BAD USE OF MEDIA - AGAIN!

[MelBambra]

Having recently visited the www.adidas.com website (which may I add is generally excellent), I was very disappointed by what I seen. An online promotion for the Missy Elliot collection, with said celebrity in pictures and video footage sitting astride a horse, whilst she was not wearing a riding hat!

As a horse owner and competitor I am more than delighted that the Equestrian sport is getting so much media attention at the moment, following the recent success of Only Fools on Horses and of course Zara Phillips winning the BBC Sports Personality of the year.

However, yet again I see another mindless example of a high profile celebrity flaunting the need to look “cool” over safe.

With nearly 4 million horse owners in the UK and a great number of these being junior riders, I see no clear reminder to the youth that it is actually illegal for anyone under the age of 14 to ride on a public road without a riding hat!

Missy Elliot’s campaign is yet another amongst many that condone riding a horse without a hat. With around 3,000 accidents occurring each year involving young people riding horses on our roads (source: www.BHS.org.uk), I am still shocked and stunned that this practice carries on.

Many lives have been saved by wearing riding hats; too many unfortunately will have not. I totally realise that riding is a risk sport (having sustained many an injury myself!) but one thing is clear I would no sooner get on a horse without a hat than I would drive down the street without a seat belt!

It doesn’t end with Missy Elliot and Adidas however, many adverts are still being run in specialist equine press featuring riders without hats. How on earth are the BHS and other organisations meant to promote safety when media campaigns and promotions carry on in this manner?

The impact these campaigns can have is nearly as bad an effect as say, David Beckham smoking a cigarette. Now that would NEVER happen in the media, so why should this?!

 

[severnmiles]

I think at the end of the day its similar to wearing a seatbelt, its upto you if you wear one and if you don't you bear the consequences.

 

[MelBambra]

I agree everything is down to choice - when you are an adult! Kids don't always see the dangers and can't always make a rational decision based on that factor.

Like the girl who gave birth in the classroom - she had a choice to make 9 months ago and clearly made a wrong one! now she will face the consequences for the rest of life due to one misguided moment and a bad decision.

I know we can't fix the world but surely it's our responsibility to do our best to try and feed these messages down to the next generation. (Without sounding like boring old farts of course!)

If someone, somewhere made it fasionable to wear a riding hat - they'd be wearing them to do their shopping up Oxford street!

 

[emma69]

How utterly judgemental. You have no idea of the circumstances surrounding the girl who gave birth today - you have no idea about what choices were made. By all accounts the girl didn't know she was pregnant - this could be unprotected sex, of course, but it could also be a failure of contraception (nothing is 100%), it could be the result of a rape, it could be a lack of knowledge about sex.

Regarding the hats - as an adult we make informed choices, as parents, instructors, yard managers etc we have a duty of care to those we look after who cannot make that determination through lack of maturity, however, you cannot wrap them in cotton wool. It isn't up to the advertising bodies to monitor such things, it is up to adult caregivers. Heck, I was brought up well enough to know that smoking isn't great (despite the prolific prescence of ciggarettes in 'cool' people's hands), that heroin chic is anything but (again, the runways of milan and paris tried to convince me otherwise). People (including the children themselves) have to make choices in everything they do, the nanny state can't look after them all the time. I was certainly intelligent enough at 14 to know that a hat could save my life and it was in my interests to wear one. It is a disservice to teenagers to assume otherwise.

 

[PapaFrita]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree everything is down to choice - when you are an adult! Kids don't always see the dangers and can't always make a rational decision based on that factor.

[/ QUOTE ]
Surely that's where parents come in?

It's not really fair to lay the blame at the feet of advertisers (I know you don't mean them exclusively) and non-equestrian celebs when you can open H&H in ads and see countless people riding hatless
Also, bare in mind that western riders do not wear hard hats so the attitude towards them in the US is rather different to the UK
I agree that the use of hats is something to be encouraged (I ALWAYS wear a hat because I like to set a good example to novice riders at the yard) But I think it's more important that prominent riders should be seen to be wearing hats than celebs who get on a motionless horse once in their lives for a photoshoot.

[ QUOTE ]
If someone, somewhere made it fasionable to wear a riding hat - they'd be wearing them to do their shopping up Oxford street!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, probably!

I don't mean to trivialise the point you're trying to make, but I don't think things are as black and white as you see them.

Here's Madonna for example:

Guilty previously of being photographed not wearing a hat

And here's Madge again in concert... check out what her dancers are wearing...

 

[wizzi901]

indeed, very judgemental. She hadnt a clue poor thing.

