post #9 and I quote “I’ll take my chances with my one vice”
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/western/318497-resistol-ride-safe-helmet
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Anyone interested, just search on @Palm Beach , keyword “helmet”.
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The entire thread I posted has plenty of your posts in it Palm Beach. If you are going to put it in writing, why don’t you own it?
Thank you for calling me a liar. It only shows more of your true colors!
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Back to the question at hand:
If I fall off, depending on the circumstances and the horse, I’m either walking home or riding home. If I’m riding in company, the loose horse is likely to stay with the other horses.
I came verrrrrry close to coming off of a very good, very solid horse that I raised and started on a perfectly quiet solo ride. It was a bright day, and we were passing a pasture full of cows. Unbeknownst to both horse and rider, there was a huge Angus bull resting under a thick cedar tree that grew on that fenceline. We’d passed that field 200 times or more. He was a black hump in a very dark shaded area on a very bright day. As we passed, he lurched upward, startling both of us. In what felt like slo-mo my mare sucked backward and wheeled right and I’m gathering slack and telling my left leg PRESS DOWN PRESS DOWN- by sheer luck and muscle memory I managed to lean with her enough to stay through the spin and stop her. Had I come off of her, I think she would have stayed and snorted- but stayed.
And yeah, I wear a helmet just like a wear a seatbelt and don’t run with scissors. It’s good common sense.
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I want to meet the trainer who knows to prepare horses for pack llamas led by small women in Chinese conical hats. It’d be pretty hard to train for everything you’ll see.
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Goodness :lol:
There are two pairs of Belgian draft horses here that pull large party wagons, basically. If they drive through the farm or you encounter them in the village, most horses will spook at them. Which I think is interesting, because their horses spooking at horses. But I guess it’s the fact that they have these large clearly horse eating wagons in tow.
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Thought about this thread yesterday… I was out solo on my greenie Arab gelding on my home trails. He was being very, very good and was alert but chill about the mountain bike race happening on the trails across the creek (couple hundred feet) from where we were, the off leash (grrrrr) dogs & walkers, etc. Then we were walking over a narrow plank bridge with no sides that he’s walked over plenty of times before when a large bird flew out from under the bridge in a panic and flew right into his side behind my leg. He just about a foot straight in the air and I yelled something not nice since it scared me too. I didn’t even come close to falling off but a different horse or different rider? That could have been a total disaster. I’m not sure how to desensitize a horse to something that spazzed me out too lol!
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It’s impossible to train for every spooky thing that exists in the world. It’s not impossible to train to teach the horse that the rider is the “herd boss” and it’s OK to alert the boss but it’s not OK to take action without the boss calling it. It’s also impossible to do this in a way that the horse will never make a mistake. It is possible to do this such the the horses makes very few mistakes.
Put another way, all the “desensitizing” training is aimed at giving the horse confidence in their rider, not teaching them to ignore big, green garbage bags blowing in the wind next to mailboxes.
G.
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We were in the Montana mountains and a couple of our horses were just undone- we were looking down the trail, still walking across a well lit meadow but headed downhill into the woods and the llama silhouettes were washed out by the bright rushing water behind them, so they were these weird freaking shapes bobbing and ducking. Alas, the sweet ladies were TRYING to get off trail and out of sight and it just didn’t help lol we made it but weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
This is the problem. I did not call you a liar, I pointed out that you are lying. Since you can’t seem to find the post where I said you will never come off, it probably doesn’t exist. Honestly, I hope people have better things to do, like ride horses, than go poster stalking.
Meaning what? What point are you trying to prove? I do what I want, and you can do what you want. This is what cutter99 posted, “[B]the fact she believes that helmets are not necessary because if your horse is properly broke, you never come off.”
That’s quite the stretch from me saying I’ll take my chances. Good grief, don’t you have a hobby?[/B]
Really? I don’t think people feel like putting that effort out. Unless they have nothing better to do.
Liars lie Palm Beach. You should know! 
We get what you are trying to do. And we have all seen what you have written. Bless your heart!
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I enjoy the easy task on occasion.
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Oh now, it’s not that hard. And you’ve written volumes about your contempt for helmets when a good broke horse is really all you need… if we spend less time on helmets and body protectors and spent more time training we wouldn’t need those silly helmets, right? Isn’t that pretty much your theme song?
You have every right to sing whatever song you want but don’t blame us for hearing the song again and again coming right out of your mouth 
I guess we’re darn good listeners!
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99% of the time – good horse, good rider – a helmet might as well be jewelry. It’s that 1% time, that freak accident or unexpected situation, that sudden clonk to the head where the helmet isn’t jewelry – it saves your life or prevents brain damage. Since no one knows when or if that 1% accident wil happen, why put yourself at risk?
Very sad day when you’re lying in an ambulance with a possibly fatal brain bleed and someone says, “if only he/she had been wearing a helmet.”
When I was a kid an older barn mate of mine (great rider on a smart horse) fell off at the walk on a road we were crossing – horse suddenly slipped and rider hit her head on the pavement HARD. She wasn’t wearing a helmet. She died two days later.
Natasha Richardson same story – skiing.
Since a helmet’s purpose is to diffuse the impact; spread the pressure over a wider area when your brain is banged around in your skull, again why not take the precaution? It’s so easy!
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Again, find a quote where I express “contempt” for a helmet.
I have “contempt” for people who are racist and sexist and who have nothing better to do than witch hunt. I honestly don’t care whether or not someone wears a helmet, and I don’t have “contempt” for inanimate objects. Your personal choice has nothing to do with me, and believe me, I don’t care a whit about what you wear or don’t wear.
You have some kind of personal issue with me, as does cutter99, which is pretty sad considering I don’t know you and you don’t know me. But for someone to go back YEARS in an attempt to ridicule another poster, and not even be able to find a quote that supports their made up allegations, is pretty sad.
No, to be very plain, I have no personal issues with you whatsoever. What I - and presumably others- have noticed in your writings is a pattern of strident, judgmental, dismissive responses when the topic is helmets, rider safety, unplanned dismounts. You consistently tell people they are focusing on the wrong thing when they should be focusing on riding better broke horses. If you honestly don’t care about other’s choices and where they put their efforts, then it’s a little strange that you consistently tell them they are putting their energies in the wrong places.
I am not trying to ridicule you, not at all, I have no personal beef with you whatsoever. It’s not about ‘you’: in fact it’s true that lots of people ARE over-horsed, I completely agree with you on that point. I am commenting on a pattern in your writing that generates a consistent theme that disparages helmets and rider safety and promotes ‘accidents don’t just happen, you aren’t riding a broke enough horse.’ I am bothered by anyone’s words that discourage helmets and rider safety, and that’s how your writing sounds to me - and presumably to cutter99.
If you don’t INTEND to come across that way, then maybe this is a little food for thought, a point to ponder. It’s a thought.
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You’re upset because you got called out for gaslighting and denying what you wrote Palm Beach. There is nothing personal about it, and this forum has a search ability for a reason.
Great post TMares. Very thoughtful and much more kind than I would be!
Can we please now get back to the topic at hand?
Again, you accused me of stating something that I did not state, and I simply asked you to go back and quote me. On this thread, I’ve said not a word about helmets until you decided to single me out and insult me. That seems a little personal to me.
You have something personal against me, as you attributed opinions to me that I do not hold, and in an insulting way. And I’ve asked you to support your allegations with quotes, and you are unable to do that. You are making things up.
