Visors

Is it me, or do they seem like a good idea in theory but very unsafe in execution? I just read the COTH article (or maybe it’s a blog?) in praise of the quiet horse. The author nearly ended up a lawn dart when her visor blew off in the wind and hit the horse. This is easily the 5th time I’ve heard about something like this happening. I realize that you probably need sun protection if you live in Phoenix or South FL or other exceptionally sunny locales. Seems like shatterproof sunglasses would be a heck of a lot safer, though. Thoughts?

Shatterproof sunglasses won’t protect your ears/neck/nose/etc from sun. Plus, sunglasses provide all sorts of fun ways to get poked while falling off, even if the lenses are shatter proof.

I wonder if people could put a piece of strong velcro on a couple parts of the visor with corresponding on the helmet edge, or use clips of some kind?

Please explain why sunglasses would replace the benefits of a visor shadowing the forehead and the eyes.

I have always had very sensitive eyes to the light. I am a serious trail rider and have always worn both specially coated prescription sun glasses and a visor. I have never had my visor blow off and I use those eyeglass “bands” (that go around the back of ones head) to keep those expensive prescription glasses on.

I have lost a few visors while bush hogging but never horse back riding. I have never, in 60+ years of wearing eyeglasses shattered a pair of glasses. Not horse back riding, not snowmobiling, not 4-wheeling, not walking the dog or doing dishes --------

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I have a visor and have had a few issues with it flying off while riding. My pony doesn’t care but my horse does. To try and correct this I put industrial strength Velcro on both the visor and my schooling helmet. This seems to help and keeps the visor on during windy periods and when my pony decides to do her extremely strong hoppy canter.

Living in Florida I need some kind of sun protection and love using the visor over sunglasses. I do a lot of ground work before, during, and after my training sessions so I want my horses to be able to see my eyes for cues during desensitizing. Sunglasses block them entirely, the visor just requires me to tilt my head back a bit more to show the girls that I’ve got soft eyes so they should also have soft eyes.

Because of the visor flying off in the beginning my pony is now completely desensitized to me using my dressage whip to snag something on the ground while mounted and flip it onto her back. This has been helpful several times during trail rides when I’ve had to get a piece of wire or something that’s on the ground. :lol:

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This a yet another reason why I love my Uvex helmet. The dial fit in the back allows me to slide a hat under the helmet, then tighten to fit. Comfortable and adjustable sun protection. I usually just skip a baseball cap under neath, but I have stuck a sun hat (wide brim) when needed.

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This is actually good to hear, I just started having to wear glasses and I’ve been hesitant to wear them while riding out of fear I’ll fall off and break them. I might get one of those bands and try riding with them this weekend.

I have been wanting to try the visors. Are they like, floppy or stiff? Or does it depend?

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It seems like it would be fairly simple to develop a wide brim attachment for helmets that is a little more secure. Like maybe something that goes under the helmet instead of over top? I can think of a couple ways you could made that work…

Not to pile on OP, but do you live in a northern climate without a lot of direct sun or have a naturally dark complexion? Because I’m also chuckling at your suggestion that sunglasses could replace a visor. :lol: It’s not about shading your eyes, it’s about keeping the sun off your face. I’m very fair-skinned, yet have a lot of trouble with sunscreens running into my eyes when I ride. Most attached helmet visors don’t offer enough sun protection alone.

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I don’t know. That’s why I asked. Fwiw, have blue eyes and bad asthigmatism and wear sunglasses basically 100% of the time I’m outdoors or driving. For whatever reason, the angle of the integrated visor on my helmets has always worked. I suspected it doesn’t for everyone though, because there would be no reason to buy a visor that slips over the helmet.

No. I live in VA. Not a high sun like Phoenix or something. But it gets hot and swampy here in the summer. And I’m Irish and have vampire skin so if I’m outside I’m slathered in spf 50. No matter the season. And blue eyed with horrible astigmatism. I wear sunglasses pretty much until sunset. I’m 43 but have the eyes of an 80 yo.

Excuse me what? I never would have thought of doing this! I always buy dial-fit helmets for schooling. Brilliant. Definitely trying this. Thanks!

I don’t ride in sunglasses for the same reason I don’t ride in my regular glasses - I can’t STAND the annoyance of keeping them on my face when I’m pouring sweat while people active. And even if the bands do keep them in place, it’s still wildly uncomfortable to me. Thanks no thanks. Contacts and visors for me. I’ve only had my visor come off once, and it was a stupid-dumb-windy day and I should have just not used it that day. Luckily my spooky mare didn’t actually care about it flying off. As others said, too, a visor provides protection from the collar-bone up, typically.

@Mouse&Bay Does the Uvex still fit safely over your cap or did you size up? I love my Uvex and would like to try that.

