hats and bp's, when do you wear yours?

Always hat when riding but never wear it on the ground with my own horses but when lunging or leading unpredictable horses I wear a hat and gloves.
Bp only when jumping and xc but also when backing a young horse until I feel relatively safe on them.
 
Wear my hat (and gloves) every time I ride, lunge or long rein.
I wear my BP (an ebay bargain - new style Airowear Reiver, worn a couple of times but looks brand new, £16!) when riding my youngster. Am currently breaking him in, so it just makes sense. I wear it for XC schooling and competitions with my mare, too :)
 
I wear a skull cap whenever mounted, although I am going to buy a velvet helmet with a harness just for shows.

I wear a BP only when required. That means for xc and at the RS where I used to ride for jumping lessons in the field.

I also wear a hat for lunging, but not for loading or turning out. If my horse was a different character I might wear it more.

On the otherhand I always wear "proper boots" and often steel toe caps, my toes are at greatest risk with my mare!
 
Hat for all riding and 90% of time when lunging. Always wear gloves for these too. After moving to current yard in march i wear bp everytime im on board even just flat work, not sure why maybe after OH broke collarbone biking its made me think safety subconsciously! That and everything is a New sight out hacking and i now school in field more than arena. I just don't feel complete without it on anymore.
 
I always, always, always wear a hat to ride! Can't understand why anyone wouldn't.
BPwise, with my late gelding I wore it for fun rides only (where I'd be jumping new fences) - for the first 5ish years I wore it every time I rode him "just incase" but after that I felt like I knew him so well that I rode without.

With new girly I wear BP every time I ride her because it's only a matter of time until she throws me off - would quite like to invest in a horsey parachute really! Hate the feel of riding in one (probably doesn't help that mine's too long/big for me :rolleyes:) but don't want to risk riding without it. Saving for a new BP that actually fits for every day riding & an air jacket so on the very hottest of days I can wear that instead because it does get so uncomfy on our rare warm days. Also like the idea of the extra protection for when we're hurtling towards jumps at high speed!
I had a horrible riding accident a year or so ago and was wearing my BP - was so impressed with how well it worked. The area that was covered by my BP was completely undamaged/pain free, everywhere else was broken and battered and my leg is still bruised and painful! x
 
I feel like I'm bucking the trend here, but....
On new baby mare, always ride in a hat, never wear hat, gloves for groundwork
Used to regualrly ride Big Ruby without a hat, only in menage, always wore a hat to hack.
Have never owned a BP of any variety, but in fairness dont jump oR do anything very exciting these days
 
I always wear a hat when I'm riding - I once got on with just my woolly hat in the winter and felt naked and jumped off as soon as I realised!

I've only worn a hat on the ground the first couple of times I lunged my new horse - just in case, but now I know he won't explode etc I don't bother - not even with gloves.

I always used to just wear my BP for fun rides or if I was doing a trickier jump lesson (still only 2'3!) but hated it as it never fit properly and always felt like I was getting tipped out when it hit the back of the saddle despite being 'fitted'... Got a new Outlyne BP which I insisted be short enough to miss my saddle or I'd never wear it - took my saddle to the shop :D

Actually wore my new BP for the first time today since I got my new boy over a year ago - my hacking buddy got dropped by her bombproof plod a few weeks ago and was so stiff she couldn't ride for weeks after. She now has a BP courtesy of her OH so I thought since she is - why not? Actually forgot I had it on so think I'll be wearing it more in future! Although it did highlight when I was slouching... Ok - even a well fitted modern one makes me look a bit like the mitchelin man, but however good my horse is, if he stumbles or someone drives past like an idiot, I don't fancy the stiffness from the average fall, and can't afford the time off work!
 
I wear my hat for any ridden work and my body protector will be in use for everyday once I have my new saddle as he will no doubt be full of beans being off ridden work for a good month, and then will be used for jumping and maybe hacking once he settles down where I don't need it in the school :)
 
Usually wear a hat for schooling, but always for hacking/jumping. Never wear my BP these days, only have it from the days when I was breaking youngsters :)
 
Hat/BP for all type of riding.
Hat and sometimes BP for groundwork (bombproofing, trailer training etc)
Sometimes hat for tacking up, but always hat if I'm trying something new with tack or anything that will include his hinds (such as bandages on his hind legs)
 
Helmet always when riding, doesn't matter if it's 40 degree, the helmet goes on! I also wear mine when lunging, or handling/loading iffy horses.

I wear my BP on XC no exceptions, even if just going or a low level pop around on an experienced horse. I acknowledge that I am involved in a dangerous activity, so I wear the appropriate safety equipment.

I've had quite a few bad falls, especially on XC where it has been the result of a mistake, so I don't take any chances! I've also been bucked off on the arena buy my 'experienced' horse, ***** happens so I make sure I'm protected!
 
I'm 49 and learned to ride as a child. I bought my first BP last year, a Harry Hall and progressed to a Racesafe last December. I started wearing my BP every time I rode and in May my worst nightmare happened, I was bronc'd off by a new, supposedly safe mare and I hit a tarmac'd road hard. I broke and displaced six ribs and damaged my spleen and had to be hospitalised for four days. The doctor reckoned the BP saved my life and I will never ride without wearing one again...

