage test. For me, I’m looking at the horse, the rider should be invisible and helmeted. Sure, it’s your “choice”. Choose away. What the hell do all the experts know anyway?
[QUOTE=lauriep;5119532]
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]
This is true, however, I’m sure the families of those with TBIs might wish at times (when they are wiping a bottom or lowering the electric ramp on the van, maybe) their loved one had worn a helmet.
What happened to the show of helmet-wearing solidarity among US dressage riders after Courtney King-Dye’s accident? What that just a flash in the pan?
Watermark, I don’t think it was a flash in the pan. I am with you in wearing my helmet every time, every ride. I think it’s the safest, smartest decision a rider can make. However, attempting to dictate another adult’s behavior when it comes to a personal safety decision, no matter how ill-adivsed I might deem it, makes me uncomfortable.
Naturally, if the FEI should ever decide to change their safety apparel rules to protect themseves, it’s their ballpark. A member who doesn’t like it could take his/her ball and go home if riding with a bare head is truly that important.
I actually work for a National Insurance Carrier and in many states the statues do support that as long as the legal wording is posted, a facility may require riders to sign releases from any type of injury incurred while riding. The reason being that as a rider you acknowledge that the activity that you engage in is inherenly dangerous and that is your personal choice. I have Evented and Showjumped in competition since I was 9 years and in the last 25 years I have seen the helmet laws change dramaically. I have choose to wear a helmet most of the time and ALL the time when youth are present, I dont ever want to hear that one of them incurred a head injury becuase “Miss Lisa doesnt wear a helment.” I just dont want that on my conscience. To everyone else it is your own choice, please choose to encourage the youth to do so.
Side note: I decided to take up a new sport last year and I came off my new 14.1 reining/cutting horse last year and broke 4 vertebrea!!! Nothing a helmet could do there!
Pure speculation. FYI, he was not thrown, nor was his trip to the hospital for a fall-related injury. He suffered a medical condition. That is as much as I am going to say until all the information is confirmed.
[QUOTE=DiamondJ;5120609]
I actually work for a National Insurance Carrier and in many states the statues do support that as long as the legal wording is posted, a facility may require riders to sign releases from any type of injury incurred while riding. The reason being that as a rider you acknowledge that the activity that you engage in is inherenly dangerous and that is your personal choice. I have Evented and Showjumped in competition since I was 9 years and in the last 25 years I have seen the helmet laws change dramaically. I have choose to wear a helmet most of the time and ALL the time when youth are present, I dont ever want to hear that one of them incurred a head injury becuase “Miss Lisa doesnt wear a helment.” I just dont want that on my conscience. To everyone else it is your own choice, please choose to encourage the youth to do so.
Side note: I decided to take up a new sport last year and I came off my new 14.1 reining/cutting horse last year and broke 4 vertebrea!!! Nothing a helmet could do there![/QUOTE]
I can also tell you that as a physician the “informed consent” that our patients sign detailing the risks of the procedure they are about undergo will not stop that patient from suing you if something goes wrong, even if no malpractice occurred. The legal disclaimers don’t seem to mean a lot in my profession, but we do it anyway. Sorry about your vertebrae, but a helmet is designed to protect your brain, an easily injured and difficult/impossible to repair organ. I really think that some “hands on” participation in caring for the patients with tracheostomies, gastrostomies, brain fluid shunts and rotten bedsores you can stick a fist in would change some minds. Not to mention the loss of being “who you were”, and enslaving your family and finances for your care. Wear you damn helmet, it’s that important.
OK, I was wrong. Scroll to the very bottom to see a photo Steffan Peters schooling Ravel…in a helmet. 
Yay!!!
[QUOTE=retreadeventer;5118746]
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.[/QUOTE]
Are you kidding? That is absurd. Its a personal choice.
[QUOTE=arnika;5120128]
If it was one of the Friesian riders, I believe they were all without helmets.[/QUOTE]
Arnika get you records straight please and stop throwing all these nonsense at us. And with us I mean the people who were on the spot :mad:
And just to inform you about the riders at Kentucky 90% of the riders don’t wear a helmet during their trainingsessions.
Arnika GRRRRRRR
Well, there has been an unofficial report that a rider has been seriously injured, possibly fatally in the opening ceremonies. In front of the whole audience. If it was from a head injury on a helmetless rider, that would be terrible.
Hoping not but as said above, either be a good example or a horrible warning.
Staff Writer World Equestrian Games
Near the conclusion of the Opening Ceremony for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, a performer had an acute medical problem which required on site care. The University of Kentucky medical staff responded immediately, the patient was transported to UK Medical Center, and doctors have confirmed that he is in stable condition. No further information is available at this time.
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