I’ve had a Soless visor on my helmet for about 3 or 4 summers so far. It pretty much stays on the helmet for about 6 months at a time. It’s getting a little worse for the wear these days, but I’m in the deep south so it does get tested. It comes with a clip that is supposed to help it stay on when jumping, but I lost it the first ride in since I apparently didn’t know how to put it on properly (and yes, visor fail, it came off and bounced him on the butt on the backside of a jump, shockingly enough major spook of a horse failed to react).

So I just didn’t use it when I was jumping and since then, that horse retired and new horse does dressage and combined driving I can’t speak for how it holds up in driving (last refuge of the ball cap) but the thing has not moved in 3 years of riding. It stays put, all the time, no matter what. And I love that you still have peripheral vision when wearing it. I use an ovation dial fit helmet and those things are smooth and not at all grippy, so it is possible if you had a microfiber type helmet it would stay put for jumping (or you could use the clip properly).

That sounds like the way to go. Or some company should start making visorsa as a snap in liner instead or something.

Re sunglasses, I dated a cop for a couple years. They are religious about wearing high-quality sunglasses whether or not they’re wearing a uniform hat with a visor. Oakley actually offers an LEO discount.

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I’m sure VA gets incredibly hot! It’s more than just sun that goes into sun exposure risks, though.

The shorter air column between a person and the sun at high elevations filters less UV light, meaning that the sun burns faster at high elevations. Reflective surfaces (notably water and snow, but also elements of the built environment) bounce additional solar radiation at people. Ozone layer depletion can increase sun exposure risks in particular regions (I learned this the hard way in NZ). Riding in certain types of constructed environments, or at high elevation, or in an open, un-vegetated area can rack up more UV exposure than doing the same ride in a tree-lined, rural, low-elevation locale. Some might find that their environment’s sun exposure risk counterbalances the risk of losing a visor while riding.

I also think it’s important to recognize that some people have personal, health-related reasons for choosing physical sun barriers instead of or in addition to chemical sun protection (which, especially here in the US, isn’t as effective at blocking UVA). I inherited pasty skin and a family history of skin cancer from my forebears, for example. Between that and living at high elevation, I’ve started taking sun exposure pretty seriously.

I don’t actually wear a visor to ride, but in a couple of the places I’ve lived I’ve shared arenas with lots of visor-clad riders. I’ve never seen one come off in hundreds of observed rides, so I’d suppose that it’s not all that risky to ride with a visor and that visor loss probably tends to disproportionately befall some unfortunate subset of riders whose particular helmets and visors don’t play nice with each other. Nowadays there are models that have clips to secure to the helmet or pockets to cling to a helmet’s integrated visor, so it seems like a risk that can be mitigated for those who need more than sunglasses and sunscreen to stay safe from the sun.

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I did not size up. I can slip a summer or winter hat underneath with no concerns. Their sizing is pretty generous and I love the dial fit - as a funny head shape the contour from temples over to the back is so comfortable. I get headaches from my CO when I put it on now that my head understands what a proper helmet should fit like.

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Whatever those “things” are called to hold eye glasses on, can be found either in the jewelry dept or near where the sun glass racks are. I had always seen them on ladies reading glasses and decided they were a great way to keep my prescription glasses on my head — AFTER I didn’t duck low enough for a tree branch and it knocked my glasses into the mud ---- I was in my 20’s, learned that lesson, and boy was I glad my horse had a good “whoa and don’t move”, lol

i have always bought the stiff visors that fit tight to the head. Even road riding, I’ve never had one blow off while in my horse, but I’m not so lucky on the tractor:).

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I can somewhat empathize:(. While dark eyed, I am near sighted with astigmatism, and my eyes became very light sensitive after a bout with mononucleosis when I was 17. I was told to not watch TV, and stay out of the sun — wellllll who listens when they’re 17 so I was wearing dark glasses much of the time, years before it was popular.

The visor helps to further shade my eyes. When I’m driving, along with sunglasses and a head visor, I almost always have the car sun visor down, as well.

DH is fair skinned, blue eyed and wears glasses yet, to this day, he doesn’t own a pair of sunglasses. He says his ball cap is all he needs and I am envious:)

I wear a Da Brim brand visor, it is the petite model. It shades my face, ears, and even the back of my neck. I have never had it blow off. I wear it mainly for sun protection, as I tend to sweat off sunscreen when I ride.

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There used to be a woman who made hat covers for helmets. They were more geared towards people who needed/wanted to make their helmets look like hats, but I bought one a few years back and it is wonderful. It has never come off, mainly because it attaches to your helmets small visor.
I wish I could remember what the website was called. I wouldn’t mind buying another one.

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Visors are becoming very popular at my barn lately. The adult riders and a lot of the children have been wearing them.

One blew off into the middle of the ring yesterday during a lesson. It wasn’t very windy out, and I don’t think any of the horses were thankfully alarmed. I think if it blew and hit any horse, it would be liable to at least startle.

OneK makes a wide brimmed helmet! https://www.onekhelmets.com/one-k-defender-avance-wide-brim-helmet-470661

Looks like charles owen does as well!