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X-Post NYTimes Article: Black Equestrians Want to Be Safe. But They Can’t Find Helmets

Yeah, as a PR professional, he’d be one of those people I’d never allow to speak to the press without a handler.

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Oh, boy.

Thanks for finding it.

Yeah I don’t buy this. He tried it though.

My mohawk fits just fine in my helmet. One wouldn’t expect to wear a bouffant in a helmet either - those are styles that are removed by water or taking out the pins.

This guy must love the taste of his own feet.

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Coming from road cycling land when I lived in a diverse area (as sadly my equestrian communities have had far less diversity), the helmets that were designed to fit a range of sizes and had a dial fit system seemed to work best, although I have not personally known anyone to choose a beaded hairstyle where frequent helmet wearing was a regular part of their life. I imagine that would be uncomfortable at best. A lot of very serious cyclists who spent a lot of time wearing a helmet would adjust their hair to something they found to be best for them. But the above comment is right that there needs to be a reasonably accessible option for people who may not feel that altering their hair for the sport is a priority, including because they are just testing out the sport.

I do think there are some helmets for equestrian use that have the same features as common bike helmets, so while it might not be the most trendy or expensive helmet, I think there are some reasonable options out there perhaps with going up a size. Maybe they aren’t front and center in the tack shops or tack shops need more education on the subject. I can’t imagine carrying the weight of a motorcycle style helmet while riding a horse.

IIRC, Charles Owen has said that hair up is ok with a properly fitted helmet for hair up wear. It is interesting that the issue is starting to be researched for real now. There are some safety risks as well to having too much hair out of the helmet and not neatly secured that could come into consideration same as impact if we are thinking about scenarios where your head winds up somewhere it shouldn’t be.

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Bike helmets have basically no liner in comparison, but the dial fit system is a bit different than what I’ve seen on equestrian helmets. So long as the helmet is deep enough (which I sometimes struggle with without a lot of extra hair due to my head shape), I don’t think you need much of a liner. You need to be able to take a shell that might be on the roomy side alone and have a dial fit system that secures it well at least along the sides and rear of the head. And one that isn’t going to sit up too high or tip back or side to side.

Also agree that the material used in liners can be rough on hair even if good for sweat or other considerations.

Oh I see now what you mean. Maybe a memory foam type thing?

For years and years and years, I always kept my ponytail up under my helmet with a barrette.

Then I went to an actual Charles Owen store, and the person there told me to stop using the barrette since it could get jammed into my head if anything bad happened.

I would have to think the same thing would apply to beads or any other hard objects under the helmet.

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This is sound advice - and lines up with car accident safety. Sure, not the same as a horse related fall, but for example, safety experts are currently yelling about people wearing claw clips in the car. Anything on your head in an accident is likely to end up very much IN your head. I would assume the same with anything hard that is under a helmet, maybe even moreso because there is nowhere else for it to go.

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Oh, for heaven’s sake. One more thing to worry about! Lol.

Right? Part of my job involves crash testing (for airlines, not cars) so I also see EVERYTHING as a hazard these days. You’d be surprised how fast things get going (or keep going, rather, when the person/vehicle stops).

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Most intro level priced points were dial a fit a few years ago. Pretty much all the lesson helmets I came across were dial a fit.

My snowboard helmet is dial a fit.

Many, many, many years ago, some friends of mine were accosted in a parking lot by an older gentleman who told them that they should not have the trailer hitch in the bed of their truck when it was not attached to the vehicle, because in an accident, it could fly through the back window of the truck and kill them. Which might be true, but had certainly never occurred to them.

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I can appreciate that there are some hair styles that just are not safe/work well under a helmet, I can also appreciate that companies want to keep their safety ratings and have a bottom line to keep in mind.

That said, even without braided/beaded/dreaded/etc hairstyles, helmets don’t have enough variety of size/depth/shape. I have a large head that is tall from top to bottom. Most helmets look like they are perched on my head, and that’s with the hopes that it even fits around my head. There was a comment upthread about “You need to size up”, if I had a hairstyle that took up more volume, I truly could not find a helmet. As it is, I struggle to find a helmet. There needs to be more variety. Period.

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Uh… isn’t there a pin through the ball to keep it in place? There is in mine?!

I agree. As I noted in one of my comments, I don’t have especially thick hair, and the depth can be a real problem for a good fit for me. I have less problem with this with bike helmets because some of the fit systems allow you to adjust depth and also dial fit circumference. My helmet has 5 settings for height adjustment.

I think she means the hitch for under the bumper was not connected at the time and was just kept in the bed of the truck.

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Ah. Ok. That’s a bad idea for unrelated reasons. Anyone could just walk by and steal it without even having to expend any effort.

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I made the disastrous mistake of commenting on the NYT twitter thread and got assaulted by a bunch of people clearly clueless about the good ol’ Item of Apparel Only industry, and simply could not fathom that an item designed to suit the needs of silky-haired gentry could have any inherent bias.

Won’t ever do that again.

That said, I have no idea who NYT thinks this mix of elitist sport & racial bias piece speaks to. It hits All The Triggers and the comments are absolutely unhinged.

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“That said, I have no idea who NYT thinks this mix of elitist sport & racial bias piece speaks to. It hits All The Triggers and the comments are absolutely unhinged.”

I suspect that was deliberate - more controversy around a piece the more people go and read it – everyone likes to watch a trainwreck

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