My friend recently had an accident which resulted in multiple facial fractures and having to get plates put in her face. Her doctor is now recommending that she wear an ATSM-SEI certified helmet with face protection whenever she rides. We’ve been unable to find anything like this, so I was hoping someone might be able to help. Even a helmet that only covers the sides of the face, rather than the entire face would be ok. Similar to a baseball helmet, but made for riding. TIA
I’d look into polo helmets. I’ve seen polo players ride with face masks. I wouldn’t try to retrofit an existing riding helmet by adding on the face mask in case it compromised the helmet itself.
There are also face shields that basketball and field hockey players wear without helmets - I don’t know if they could be used in conjunction with a helmet or not. Here is one: http://www.sportsunlimitedinc.com/bangers-adjustable-sports-safety-mask.html
3 Likes
Google bull rider helmets.
1 Like
Ice hockey helmets. Go on Hockey Monkey.com and choose from a variety of helmets and a variety of cage designs.
(ETA: vast majority of all bull riding helmets are in fact just hockey helmets and hockey cages…)
bull riding helmets have face cages
Polo player here! We do use face cages exactly for that reason. Charles Owen makes one with a cage option as well as La Martina.
4 Likes
Hockey helmets aren’t designed the same way as a riding helmet - they are meant to take multiple hits, not to protect you from one bad hit resulting from a fall like an equestrian or bike helmet does. While they are (probably) better than no helmet at all, I’d stick with a polo helmet for horse sport.
Also, it appears that most hockey helmets are not very good at their jobs:
http://www.beam.vt.edu/helmet/helmets_hockey.php
2 Likes
Oops, commented and just noticed how old this thread is. Sorry!
