Graureiter
Active Member
A question for TIC.
What is your opinion about the use of safety helmets and body protectors?
This was quoted on the COTH forum, concerning the use of safety equipment. I find it hard to believe.
What is your opinion about the use of safety helmets and body protectors?
This was quoted on the COTH forum, concerning the use of safety equipment. I find it hard to believe.
"You are quite right - helmets are fabulous things and they save many lives. Tragically though, people who ARE wearing helmets also die or suffer serious head injuries in accidents with horses.
Our program is intended to address the safety problem at its root - which is behavioral - rather than address the symptoms of it. Our message is about developing the relationship with the horse, and the savvy level of the rider, so that unsafe behavior is addressed long before the rider gets on the horse - rather than allowing the unsafe situations to continue to occur and hope that the helmet, body protector, etc, will protect us from the consequences.
The reason you do not see our people wearing helmets is because we try to teach people that rather than be brave because they are wearing a a helmet to protect them, they would be better off not riding until their horse is behaving safely.
People have called us brave for not wearing helmets, but we say they are a lot braver than we are. We would not get on their horse until we had addressed the issues that cause it to behave in unsafe ways.
We hope this helps,
From the Faculty, Parelli Centers