Given sufficient time, the skunk helmet will be “cool.”
After looking at the skunk helmet up close, I have two questions:
Why can’t they cover it in black velvet, like a traditional hunt cap? The gray material certainly leaves a lot to be desired asthetically… If it is crossing over into the hunters, can we look forward to them coming out with an approved skunk top hat next??? 
Is there really a need for the ventilation stripe? In all the years I spent riding and showing, I honestly can’t recall ever noticing that my head was overheating from wearing a helmet…
I saw a girl wearing the PRETTIEST approved helmet and a show around here, but I haven’t seen it in stores. It was obviously and International Olympian, but the harness are really nice. It was their four point one (the clear/black nylon one), but the whole thing was covered in deerskin. It looked sooo nice. Especially on the side w/o the plastic buckle, wear it was deerskin. I’m still looking for one!
It is only the helmut. It does not mean you will be wearing rags or jeans or soemthing. I wear charles owens hats at home and showing, I have to because my parents will not allow me to ride my horses and ponies otherwise. But even if they did not insist I would. Hasn’t anyone worried with all of the deaths in the past year alone? A helmut is no gurantee but it can and has made a difference many times between life and death a serious injury or a bad headache.
Want ot be Marshal and Sterling Pony Jumper Champion (Nationally)?? Wear a skunk helmet. I think my son is “cool” and he was just that this year wearing his skunk helmet. Ian Millar isn’t cool?? Captain Canada?? Yup, skunk helmet…I could go on and on but coolness is a relative term. When it isn’t cool to care about your brain and being a drooling vegetable then I personally DO NOT wish to be “cool”
Well, the International version looks almost identical and is approved.
The ventilation strip is baloney IMHO (I tried a GPA in FL before learning that they, too, were lying about the approval!) The event & distance Troxels and Internationals have TONS more ventilation, if that is what you need!
What the hat does have is fit - the cover material extends down over the back of the harness - making that one long soft piece that covers/locks in under your hair at the back of your neck.
If it were black velvet, it would NEVER have been accepted the way it has!
Devildog said: “And if anyone makes a comment to me, I will say, ‘Well, MY brain is worth saving, therefore, I am willing to forgoe fashion to safety…’ Or something along those lines!”
No! No! No! Devildog!!! Your reply can be, “I am setting a NEW fashion” instead of forgoing fashion! 
I’m getting there. . .Not that many years ago, I never wore a helmet unless I was in a lesson. Then I started wearing one all the time, but it didn’t have a harness. Then, after taking a couple of spills where said helmet bounced before me, I went ahead and at least purchased a harness. I know it probably doesn’t make much sense to some, i.e., to bother putting a harness on an unapproved helmet. . .But at least I’m going in the right direction! If I were the betting type 
, I would say that I will probably be wearing an approved helmet within the next year.
And my children DO wear approved helmets!!
The GPA I tried on did not actually fit lower in the back, it simply had the harness covered by the same material as the helmet.
I suspect it will not be approved unless they add more styrofoam on the inside, as that is what protects the brain. Yes, the outer shell may be the hardest material available, but that doesn’t stop your brain from hitting the inside of your head! The styrofoam actually absorbs your skull as the brain hits it from the inside. And the degree of absorbtion is one of the factors that makes the helmet approved (or not).
Dru explained this far more articulately on a previous thread:<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> [B] And for those who don’t believe that SEI certified helmets are more protective than helmets labeled “item of apparel only”, let me promise you that in the testing labs, the certified are carefully checked to make sure that they don’t allow through more than 300 gravities (g’s) which is considered the threshold of brain injury. Most of those certified are far more effective at this than the standard requires.
In testing what I personally call “vanity helmets” the reading is often over 1000 g’s, which is considered the threshold for a fatal brain injury. [/B] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
She posted previously that the European standard is significantly lower than ours (and the newest British standard), and that these were tested by an independent group in ENGLAND, where they found the ASTM/SEI to be the toughest.
It finally happened. There is a picture of Kent Farrington (I believe) on Towerheads showing a lovely gray hunter in the oh so unattracive skunk helmet. All the speculation is over, now…it looks like it may produce a trend. I cringe at the thought of me having to succumb to the fasion police and actually wear one of those in the hunters.
I distinctly remember the day at a show (feels like yesterday…more like yesterday 10 years ago) where my mom and I agreed that those new puke green breeches were absolutely horrendous. That same show I was in the mobile tack shop buying my first pair.
