Hmm. I do wish HHO wouldn't ...

if you break your head then you will become a burden to some1 who has to look after you so IMO it is selfish
 
The biggest cause of death of young women is young men, having an accident in the car. The second cause of death in young women is a horse related accident. Pretty dangerous really.

Where did you get that information. I find it very difficult to believe that horse riding without a hat kills more young women than drugs, alcohol or accidents caused by those two things.
 
if you break your head then you will become a burden to some1 who has to look after you so IMO it is selfish

Really cant comment on the HHO subject, I guess thats up to them. However, I totally and utterly agree with this comment. Having seen my daughter's life literally saved by wearing her HS1, plus BP and Point Two air jacket. She had a nasty fall at a very innocent looking table jump at a Novice BE event, 3 from home, approached on the right stride, in good conditions, but still took a tumble. Her hat was split externally and she would be either paralysed or dead after that fall if she had not worn the right gear,which included a hat. Her hat was also new, and believe me, I did not bat an eyelid at spending a further £135 replacing it.

I am sorry to say I get very, very angry over the my head, my problem attitude. I know I wont change attitudes personally, its down to personal choice, but if you choose not to wear your hat and you have a head injury which leaves you as a dribbling, incoherent paraplegic (with huge apologies to paraplegics), who needs 24 hour care, then I bet you will wish you wore a hat, after seeing what hell you will put your family and loved ones through.

Rant over.
 
Look, it's a personal choice. On balance probably the majority of riders worldwide do not wear hard hats. I've ridden all my life without a hat for 99% of the time; the people I admire most in the ridden world don't wear hats - it's a particular obsession in the UK, so if that's what you want to do, go right ahead. I don't choose to, I won't be troubling your NHS or particularly influencing your young people (I don't live in your country), so please give over.
 
H and S seems to be a national obsession in the UK. My cousin and his family were here recently doing a family OE and were buzzing about all the things they could do here, which just don't happen in the UK because of H and S. Stuff we just take for granted like jumping off bridges and quad bike riding. Yes, it carries some risk, but that is all part of the fun.
 
But what proportion of the population rides? The biggest cause of death of young women is young men, having an accident in the car. The second cause of death in young women is a horse related accident. Pretty dangerous really.

Have You got a reference for that?
 
I found this but I can't read it, the internet is too slow this morning.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1...les--series-dr-/2012/sty-causes-of-death.html

Someone tell me what it says :) ???

Leading causes of death in men, England and Wales, 2012
Rank Leading cause of death No. of men Percentage of men
1 Heart disease 37423 15.60%
2 Lung cancer 16698 7.00%
3 Emphysema/bronchitis 14378 6.00%
4 Stroke 14116 5.90%
5 Dementia and Alzheimer’s 13984 5.80%
6 Flu/pneumonia 11063 4.60%
7 Prostate cancer 9698 4.00%
8 Bowel cancer 7841 3.30%
9 Lymphoid cancer 6301 2.60%
10 Throat cancer 4603 1.90%
Download table

XLS format
(27 Kb)



Leading causes of death in women, England and Wales, 2012
Rank Leading cause of death No. of women Percentage of women
1 Dementia and Alzheimer’s 29873 11.50%
2 Heart disease 26741 10.30%
3 Stroke 21730 8.40%
4 Flu/pneumonia 15075 5.80%
5 Emphysema/bronchitis 14155 5.50%
6 Lung cancer 13575 5.20%
7 Breast cancer 10311 4%
8 Bowel cancer 6600 2.50%
9 Urinary disease 5570 2.10%
10 Heart failure 5065 2%
 
Thanks. I've done some more googling and don't any support for that claim whatsoever.

For the people saying we must wear a hat in case we end up a drooling idiot, how many drooling idiots, or completely conscious quadriplegics are alive because they wore a hat, who would rather be dead than in that state?

It's no one's business but the rider, and the idea of refusing to go and view a good horse because the rider in the ad is not wearing s hat it completely hilarious :D
 
I suppose you have to blame the nanny state we live in, but personally I am live at let live - if I passed judgement on every overweight, jobless, drinking, smoking drain on society and their cost to the state as a consequence, I would have no time to ride with or without my hat.

As it is I am not here to stand as any kind of role model to anyone, and I am a firm believer that people do need to get back in their boxes and mind their own business.
 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNfRVNrdyEU

I wear a hat every time I ride. I would also encourage people I know (well!) to wear one.

However, if someone else doesn't want to that's up to them and I wouldn't hold it against them. I certainly wouldn't think they were a lesser rider. When I lived in Australia lots of my friends rode without hats and still do. I must admit I was tempted too in 35 degrees, but I'm still not willing to take the risk.

I also always wear long boots and recently fell off dislocating my ankle (Achilles all good Mike!).. The sport will never be risk free. I'll keep my hat though. ;)
 
I stand by my opinion that it may in some instances have an influence on young riders/kids. We wouldn't want pictures of people shooting up heroin put in adverts (unless it was one to deter usage), for the same reason - we wouldn't want our kids seeing that. I don't want my kid thinking it's ok or acceptable to ride without a hat. Yes, it's my job to instil that into my child, but when kids hit teenage years, and go off with their friends, they do stuff that you don't know about, which they think is cool or rebellious. Maybe they would do it anyway, who knows, but I still don't condone adverts showing riders hatless, as I wouldn't condone adverts containing porn, drug use and even not wearing a seat belt, on a public forum. Ok, it's not third world problems, but in an ideal world I would say it's quite poor to allow pictures like that.

What adults do in their own time/space is up to them entirely however. If they want to take the risk of having their head mashed then it's their lookout.
 
