No helmets on youth reining riders at Congress?

[wonderhorseguy]

[QUOTE=Draftmare;8348694]
It is my business when they have the same insurance policy as me. It is my business when I pay into Medicare, Medicaid, and other social services with my hard earned money. The average cost of care for somebody with a neck, head, and/or spine injury ranges anywhere from $300,000 to $1,000,000 for the first year, and then roughly $100,000 a year for every year after. And to think that a helmet costs $40.

Except that people who don’t wear helmets are idiots gambling with their lives and the lives of their family and friends.

I had a concussion last year in October when my horse stepped into a sink hole and I was flung head first over her shoulder when she fell. My first, and hopefully my last. I am still dealing with side effects. I was wearing a helmet. I had not been wearing a helmet I may not be here preaching how important helmets are.[/QUOTE]

So somebody who pays into these programs should be able to restrict what somebody else does? If somebody thinks jumping is to dangerous they should be able to tell the “idiots” who jump that they can no longer do this?

The helmet Nazis come out each year to try and force their views on everybody else. If you think riding without a helmet is dangerous, then wear a helmet. There are many more frequent injuries which occur from riding.

[wonderhorseguy]

[QUOTE=beau159;8348932]
Excuse me, but exactly WHOSE perceptions are those?

Sound like these are YOUR perceptions?

Glad you think I’m a child, my mom made me wear it, my horse isn’t broke, I’ve never been on a horse, and I have a MENTAL DISABILITY.

You can put whatever you want on your head (a hat, a helmet, a cat…), I really don’t care. It’s your head. But it’s blatantly disrespectful to say such things about people who choose to wear helmets.

Wow.[/QUOTE]

Yet it is okay for people to call people who do not choose to wear a helmet idiots or worse?

[Dramapony_misty]

Yes, I think all youth should be required to wear helmets regardless of discipline. Once they hit 18, they are adults and make adult decisions.

I believe they did this with High School rodeo. Thanks to that, more and more professional bull riders are now sporting helmets and face masks.

[gaitedincali]

[QUOTE=wonderhorseguy;8349536]
Yet it is okay for people to call people who do not choose to wear a helmet idiots or worse?[/QUOTE]

It’s rude when they do it. It is equally classless and rude when the other side does it.

[sorrelfilly721]

[QUOTE=Draftmare;8348694]
It is my business when they have the same insurance policy as me. It is my business when I pay into Medicare, Medicaid, and other social services with my hard earned money. The average cost of care for somebody with a neck, head, and/or spine injury ranges anywhere from $300,000 to $1,000,000 for the first year, and then roughly $100,000 a year for every year after. And to think that a helmet costs $40.

Except that people who don’t wear helmets are idiots gambling with their lives and the lives of their family and friends.

I had a concussion last year in October when my horse stepped into a sink hole and I was flung head first over her shoulder when she fell. My first, and hopefully my last. I am still dealing with side effects. I was wearing a helmet. I had not been wearing a helmet I may not be here preaching how important helmets are.[/QUOTE]

Although I am certainly not against helmet wearing, you can only use the Medicaid/Medicare reason if you yourself are a non-smoking, not overweight, healthy eating, exercising, etc individual. Obesity costs me WAY more tax dollars than head injuries.

[D_BaldStockings]

Seeing as how real ranchers and cowboys ride ATVs and were feed store caps, well…

I always thought part of the essence of Western equipment was function: heeled boots, chaps, gloves, the horn on a saddle.

if helmets serve the function of protecting your head better than a cowboy hat, why would wearing them be a problem to anyone but a person wedded to the ‘romance of the cowboy’ fantasy.

-and I will admit that many western riders are drawn to the disciplines for that alone.

Motorcyclists and bicyclists have also gone through a period of ‘perception adjustment’ as laws change over time. Statistically though, the fatalities fall when helmets go on heads of both of those classes of riders.

Minors are at higher risk since their coordination and muscle strength can vary as they grow. They are also at risk because they are more likely to thoughtlessly or ignorantly take dangerous chances than adult riders.

I simply find my informed decision is: Wear a helmet, it beats a hat for $40.

And does not require half the dedication and willpower that $40 and a diet/exercise plan needs to result in weight loss.
Sure, obesity is a terrible health problem. But it doesn’t have the 10 second fix that buying a helmet can be to fix head injury.

