Recommendation for driving helmet

[RMJacobs]

When I drove again recently, I realized my equestrian helmet needed to go into the trash and not be used again. Not only is it now very old, but I crashed in it the last time I wore it (the infamous getting hit by my own car event). It certainly did its job that time–I hit the ground hard, including my head, but had no head injury at all, no pain. The leg that took the brunt of the car’s impact was an entirely different story.

Anyway, M_al and I have now driven a mini twice, and we want to continue lessons. Since we’ve been in the arena only and minis just don’t go that fast, I’ve been using my cycling helmet, but really think it’s time to buy an equestrian helmet again. Does anyone have any recommendations particularly for driving? All the reviews I find are for riding, not driving, and I doubt I will ever ride again.

A note on the lesson we took yesterday: Our trainer had us attempting precise circles in the dressage arena. Holy cow! I drove for 15 years when I had my ponies, but we always toodled around the neighborhood. I was very good at desensitizing for all the stuff we would encounter, and handling surprises, but this level of precision wasn’t required except for going through the occasional narrow gate (which we did fine). You folks who do driven dressage, all I can say is Wow! What we did yesterday was baby stuff, and I struggled.

Rebecca

[2DogsFarm]

Yay!
Your mini adventure continues!!

I just use the same helmet I ride in.
That said, it is old & s/b replaced, though I haven’t hit it on anything except my soft arena sand once.
If/when I replace it, I’ll get one of the new MIPS tech ones.
One less expensive brand was rated very highly by a university testing brands.
Wish I could recall what uni & brand helmet…

ETA:
FOUND IT

EquestriAn Helmet Ratings

[RMJacobs]

Thanks! I saved the link. My thinking was that knowing I would never ride again might make a difference in what I buy. The International that I used to use was well rated but also reasonably priced. I look at the prices these days, especially for MIPS, and want to faint.

Rebecca

[cayuse]

I have an IRH and a Charles Owen and they are the only two brands that are comfy (for me) and don’t rock front to back on my head.
Nice to hear you had another lesson! Have you tried straight lines yet? Down the center line? Worse than circles .

[RMJacobs]

Thanks for the helmet info. I have no trouble with straight lines. All that driving on the road made it pretty automatic to keep the pony in a straight line. It only got weird when it would snow and there would be a convoluted path between the ice patches. I would go out to scout with my car to make sure there was enough of a path for pony feet. If there was, I’d go back home and hitch one of them up. Crackers didn’t mind being out in the cold, but Salt wanted no part of it. Salt was so happy when we moved to South Carolina.

Rebecca

[RMJacobs]

I ordered an IRH last night from Tractor Supply. It was number six in the rating site that @2DogsFarm posted above, which I think should be fine for the low key stuff I’m planning on doing. I will miss my bright purple International–it was so pretty. The new one will be black, which is probably less jarring with some of my clothing choices. The only reason I didn’t order purple again or blue is because I couldn’t find it in stock on any of the sites.

We have another lesson scheduled for Sunday, but I have a feeling my new helmet won’t arrive in time for it. So I’ll wear my bright red bike helmet again if I need to. We get to play with the cones course next time.

The only time I really worry with both driving horses and riding my bike is getting hit by a car (again). My helmet certainly did its job when it happened in 2016. I doubt we’ll be going out on the road in our next lesson, and besides, it’s a very quiet road. The only vehicle I’ve seen on it was us in M_al’s car. Of course, I lived on a very quiet road when I was driving my ponies, and managed to get crunched in my own driveway. It was a fluke and hopefully something that will never again happen. Besides, everything is very flat where we have been driving, unlike my horse property.

Rebecca

[2DogsFarm]

Yay!
I’m one of the few oddballs in my Driving Club. Wear my helmet driving on trails in the County parks & definitely on the roads.

I remember you describing that accident

I LOFF Cones!
& So does my mini
Hardest part is stopping him cantering, as we’re Training level & only trot is allowed if competing.
I do let him canter in harness, but usually if it’s just us, as others can get antsy at the pace & I don’t want to spook anyone.
He’s good about dropping back to trot in company & if we’re alone.

Have fun with Cones & more pics please

[RMJacobs]

I could never get Crackers, the Hackney pony, to canter in harness. But Salt would go like a freight train. I would spin him around the supports for the clothesline in the back yard, and had to remember to duck at the right time.

We will need to get on @M_al’s case for pictures from last Sunday. They are all on her phone. I took about a million videos of her driving, and I know she took a bunch of me. My phone is old and cranky, and I don’t even try to get video on it. I remembered to bring my good digital camera, but then left it in the car.

Rebecca

[2DogsFarm]

@M_al You’ve been tagged!
Pay the Photo Tax!

Glad Salt didn’t clothesline you!

[RMJacobs]

@2DogsFarm

Glad Salt didn’t clothesline you!

He sure tried. I just reacted fast. He also tried to clothesline my daughter when she rode him. He was very creative when it came to trying to scrape her off. She was convinced he had back problems and decided not to ride him any more. I tried to get her interested in driving, but she didn’t enjoy it. In retrospect, I think she was right that he had back problems. When she started riding him, she only weighed about 50 or 60 pounds. She tried bareback in case it was a saddle fit problem, but he hated that, too. She said it was like sitting on a couch, he was so wide.

He was sure wonderful in harness.

Rebecca

[M_al]

Here, at last, is the tax of little Zap the VSE. He’s ridiculously fuzzy. I sent my videos of Rebecca to her so she can post what she likes. My video this week wasn’t great as I was trying to focus on what the coach was saying.