Although many would find my navy hunt cap tasteless…I don’t think I’ll be sporting this new skunkhead look in the hunters. Although nobody (including myself) will be surprised if my first errand upond arriving to Indio is to make a trip to the tack shop.
Somebody save us all!
I still ride in my old pony club approved helmet (from the days before ASTM) because I’ve always hated the feeling and fit of the regular approved helmets. Then I tried a skunk helmet–hey it’s the most comfortable helmet I’ve ever worn (and we’re talking more than 30 years of wearing hard hats). I couldn’t believe it. As soon as the local tack store gets one in in my size, I’m buying one. It’s amazing. So looks be damned, I’m taking the plunge. Hunters, jumpers or eq–won’t make a difference to me anymore since the ugly thing is so incredibly comfortable.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>If it were black velvet, it would NEVER have been accepted the way it has! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Why not? 
~Erin~
Actually Dru sent me an international version of the skunk helmet and it was completely covered in velvet and even had a bow in the back. I acutally might get one of those helmets if (a) they become approved and (b) Holly Hays or Scott Stewart wears them. I acutally don’t think they are that that ugly. I think if it didn’t have the plastic stripe but wall all grey I would buy one.
Ryan
PS: why doesn’t the AHSA tell the people that are wearing one that they can’t wear it since it isn’t approved and if they are in new york?
PPS: I will probaly actually try one on, because Billy Worthington wears one and he rides awesome and seems very cool. Also it looks cool on guys and I think it acutally looks good on juniors, but not really adults. But beezie madden should put all her hair up under it and not have that little stuff out the back. LOL. But she stills rider awesome.
PPS: these ps and pps are longer than my regular message
WHY???
People, what is the point in wearing a helmet if it’s not going to protect you?
You KNOW this new helmet is ugly. You KNOW it is not approved by US standards. Are you all that gullible? IT’S A FAD, FOLKS!!!
And I know you all have the right to make your own choices, but what about the people who love you and/or depend on you? What choice do you suppose they would make? Safety or fashion?
Let’s face it. You all seem to be intelligent people. You all have done SOMETHING right to still be alive in spite of the danger our beloved sport entails. So I wonder if much of this anti-approved helmet talk is more about fear…yes, I said fear. You are probably all confused now, but bear with me.
Could it be that because you have all (for the most part) survived a nasty spill or several, that you are ignoring the real danger of this sport? Could you be in what we counselors call “denial”? I know…there the crazy counselor goes with her theories…but I am interested in hearing your responses. I know several of you through private em’s, and I believe that you are not shallow people. That’s why the “fashion cover-up” just doesn’t seem to get at the real reason you are choosing to forego safety. Please shed some light on this issue for me. I am concerned for all of you. Being on this board has made me really care for you. I do not ask these questions to begin a war…I ask because I really want to understand.
I too held my heart when I saw that!! gasp!!
Working entirely too hard I presume? What weeks will you be at Indio? Are you taking your little girl?
Going to watch myself, haven’t chosen weekends yet.
Cause then they would be like any other bubblish hat. GPAs look different.
I would wear one in the hunters if (a) they pass ASTM and (b) a could scrape up $300. A little extravagant when you can get other safe show helmets for $120-$200.
Troxel makes a Black Velvet one that fits and has hidden vents tomake it cooler, and is approved. I showed for lots of years and never worried about over heating until I almost got heat stroke in a flat class one time as an adult. Now I worry about comfort and not passing out. The troxel doesn’t look to much like abuble head. 
The ugly harness can be replaced with a lovely 4 pt dearskin harness that is so comfy and soft you can actually adjust it to fit your child safely and not cause a staff infection from friction. Get one at Bevals or, I think, Hadfields. Snaps right in your international hat. Don’t know about other hats. I wear a Regal (since I AM regal), but my child wears a Charles Owen approved (brown) which fits well, has the dearskin harness and is DABOMB with her little brown plaid coat.
It’s NOT about fashion it is about safety and smarts. The “skunk” helmets are the most comfortable approveds on the market. WTG Kent for showing the way!
The GPA (German) “skunk helmet” is NOT ASTM/SEI approved - so don’t kid yourself that it is safer. Well, safer than non-European approved hats, yes, but not as safe as the INTERNATIONAL version - which IS APPROVED. So, if you go Skunk, go AMerican skunk.
Word is, the AMERICAN APPROVED HELMETS are SO POPULAR in EUROPE the manufacturers are shhipping them over by the container-loads and having trouble keeping up with the demand!!!