[wonderhorseguy]

[QUOTE=D_BaldStockings;8350680]
Seeing as how real ranchers and cowboys ride ATVs and were feed store caps, well…

I always thought part of the essence of Western equipment was function: heeled boots, chaps, gloves, the horn on a saddle.

if helmets serve the function of protecting your head better than a cowboy hat, why would wearing them be a problem to anyone but a person wedded to the ‘romance of the cowboy’ fantasy.

-and I will admit that many western riders are drawn to the disciplines for that alone.

Motorcyclists and bicyclists have also gone through a period of ‘perception adjustment’ as laws change over time. Statistically though, the fatalities fall when helmets go on heads of both of those classes of riders.

Minors are at higher risk since their coordination and muscle strength can vary as they grow. They are also at risk because they are more likely to thoughtlessly or ignorantly take dangerous chances than adult riders.

I simply find my informed decision is: Wear a helmet, it beats a hat for $40.

And does not require half the dedication and willpower that $40 and a diet/exercise plan needs to result in weight loss.
Sure, obesity is a terrible health problem. But it doesn’t have the 10 second fix that buying a helmet can be to fix head injury.[/QUOTE]

Then by all means wear a helmet.

A helmet does not fix anything. A helmet may help prevent an injury.

[Rusty15]

I always find it humerous that people seem to think “no helmets” is only a western thing. It was only a matter of a few years ago when top hats dominated upper level dressage and helmets were only just being introduced. IMO in western it should be up to the rider. The traditional look is good, not being drain bramaged is good. It should be up to the rider to decide their priorities.

[Rusty15]

[QUOTE=sorrelfilly721;8350165]
Although I am certainly not against helmet wearing, you can only use the Medicaid/Medicare reason if you yourself are a non-smoking, not overweight, healthy eating, exercising, etc individual. Obesity costs me WAY more tax dollars than head injuries.[/QUOTE]

And if you can afford a horse why the he!! are you on medicaid?

[mountainhorse]

To change perceptions and ‘hesitations’ in helmet-wearing, it comes from a few sources-#1, requiring the ‘under 18’ crowd to wear. #2, the professionals that believe in helmet wearing to ‘buck up’ and show in them-as in, set the example that it is “OK” to do in your sport.

As shown in the Dressage world, top hats were just as ‘big’ as cowboy hats. Then, a few big name professionals fall and are injured severely from not wearing helmets, and the helmet comes out as the thing to do regardless of ‘style’. Now, it is a requirement no matter your age to a certain level, and many top GP and international (Charlotte Dujardin anyone?) riders now wear one every time they swing a leg over. It’s the “norm”.

It does boil down to the fact that a helmet can save your life while riding, and wearing a helmet while riding, regardless of discipline, is the SMART thing to do, style and fashion set to the side.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=LJStarkey;8348381]
As we all know, appearances speak louder than words.

From the way a hat is creased, I can tell whether the wearer is an amateur or a pro and whether that person’s specialty is working cow horse, reining, halter, western pleasure or something else.

I can tell whether it’s summer or winter by whether the wearer has on straw or felt. The quality of the hat tells me whether the wearer knows quality and has chosen to flout the rules regarding Labor Day and felt.

I can tell whether a cowboy is the real thing or a wannabe.

A hat isn’t “fashion.”

Hats are expensive purchases, carefully tended and stored when not in use in specially designed hat cans.

A hat is the person’s complete identity sitting atop her head, speaking silently to the world.

Here’s what helmets say silently to the rest of the western world:

1. I’m a child.
2. My mom made me wear this.
3. My horse isn’t broke.
4. I’m afraid of my horse.
5. I’ve never been on a horse before.
6. I have a physical disability.
7. I have a mental disability.

No professional western horse trainer will ever wear a helmet as long as those perceptions exist. No trainer will risk his/her livelihood in that way.[/QUOTE]

Yabbut this codes stands because you don’t see the Identity Hat guy with the TBI atop a horse anymore.

What I see in someone riding helmetless is stupidity and selfishness. Yes, selfishness. It costs a lot more that most people can earn to finance the rehab and help needed for such a catastrophic injury. What I see in folks taking a preventable risk that I don’t is “I want you to subsidize my life,” while I’m doing my part to make sure that the others in my insurance pool (or social welfare system) won’t be asked to bail me out. Let’s just keep things fair, OK?

