Helmets while on ground/around the barn?

[RockingJ]

I really do not want to start any kind of debate, I just want to understand the rationale behind this. I’ve been researching/trying out different barns, and have encountered a variety of rules. At least twice now, I’ve seen rule requiring helmets of minors while doing anything in the barn/on the ground with horses, and recommended for adults. Is there any particular reasoning, besides freak accidents happen around horses?

I will certainly follow whatever rules a barn has and want to be respectful. I grew up at a time with zero rules, and an instructor that smoked in the indoor while giving lessons - how times have changed!

[Foxtail]

Liability, liability, liability.

[ArabDiva]

what Foxtail said.

Minors (especially the ones who are new to riding) do some dumb things around horses. Good to have the extra protection for the kiddo who startles a horse while grooming, or if the horse pulls its foot away while kiddo is learning to pick it out, kiddo is leading a horse back to the paddock and Dobbin gets excited because it’s dinnertime, etc. etc.

[Alittledownhill]

Everyone (kids and adults) had to do this when I was at a large lesson barn. I admit I don’t do it anymore, but if my son ever wants to ride I’ll want him in a helmet on the ground. Horses can kick. Horses can yank a kid onto the ground. Ground can have rocks on it…
Maybe you have to be a parent to see the appeal. I secretly love any excuse to put a helmet on my kid.

[BeeHoney]

I think it’s a great idea to require kids to wear their helmets when handling horses.

When kids and horses are combined, accidents happen all the time–they aren’t freak occurrences. Usually kids are lucky and are not seriously injured. IME (I run a barn and show), serious accidents are just as likely to occur when handling horses as when riding.

[MissAriel]

A recent study addressed helmets around horses:

https://www.paulickreport.com/horse-care-category/children-wear-helmets-around-horses-times-study-finds/

“Of the group of children who were injured while being around horses and not riding, about one-third sustained a TBI. Because of this, the team recommends children wear helmets while working around horses in addition to while mounted.”

There have been plenty of people injured while on the ground when horses act like horses. I will admit I don’t often wear my helmet working around my horse, even though I know I probably should and I always wear it while mounted.

[Texarkana]

When I was a teenager, I worked at some girl scout camps. This was in the 1990s. They required all minors to wear helmets any time horses were in the vicinity. Do you know how annoying it was to muck stalls in the summer heat in a helmet, just because there were horses in the barn???

While I would never criticize anyone for trying to improve safety, you’d have a hard time convincing me that adults should always wear helmets while working with horses on the ground in a normal, everyday manner.

Small children, beginners, sure… I totally get that.

On a side note, yesterday I went into my (empty, parked) horse trailer to get something and managed to whack the door HARD into my head. I would not doubt I caused measurable TBI and now have a nice bruised goose egg on my forehead. I guess I should be wearing my helmet when not around horses, too? You can’t prevent everything…

[furlong47]

@Texarkana

When I was a teenager, I worked at some girl scout camps. This was in the 1990s. They required all minors to wear helmets any time horses were in the vicinity. Do you know how annoying it was to muck stalls in the summer heat in a helmet, just because there were horses in the barn???

While I would never criticize anyone for trying to improve safety, you’d have a hard time convincing me that adults should always wear helmets while working with horses on the ground in a normal, everyday manner.

This came from the Safetywise guidelines (I believe they are called something different now) which tended to be a bit overzealous when it came to almost any activity. For example, we once thought about doing a troop bike ride and scratched that idea based on the amount of safety, repair, and first aid gear you needed to have and haul along with you.

Of course, they were not always followed to the letter - I attended and worked at a GS camp too, and our policies weren’t as ridiculous as that. When I was a camper we just wore helmets while riding, and when I worked there we had the kids wear them while grooming and tacking but not for something like mucking an empty stall.

[Texarkana]

@furlong47

This came from the Safetywise guidelines (I believe they are called something different now) which tended to be a bit overzealous when it came to almost any activity. For example, we once thought about doing a troop bike ride and scratched that idea based on the amount of safety, repair, and first aid gear you needed to have and haul along with you.

Of course, they were not always followed to the letter - I attended and worked at a GS camp too, and our policies weren’t as ridiculous as that. When I was a camper we just wore helmets while riding, and when I worked there we had the kids wear them while grooming and tacking but not for something like mucking an empty stall.

Ah, good to know. I imagine the enforcement of safety regulations had a lot to do with whoever was in charge…

I worked at two different camps. One camp had a camp director who was horse savvy and a very experienced riding director-- they were the ones who followed the rules to a “T.” If there was a horse in the area, helmets were expected to be on. It didn’t matter if you were camper or staff or the particulars of the situation. That barn was very well run, though.