Hats, it is an individuals choice and up to parents to promote the right ideals, as a parent I encourage my daughter to wear body protector and hat, she would want to if I wasnt there as she knows the dangers as I MADE her aware. Truth is if she saw a poster of a celeb with no hat, she would say that person was stupid not wearing a hat!

You cannot expect the media to educate people, it is not always there for that!

 

[MissDeMeena]

Wow, now that bridle is BLING!!! (not chav. people, learn the difference) haha

Hat or no hat, i think it's all great!!
There's something rather uncool about horses, and if someone as cool as Missy wants to get in on the horsey act, i'm all for it, if people are stupid enough to fall off without a hat on, that's their fault!! After all, there's no harm in riding without a hat, the harm is in falling off

 

[leanne1973]

I've worked for and trained under two Dutch trainers and it seems far more acceptable on the continent to ride hatless than it does here.

I agree that anyone portrayed in the media should be wearing a hat as it sets an example, but I also agree that it is upto the individual rider as to whether they wear a hat or not.

It should be pointed out that it is law that children under the age of 14 who ride on the road have to wear head protection, but off the road it is not law. It is up to the parents to ensure that their children put on a hat.

I love riding on the flat without a hat, but I would ALWAYS wear one when jumping, riding on the roads, hacking, trekking or when dealing with stallions or breeding mares when on the ground or riding them - hormones and horses are a very dangerous mix indeed!

It is a choice, and the best thing for a parent to do with a child who doesn't want to wear a hat is to have them spend 15 minutes on a Neuro ward like the one at Southampton General Hospital where they deal with motorcycle and riding accidents fairly regularly... neuro ward staff hate horse riders; they think horse riding is a silly sport!!!! LOL! And sometimes, I think we can all agree with them when our beloved equines dump us unceremoniously on our bonces!!!!

 

[Parkranger]

She doesn't always wear a hat http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl...6lr%3D%26sa%3DN

 

[PapaFrita]

I know. I did say.

 

[PapaFrita]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow, now that bridle is BLING!!! (not chav. people, learn the difference) haha

[/ QUOTE ]

I know! I think I dribbled a bit when I saw it *sigh*

 

[Parkranger]

Sorry I was being fascitious....will not do it again

 

[Foxford]

When I saw the missy picture I thought it looked suspiciously digitised anyway!! And where were her jodphurs?? I had a bad fall recently when mine were in the wash!

 

[PapaFrita]

Oh, that's ok. You be as facetious as you like

 

[Dovorian]

Do you remember a while back there was a band who made a video wearing riding hats and red jackets???

 

[Parkranger]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, that's ok. You be as facetious as you like

[/ QUOTE ]

arrrrggggghhhh nat mi folt i caant spil

 

[MissDeMeena]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you remember a while back there was a band who made a video wearing riding hats and red jackets???

[/ QUOTE ]

It was 'Outkast' the video was for 'Hay Ya'

The jackets were green.
And the hats looked like charles owen.

haha, unless you're thinking of another one.

 

[lorenababbit]

quite relieved to see u r on line MSD, after you post about wild horse yesterday and you are quite right by the way.

 

[butterfly f]

i am always amazed by the risks a lot of professional riders take while not wearing hats.
i completely agree that if you are an adult you know the risks and are old enough (and stupid enough) to make your own descision. i wear a hat if im jumping or if im riding a slightly crazy horse. if i know im going to fall off i will for sure have a body protector on too! i hate people who whinge at you to wear a hat. i appreciate their concern, but if we non hat wearers get deaded then its our own problem completely.

a professional rider i used to work for lost his wife tragically in a fairly high profile eventing fall 7 years ago. she died of head injuries and her hat had "come off" in the fall, which indicates it didnt fit well at all. she never wore a hat at home. her husband still never wears a hat riding all manner of wappy 4 year olds at home and i have no idea of his logic. however he now says he lives for the day and if a fall is to kill him so be it. he is a very capable rider and yes he is most unlikely to fall off.... but then as are most professionals, and yet quite often it is the professionals that end up riding the crazy horses!
xxx

 

[lilpete]

I think its a matter a choice, I often ride without a hat, I think its upto me I i want to fall off and hit my head, and its my fault If I do. I personally think the whole Health and Safety is getting ridiculous!

 

[flying_change]

"he lives for the day and if a fall is to kill him so be it"

That may not be the choice. What if he suffers brain damage, and is left alive but severely disabled ?

 

[Macha]

There is a lot of good media especially on kids TV
eg Tickabilla xmas special the virgin mary wore a hat everytime she sat on the donkey,
on postman pat they always were a hat while riding Pumpkin the 16.2 Welsh pony.