[roseymare]

Better yet don’t ride at all.
Letting insurance companies wield all of the power is a problem in itself.

[RPM]

[QUOTE=DeeThbd;8343987]
I have to say I’m a bit surprised…where I live anybody under 18 MUST wear a helmet while riding…I know it isn’t a “typical” western habit to wear a helmet, but I guess I was hoping that Congress might be a good place to promote it. Just watching the live feed and was mulling it over.
Thoughts?
Dee[/QUOTE]

I am surprised that you are surprised. Western riders aren’t big on helmets, and Congress is a western thing.

I’m not saying I think youth riders shouldn’t wear helmets. But I would be surprised to see them wearing them at an event like the one you’re posting about.

[NoSuchPerson]

Few people outside the hunter-jumper-eventing world are ever going to voluntarily wear a helmet until it becomes “cool” to do so. It will never become cool to do so until some of the really big names start wearing a helmet in public and at competitions.

But, inroads are being made. For example, I believe 4-H now requires everyone under 18 to wear a helmet, regardless of discipline. However, I don’t foresee most young people sticking with helmet wearing until, as I said above, it becomes a common practice among the cool people in their discipline.

I do think it’s dishonest of people not to admit that wearing a helmet can reduce your risk of head injury while riding. But, I also believe that adults are free to decide whether or not they want to wear one if the rules of the competition or venue don’t require it.

For kids, I think show organizers and governing bodies (e.g. AQHA) ought to make helmets required for competitors under 18.

[RPM]

What are various hunts doing these days? I have seen – in UK and Irish pictures at least – people hunting in everything from top hats to skull caps. I remember the old velvet hard hats; we kids rode with the chin straps around our chins; the professional show jumpers wore theirs with the chin strap presumably around the hat itself, above the peak – they certainly didn’t compete with chin straps under their chins.

What brought the change to almost everyone competing in helmets? Rules? Fashion? Consensus?

[roseymare]

I think I remember quite a few tophats in those incredible sidesaddle hunt photos.
Western folks get the blame though

[BuddyRoo]

[QUOTE=RPM;8354394]

What brought the change to almost everyone competing in helmets? Rules? Fashion? Consensus?[/QUOTE]

TBIs for well respected professionals. And insurance.

Once you know better, do better. That sort of thing. Much like bicycle helmets,seatbelts, etc.

I was at a barn for a long time where helmets were not mandatory. Then a well respected individual came off in a fluke and from then on, it was mandatory at our barn.

I’m not gonna lie…I grew up doing western stuff…mostly WP or roping. Helmet? Wha? No, I’ll keep the horse between me and the ground thanks…and i did. For many many years. So glad I had a helmet on though the day a horse went down on me and I broke my arm. Had I not had a helmet on, I’d probably have been in a lot worse shape. Accidents happen. I don’t even let little kids GROOM without a helmet these days.

We have the safety tools. Time to use them. Function over fashion. (and I have some really nice custom hats!)

[spotnnotfarm]

So I looked up statistics, yearly about 14,000 riders have some sort of head injuries. Do you realize that baseball, football, basketball and water sports have more? Yes, helmets are a great idea but I don’t think they are the primary cause for skyrocketing insurance rates…also, 14,000 is not much when compared to the amount of people who ride.

Not trying to say you should not wear one, but I am tired of the nasty comments by the helmet brigade. Yes, youth should wear one, adults should choose.

[spotnnotfarm]

So I looked up statistics, yearly about 14,000 riders have some sort of head injuries. Do you realize that baseball, football, basketball and water sports have more? Yes, helmets are a great idea but I don’t think they are the primary cause for skyrocketing insurance rates…also, 14,000 is not much when compared to the amount of people who ride.

Not trying to say you should not wear one, but I am tired of the nasty comments by the helmet brigade. Yes, youth should wear one, adults should choose.

[sorrelfilly721]

[QUOTE=Rusty15;8353791]
And if you can afford a horse why the he!! are you on medicaid?[/QUOTE]

Where exactly did I say I was on Medicaid?? I said that health problems such as obesity cost the tax payer way more than head injuries. When I was in nursing school, almost ALL my patients had type two diabetes and and a number of other obesity related illnesses. They required a lot of care and there were TONS of them.