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Last Friday I watched a friend come off my big lad at canter in the school and land on her head, hard. She was knocked out and from the angle that her head bent I thought she was dead :( Although she went to hospital in an ambulance, she was incredibly lucky and walked away with nothing more than bruising and a mild concussion. The hat did its job and bore the brunt...

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(*sigh* It's not been my best year!!!)
 
ex racer rider said:
i have never worn a hat on the ground tbh, not even when working with unhandled horses or youngsters! im young and the national health is free! :rolleyes:
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Thats ok then! never mind all the care your family and loved ones may have to give you after a fall with no hat on. Jeez...what an attitude!!!
 
I wear my hat all the time while riding. I never wear a BP as I have never found one that will fit as I am very short and very fat, they only seem to come in slim people sizes and the backs are way too long they are so uncomfortable that I cannot even sit on the horse properly while wearing one and am at an even greater risk of falling off than without!!
 
When I was riding I was (mostly) young, had no dependents and felt free to choose my own risks. And I'm a tad feral!

I always wore a hat but hated the safer at the time jockey skull caps so wore a slightly upgraded traditional hat. I was aware it wasn't the best protection but also that it was still significant protection. If the lightweight ones available now had been around I'd have worn them but at that time they were vastly out my price range. I never owned or wore a bp.

Now I have a kid the whole kind of riding I once loved, breaking, youngsters, stallions etc feels to dangerous. I don't trust my kids dad to raise her so no longer feel it's my choice to risk take the way I did.

My child has a simple riding hat which adjusts as I firmly believe excellent fit is about the most important factor of a hard hat. Once she's going on riding (if she does) I will get her a bp.

Free and single it was my choice, riding 5 times a day a heavy hat just gave me blasting headaches and being warm blooded I wouldn't have coped with a bp in warm weather.

The gear is better now and that's good.
 
Hat - always when riding and on the ground if I am handling young stock or difficult horses

BP- Always for jumping/hacking. I tend not to school my mare in it, but I even where it in the school with other horse as he can rear and be a bit of a tit sometimes.
 
At work I wear both as it is compulsory. At home neither for the most part. I'll break in ponies in a hat and restart all of mine after a break in a hat but once they are going and haven't decked me then I ride in a baseball cap and trainers. I never ride in a bp at home. I hate them, even though my racing one is like a second skin I like to be fully flexible.

I will admit that I did something incredibly ridiculously stupid the other day and decided to teach my shetland pony to jump. She has never even so much as been over a pole on the ground before and I headed out on her like usual - baseball cap and trainers.

I rarely hack out at home but when I do I always wear a hat and boots.

I really need a kick up the backside!

The first time I ever, EVER rode without a hat it was a genuine forgetful mistake. I had tacked the pony up and went to pick my hat up and realised that I hadn't brought it outside with me. I wasn't going to leave the pony tied up with tack on as he has sweet itch and would have wrecked it. I figured that seeing as it was Rains and he is my safest, sanest shetland pony that ever existed I'd be grand for the whole 15mins I planned on riding him for. So off we tootled, in a pelham for the first time in a year ans as we went trotting he was concentrating so hard on what he was doing he tripped over his own feet and somersaulted. Neither of us were injured thankfully.

I really should buy another hat as I have my work hat and my show hat and won't ride in my show hat at home and can't be hooped taking my work hat backwards and forwards everyday.
 
I have my hat and bp on every time I ride, no matter what I'm doing. My cob does a very good fat and lazy impression, then in the next bat of his eye could be bronking and peeing off at speed!!

The way I look at it is, OH spent a small fortune on my bp for christmas, so I should wear it. Would rather not need it and have it on than need it and it be nicly put away in my tack room :)
 
Daughter wears her hat everytime she is on, sometimes on the ground too. She will only wear her bp for xc because she has too!! She hates it!!
 
I wear a hat for riding every time but dont wear one for handling on the flat or lungeing etc. I wear a BP for XC and have just decided to always wear one for backing youngsters, which has already done me the world of good! Made the decision after a pony I was backing chucked me off a month ago, just in time for him to chuck me off again 2 weeks ago in a big way, tore all the muscles down my side / back but could have been worse especially as I hit a plastic jump block at speed so BP must have absorbed some of that!
 
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I wear my hat constantly (will admit to having not had it on a feew times ;) ) but since doing my back in I now wear my BP constantly as well. Previously I only wore it when jumping or competitions but now its welded to me :)
 
When I was a new junior member of pony club back in the 1050s one of our better senior riders was killed riding her horse wearing a headscarf and gumboots so we all grew up wearing helmets and joddy boots. As I have grown older I have added safety stirrup cages to my equipment so I can wear boots with good grip if I want to get off and walk down steep hills!! After a fall where I suffered a compressed fracture of the spine - in a safe clinic situation! I have vowed that I will ALWAYS wear my body protector. Accidents happen due to lack of knowledge on the part of other riders, fear from your safe "plodder" or even the simple placement of a rock/stone in an otherwise clean paddock!! And I do not have time to waste healing. It took almost a year before I was free of pain and that is now a weak spot that aches when I get tired....
 
Alyth, thats my arguement too!! Benson was the safest, most bombproof horse, just like the ones where people say 'My horse will never chuck me off, he is safe'.
Unfortunately the driver of the car that hit us however wasnt safe! And if I was wearing my body protector, maybe I wouldnt have ended up with the injurues I still sufer with 2 1/2 years later!
 
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