Agree with this. Otherwise, why draw the line at helmets? Maybe they’d just say anyone who participates in a dangerous sport like horseback riding or motocross or downhill skiing shouldn’t be covered at all, even if they do take safety precautions.
I am all for organizations like USEF and FEI making helmets mandatory for participation, though, no matter what’s “traditional.”
Well you can’t get life insurance if you do things like race cars or do sky diving.
There are two issues: health insurance and life insurance.
With respect to life insurance, I don’t see the problem. From the point of view of the insurance company, all that matters is the probability of their having to pay out. The actuaries calculate the risk and the policy premium is calculated accordingly. Life insurance premiums do depend on self inflicted risk factors like smoking, don’t they?
Motorcycle riders fought the loss of personal choice with respect to wearing helmets, but I think proponents of helmet laws for motor cycle riders had a winning argument in saying that when they got themselves horribly injured, the medical costs were mostly borne by the public.
Of course you can. The flat extra is a well known surcharge to participants in high risk activities like motorsports and mountaineering.
Not sure if you guys caught this: the petition was TOO LATE. It’s done. No top hats. Helmets are required.
Now, let’s get rid of the rest of the nutcracker wardrobe.
My interpretation was they were petitioning to get an exception to the general rule of no top hats just for riding in the actual GP test, and just in a small number of competitions (FEI 5*), while leaving the rule in place for all other competitions.
I love the Nutcracker. I swoon when I see Poldark in his scarlet tailcoat, white breeches, and tall black boats. Damn sexy.
Not when I went to purchase life insurance thru my professional association. Participation in car racing and sky diving was a reason for exclusion. There was no surcharge available or offered with this company. I was dealing with Aon. Perhaps other companies have different policies and underwriting requirements.
My comment was intended to address the earlier comment on insurance companies and lawyers impacting horse sports.
one company =/= doesn’t exist.
I’ve been married to a professional motocross rider for 5 years. I just paid up his life insurance last week - $3100/yr for a $1m policy; if he weren’t a motocross rider it would be more like $540/yr. Yes, like any other specialty insurance, you generally need an agency that handles it. Most major insurers publish pricing guidebooks that include the surcharges applicable for various activities. Likely your professional association didn’t bother with it.
There are non-ACA compliant policies for people like Au Pairs coming to the US, business travelers, students abroad where the health insurance have exclusions for injuries caused by certain activities. We generally refer to them as hazardous hobby exclusions. These frequently include mountaineering, zip lining, motorcycle/auto/horse racing, bungee jumping, hang gliding, ATV riding, downhill skiing, jet skiing, cliff diving. As these are group policies there is not an option to buy an upgrade to pay for this coverage. The insurance company just does not want to take that financial risk on these types of policies. For some of these policies it is just the health insurance that doesn’t cover the related costs but the policy may still cover them to repatriate a body back home or medically evacuate them back home.
I have always wondered if jumpers would fall under the horse racing exclusion since fastest clean round wins so I could see that potentially being excluded. You aren’t racing head to head but still racing the clock. I have never had to have our legal department review one so am not sure what my company would do.
Of course it’s an ego thing. Why else do humans care about useless things like fashion and “tradition”? Because we like to set ourselves apart as different and better than the rest of humanity, and clothes are a great way to do it. “Lookit me in my top hat, which I wear because I am better than you.” == “Lookit me with my Birkin bag, which I have because I’m more fashionable than you.” == “Lookit me in my fancy car, which I drive because I am richer than you.”
It’s too late to get any rule changes / exceptions on the agenda
Yep, other great responses here too. We hear the cry fowl crew when IOC etc says it will drop dressage completely from the Olympics - due to lack of public interest. So the tests are shortened, or there are fewer riders in a team so supposedly the public won’t have to yawn through a test any longer than necessary, or lets mess around with tests to make it more consumer friendly (making less horse/rider/dressage friendly).
Just update attire already, keep trying to make Kurs music more fun and relevant and less moldy oldy, keep the good tradition in the riding but enough with the top hat already. And ditching the top hat should be the easy part for all the reasons others have already said; dressage IS a real sport, serious injuries can and do happen any time literally. Also, if helmets are mandatory except for the actual test, how does that not give a mixed message to new consumers and viewers of the sport?
Here’s to helmets every ride, all the time. The international riders who signed the petition can mope for a while, then let’s get on with it.
Besides the Judge knowing the tippy top folks aren’t wearing a helmet because their horse is so great, the horse will notice, too. That won’t make them act different, but I mean, why change what you do for a performance? Isn’t it “perfect practice makes perfect” why change one thing from the warm up to the competition, just because you like a top hat? Seems like a silly thing to do. Almost asking for trouble from the horse when that top hat goes on. Maybe I’m superstitious.
Why can’t they wear little feathers in their helmets? or get pins to show how may competitions they’ve won, like balloonists collect? That would be a lot more fun, and still let them show that mojo! OOh! maybe they can wear a piece of hair from the judge, like Austrian hunters wear goat beards on their hats?
I mean, if they want to show off how awesome they are, why not do it with something other people will want too? And that you can instantly see their awesomeness? I mean, anyone can go ride in a top hat…
Along the lines of attire change…I’ve often wondered why dressage didn’t do like they did for freestyle reining and do their freestyles in costume to go with their music. Now that would be appealing to the public.
I’m glad the board voted to keep helmets and I hope the petition to allow top hats fails. Personally, I think the helmets look better than the top hats anyway. Top hats aren’t very flattering on most. I also like the idea of getting rid of the dressage jacket with long tails, I’ve always found them distracting when the tails are flapping about.
What about a jacket with short tails? Found a link to some in the EU, they are very nice looking. http://www.dressagedeluxe.co.uk/Shop…SABEgJJxPD_BwE
Mersidoats nailed it: top hat=status.
I saw this thread and thought it was an old thread that got bumped. Color me surprised. The list of riders who signed it is disappointing. I am also happy to see the people who I have looked up to and learned so much from (they all wore top hats/derby’s/bowlers etc. and went to helmets) did not sign it.
Honestly if they want to ride without a helmet, fine, but no insurance coverage if you do.
Yesssssss. Have been wondering this for years. Sometimes I feel like reining is the roller derby party cousin of straight laced dressage. I think we should implement reining spectator behavior; I want to hear packed stands whooping and hollering during the really spectacular movements. :lol: no more golf claps and hushed whispers.
These regulations are for the FEI/OLYMPICS which was formed in 1921. There was not a tail coat in sight until civilians took part.
https://www.fei.org/stories/history-equestrian-olympics-1896-1912
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