The other camp’s barn was a hot mess and everything was a lot more lax.

[Jumpin_Horses]

I wear my helmet around the barn because if I take it off I have “helmet hair” and no one needs to see that…

[Guilherme]

We had the 4H Horse project at our barn for five years. We had a dress code (real shoes/boots, long pants/breeches, shirt, etc.). I highly recommended long sleeve shirts and gloves but did not require them. Helmets were required when taking a horse out of the barn for longing or riding or some handling work but not otherwise. ALWAYS for any work under saddle. This was blessed and approved by our 4H supervisors. Some programs were more strict but some had almost no requirements (and permitted handling horses wearing shorts and flip flops). I wasn’t brave enough to allow that!!!

I follow the same rules for me going to barn. Although I will admit on cheating on wearing helmet while longing when the temp. is in the 80s.

G.

[SnicklefritzG]

As far as barn rules, I’ve only ever seen a comment that helmets must be worn while riding. I haven’t seen rules for anything beyond that.

Personally, I always wear a helmet even when I am working with a horse on the ground. you never know what can happen, especially with young horses.

when my nieces and nephews come to ride, they too have to wear helmets all the time.

[SBrentnall]

A girlfriend of mine was kicked in the head by her horse while grooming in the cross-ties. He was napping and she startled him. It took her years to regain the ability to walk and talk, and she’s never been the same since.

[hunt_jumpfl]

I do not generally wear my helmet when working on the ground (unless I’ve just gotten off or I’m between rides). However my worst injuries including my only head injury have been while working with horses in the barn/on the ground. I do see the value in wearing a helmet on the ground, particularly when working directly with a horse in close spaces. Unfortunately things happen that may or may not be in a handler’s direct control. I’ve known plenty of people injured by spooks and kicks not directed at the human.

[AppendixQHLover]

I wear a helmet when round penning and lunging horses now. I have seen one to many flying hooves way to close to my head

[Garnet_Z]

I can understand having kids wear helmets around horses even while not riding. Even on the ground, one can get accidentally head-butted by a horse, or kicked, and kids can be a bit careless at times.

I don’t wear a helmet when working with my horse on the ground - I know him and his habits pretty well. I can see myself wearing a helmet while doing ground work with a horse, if I was doing something like lunging a horse I didn’t know very well, or working with a big, excitable horse.

[gottagrey]

I think it’s a good idea. Do I do it, not usually but if I had kids I’d probably require it. We had one horse in our barn that I would never be around without a helmet - he clocked me in the head but good when he was in the trailer and from that point on any time I had to be near him helmet was ON. Shoot I recall not too long ago a friend had a youngster come to her barn and told her she needed to wear her helmet and event vest when she handled that mare.

[add_leg]

I wear mine tacking and untacking and around the barn after this incident http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article14345135.html

I will admit, I overheat really easily and sometimes when I come back into the barn after riding, I have to take it off to cool down, but I try to be good about popping it back on. I don’t usually wear it if I’m filling water buckets, feeding, putting things back in the tack room, etc.

[GraceLikeRain]

I tend to grab all of my stuff and completely prep my grooming area, put on tall boots, helmet, and then go grab whatever horse I am hacking that day. While I thoroughly enjoy grooming, I like to have everything ready to go in case that horse is having a wiggy day and I just need to get in and out ASAP. If a horse is dancing around in the crossties being an idiot I really don’t want to be pulling off my shoes to put on tall boots or flipping my head over and messing with a hairnet. I leave my helmet unbuckled until I bridle and unbuckle when I get back to the grooming area and have unbridled. Unless it is 95+ and I’m feeling lightheaded, I wear a helmet until I turn back out. On top of a horse I feel pretty secure to sit out a lot of silliness but on the ground I"m not as confident so it gives me a little extra feeling of security when a horse is trying to dance on the lead coming in or sets back in the crossties <<< maybe a better answer would be to stop riding dingbat ponies.

My baby sister, from what she can piece together, had her young mare freak out in the crossties and she went headfirst into the wall. A very expensive ER visit and some more expensive dental work later, she’s okay. That accident could have easily been fatal and definitely left an impression with me.

[seabreeze]

I find myself wearing my helmet when grooming more frequently the older I get, especially during the summer fly season. My new mare is Ms. Super Sensitive and has a very acrobatic cow kick when a fly bites her in just the right place or I bother her under regions at bath and squeegee time. While it’s rare, I know just how contortionist she can be, so I’ve kind of made it a habit not to take my helmet off after a ride until I’ve finished taking care of her. One well-placed kick while I’m drying legs or applying Gold Bond to her whites, and I’d be toast.