I personally completely get the concept of circles, I really do. And X is ingrained in my soul. But steering a pony and cart correctly on the arc, well, whole 'nother geometry fail. Like with riding, my “thinking ahead” is usually already too late.

20231112_121854_1

Here he is upon being tucked away with his cookie (with cameo from Henry-the-mini-donk.)

20231112_124101

[2DogsFarm]

@M_al

He’s ridiculously fuzzy.

This is VSE Standard
They shed completely by June, then start re-fuzzing in September.
I can sink my fingers past the 1st knuckle in my mini-mammoth’s coat now.
And he’s just getting started
When he’s Full-on Winter, he has sideburns that become beard: my Li’l Amishman

And yes, accounting for the shafts & cart makes geometry a new ballgame

Thanks for the vids

May:

October:

[RMJacobs]

Here’s one of the videos that @M_al took of me on Sunday:

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It’s true what they say–do something just once, and you are back in full blown addiction! I don’t know how I survived the last seven years without driving any equines.

Rebecca

[2DogsFarm]

OhEmGeeeeee!
Could Zap be any cuter!?!

Welcome back to Dark, Wee & FUN Side

Maybe I need to relocate to CO…
My BFF from HS just bought land there & is planning on Highland cattle. No horses
Yet?

[RMJacobs]

Where did your friend buy land?

I’m sitting here grumbling, because Tractor Supply’s website said they would ship my helmet in one or two days, and it shipped today (a couple of days late). The tracking says it will arrive next Wednesday. So much for having it in time for the weekend.

Rebecca

[cayuse]

I like your red helmet!

[RMJacobs]

Thanks! That’s my bike helmet, which certainly isn’t ideal. But it’s way better than nothing, or my crashed equestrian helmet.

Rebecca

[goodhors]

Late to the party, but I have been getting our helmets from Riding Warehouse. Big selection, good pricing, and you can ask for a recently made manufacture date, to make it last as long as possible. Label included for easy return if needed.

I got my blue IRH helmet from them! I think I saw MIPS helmets when I ordered last spring, but prices are huge anywhere for them. With a 5yr life, not sure I want to spend that much on a helmet.

While “any helmer is a helmet, bether than nothing,” the sport they are made for has different issues affecting you in falls and landings. Hoping the new helmet gets there soon!

Glad to hear you are getting back into equines with lessons!! Not sure if your trainer has enough cones, but putting out double cones to make circles for driving thru, but it is a very helpful tool for circles and figure 8s. Driving figure 8s have a flat spot changing from one circle to the other circle, not two exactly round circles. More like Ds back to back, where you do several strides (4-5 with larger horses, not sure with minis) straight, then bend to go to the other circle. Big horses have big circles, so they look more round despite the straight strides.

Staying between the cones for circles teaches you proportions, what to plan for with small movers, how much bend to allow with out cutting in, not staying round. 4 cone pairs is usually enough to keep you on track for a circle of any size. Minis can turn so short, so fast, it will be easy to be driving ovals or other unround (Is that a word? Ha ha) shapes instead of the circle.

[M_al]

@2DogsFarm

My BFF from HS just bought land there

Yes … where? (You should definitely relocate to here. Maybe. LOL, where are you now?)

My helmet is a Tipperary MIPS (This is probably one of the least expensive out there.) BUT, after I bought it, I learned it didn’t test very well. Pooh. Cuss. Grump! My prior Tipperary (the one that comes low behind the occipital bones, kind of a flatter back, no dial) performed better. But I’ll use this until time is up. I have such a weird head that I go in person (usually to the Dover store south of town but have been known to go to Murdoch’s) to try on because the ones I think will fit never seem to be comfortable. I have a tiny pin head compared to my body and apparently it is neither round nor oval.

@goodhors, our coach told us that she had done that for another student … put out many, many extra cones to help with geometry. Yes, please! If I made it to the rail, I was too deep through the corner. If the corner arc was correct, I never made it back to the rail. I tried making a diamond shape and that was a bad idea and a complete fail. Personally, I did MUCH better with figure 8s because across the center gave me a single circle side to get correct before returning to mangling the “round” parts.

What level do we need to be at to begin sporting the amazing hats, helmet be damned? (I suspect that my true attraction to driving may be the potential to enter a class requiring an amazing hat. OK, that and I’ve never been exposed to VSE for any length of time and find the pocket fun size horse ridiculous and amazing at the same time.)

[RMJacobs]

Yep, unround: that’s me. I have such a terrible sense of direction and really poor spatial awareness. My husband refers to me as the compass that points south, or sometimes east, or sometimes west-northwest. I don’t know how I managed to drive cross country alone three different times, one not that long ago (early 2017). I somehow ended up going west in St Louis. I knew THAT was wrong, so I got off the freeway. I couldn’t seem to find my way to the eastbound ramp. I was sitting in front of the baseball stadium, and fired up the Garmin (which hated me). It couldn’t find St. Louis. It was also known to tell me to take a sharp right when I was on the causeway across Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. That would have been wet. Somehow, I’ve gotten myself out of these situations.

Anyway, my directional deficits are legend with everyone who knows me. It was never a problem when driving my own ponies, because we spent all our time out on the road. I could take them through a narrow space easily for some reason (such as a gate in a park near where we lived, or to get between the canvas shelter outside my tackroom and the corral fence. But circles are tough. Figure 8s are so much easier for me mentally.

Rebecca