Canada takes the initiative - helmets for ALL riders in dr comps in 2012.

I know in 20 years time people will look at us funny when we say we used to compete in top hats, so I'll make the most of what will probably be the last year we can wear them I think! It is inevitable that this will be brought in.
 
I would be very sad to lose the top hat as think it should be personal choice. I am not sure Europe will come round so quickly. I think the current BD rule is just right.
 
Of course wearing a seatbelt should maybe be a personal choice too? After all we're all adults and can make our own decisions in life?
 
Its my personal choice to drive a car in the first place knowing the risks....
 
I think this is great news. The top hats look ridiculous anyway. Perhaps all those who dont want to wear hats should ask their family and friends if they are happy to look after them when they're a vegetable? Nobody argues about wearing hard hats and body protectors for XC and dressage is no less dangerous (in fact I've fallen off more times in dressage comps than eventing ones!).
 
To be honest I don't mind what's on people's heads. I don't think a helmet looks bad with a tailcoat at all! Frankly, I would give an arm and a leg to be competing at GP and I'd do it wearing a bikini if I had to.

However I do think it will take a long long time for a rule like this to be implemented on the Continent where wearing a helmet is something very foreign to most dressage riders.
 
FB, if you do a GP in a bikini, I will buy you Totilas!!!! To be honest, you'd get away with it! Others less so. :)
I am old enough to remember when safety helmets came in for SJ, and then modern helmets (which we thought were hideous, before buying in huge quantities). Top hat n tails is elegant and traditional but perhaps dressage has changed so much that modern helmets will look brilliant. What I argue with is the compulsion and the apparently fallacious argument about safety. But fashion? Darlings yes please....
 
i still think it should be personal choice at all levels, and that this is nanny state going too far....also agree it will take a LONG time to become the rules on the continent.

that said, ironically, ive grown to quite like the helmet/tails look and will probably debut at PSG in tails and a samshield helmet (with gold sparkleys to match CS browband natch).
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
i still think it should be personal choice at all levels, and that this is nanny state going too far....
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That does make me laugh a bit as Canada, by and large, is far less that way inclined than the UK.

That said, the horse industry there is also much less attached to "tradition" and making sure everyone looks a certain way - ironically, the general dress rules regarding jacket colours etc. are far more relaxed.

A couple of very prominent GP riders have taken to wearing helmets and encouraging their students to do likewise this past year, so people have got used to it and perceive it as a "cool" thing to do. So I don't think it's been such a hard sell, especially with Courtney Dye-King well known to lots of people in power there.

I think it will take longer here, where people get much more in a twist about what they wear and "being dictated to" (even though the rules are generally stricter . . .) and, as above, it will take longer again for the Continent but I suspect eventually it will come to pass. I'm sure you'll see lots of people showing in helmets but not riding in them at home, as you still see quite a bit of in showjumping and h/j showing in North America.

Part of it is not just about safety, it's about the larger issue (although it's gone much quieter recently) of making Equestrian disciplines more "modern". There has been some debate over the years about balancing the looks and practices of tradition with more current "sport" practices and I suspect that helmets will be sold on that level. I would also say insurance will play a part - what you do at home, on your own time, is your business, but at a public venue, around other competitors, I suspect there will be more and more movement to manage risks as much as possible, especially in ways that don't effect the competitive aspects of the sport.
 
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Canada also has an advantage as it can play the "universal health care" card and there are already huge taxes on booze and tobacco, relative to many other countries, with an eye to offsetting their medical effects.
 
I don't understand the personal choice argument thing in this context. People who compete eg BD are apparently perfectly happy to accept rules regarding, say, the wearing of gloves and other items of clothing (whatever the colour/lack of same happens to be in the current permutation of the rules :p), and gloves are hardly likely to save your life. What's the difference? Are people really so vain?
 
I don't see what's so attractive about the top hat look. Does anyone actually wear their top hat to go out? To go on a date? To their wedding (the bride)? If it looks that wonderful let's see people on a night out with it on! :p ;)
 
not the most logical argument BB-do you wear your breeches out and about? I mean i REALLY love my eurostar breeches with blingy bits, but i dont wear them down the pub! so as much as i love my top hat, no i will not be wearing it to work etc.

how odd.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
not the most logical argument BB-do you wear your breeches out and about? I mean i REALLY love my eurostar breeches with blingy bits, but i dont wear them down the pub! so as much as i love my top hat, no i will not be wearing it to work etc.

how odd.
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i was in Dubai duty-free a couple of weeks ago, queuing behind a middle-aged woman who had 2 small kids with her (so, you'd think, not a typical fashion victim type) and she was wearing tan jodhs. and they looked chuffing horrible.
but i see your point!
 
Burnttoast said:
I don't understand the personal choice argument thing in this context. People who compete eg BD are apparently perfectly happy to accept rules regarding, say, the wearing of gloves and other items of clothing (whatever the colour/lack of same happens to be in the current permutation of the rules :p), and gloves are hardly likely to save your life. What's the difference? Are people really so vain?
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That is a point. How come it's okay to be made to wear gloves but not a helmet? I know it's "tradition" but tradition isn't an immutable thing - the rules of riding change almost early, it's just that as soon as they change people get used to it and cease to care.
 
Perhaps in order to pay their medical bills if/should they come off, it should be compulsory for those riders who choose to exercise their choice of wearing a top hat or beagler to either have insurance to cover or pay additional tax.
 
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