I've had a few sharers over the years and have only ever had three rules, which as long as they stick to, they can do pretty much what they like (within reason of course!). Rules are, they get their own insurance, they wear hi-viz on the roads and the NEVER get on my horse without a hat. They can do what they want on any other horse but I'm not having mine being tarred with being associated with them getting killed or seriously injured. To be fair every single one has always said they wouldn't dream of riding without a hat anyway.

There's a post / video on Facebook where a (US I think) rider who has suffered a serious brain injury and is paralysed, stuck in hospital and having to suffer the indignity of being hoisted in and out of bed and having someone to help her go to the toilet and clean her up afterwards is calling on people to wear a hat. It's pretty powerful, and of course I can't find it now to post a link. Look it up if you can.
 
I've had a few sharers over the years and have only ever had three rules, which as long as they stick to, they can do pretty much what they like (within reason of course!). Rules are, they get their own insurance, they wear hi-viz on the roads and the NEVER get on my horse without a hat. They can do what they want on any other horse but I'm not having mine being tarred with being associated with them getting killed or seriously injured. To be fair every single one has always said they wouldn't dream of riding without a hat anyway.

There's a post / video on Facebook where a (US I think) rider who has suffered a serious brain injury and is paralysed, stuck in hospital and having to suffer the indignity of being hoisted in and out of bed and having someone to help her go to the toilet and clean her up afterwards is calling on people to wear a hat. It's pretty powerful, and of course I can't find it now to post a link. Look it up if you can.

See the link I posted above!
 
I stand by my opinion that it may in some instances have aninfluence on young riders/kids. We wouldn't want pictures of people shooting up heroin put in adverts (unless it was one to deter usage), for the same reason - we wouldn't want our kids seeing that. I don't want my kid thinking it's ok or acceptable to ride without a hat. Yes, it's my job to instil that into my child, but when kids hit teenage years, and go off with their friends, they do stuff that you don't know about, which they think is cool or rebellious. Maybe they would do it anyway, 4who knows, but I still don't condone adverts showing riders hatless, as I wouldn't condone adverts containing porn, drug use and even not wearing a seat belt, on a public forum. Ok, it's not third world problems, but in an ideal world I would say it's quite poor to allow pictures like that.

What adults do in their own time/space is up to them entirely however. If they want to take the risk of having their head mashed then it's their lookout.

I stand by my opinion that it's not my job to be a role model to other people's kids.

Last time I looked Moomin, heroin was illegal, it hardly compares with not wearing a riding hat!
 
Someone not wearing a hat in an advert doesn't put me off, although it does alert me to look for clues that a 'private' seller may in reality be a dealer.
What has and does stop me from viewing a horse, is an obese rider. As well as being a welfare issue, the cost of obesity to society far exceeds the cost caused by not wearing a hat . Estimated in 2007 due to chronic illness and disability, NHS treatment and the impact on employment, the cost was estimated at £16 Billion. Forecasts predict this will rise to £50 Billion by 2050.

I do wear a hat when riding, but sadly for a friend, her hat didn't prevent her being brain damaged and severely disabled.
In most circumstances, the best head protection is riding a well trained horse and having a secure seat, rather than overestimating your riding ability and horsemanship.



So, dear HHO, stop showing pictures of obese riders.
 
I stand by my opinion that it's not my job to be a role model to other people's kids.

Last time I looked Moomin, heroin was illegal, it hardly compares with not wearing a riding hat!

Illegal or not, doesn't make it any less or more dangerous.

No, it may not be your job to be a role model to peoples' kids, but the media and press should have a responsibility, therefore IMO, they should not allow ads which promote people endangering their own lives through stupidity. I personally don't give a monkeys what happens to you if you decide not to wear a hat - that's your problem.
 
Someone not wearing a hat in an advert doesn't put me off, although it does alert me to look for clues that a 'private' seller may in reality be a dealer.
What has and does stop me from viewing a horse, is an obese rider. As well as being a welfare issue, the cost of obesity to society far exceeds the cost caused by not wearing a hat . Estimated in 2007 due to chronic illness and disability, NHS treatment and the impact on employment, the cost was estimated at £16 Billion. Forecasts predict this will rise to £50 Billion by 2050.

I do wear a hat when riding, but sadly for a friend, her hat didn't prevent her being brain damaged and severely disabled.
In most circumstances, the best head protection is riding a well trained horse and having a secure seat, rather than overestimating your riding ability and horsemanship.



So, dear HHO, stop showing pictures of obese riders.

I agree. Overweight riders are a bug bear of mine too.
 
There are many valid reasons to wear a hat, I am interested to know from the non hat wearers, why dont you wear a hat? What is your reason not to wear one? Personally I cant think of any reasons not to wear one!
 
Really? You believe that?
So if I start using heroin I am not putting my health at any greater risk than riding a horse without a hat?
You have to be kidding me!

It's all relative. Depends on the amount you ride, the horses you ride, the situations you ride in, your riding ability, the environment you ride in. Yes, you could be at a much higher risk of harm riding if you do that every single day for years, as opposed to shooting up heroin for a few months and then going clean.
 
It's all relative. Depends on the amount you ride, the horses you ride, the situations you ride in, your riding ability, the environment you ride in. Yes, you could be at a much higher risk of harm riding if you do that every single day for years, as opposed to shooting up heroin for a few months and then going clean.

Which is obviously what the majority of heroin users do isn't it. Sorry but your extreme example just doesn't stack. If you substitute cannabis for heroin then I would probably agree with you but not this extreme example.
Can you guess what would, not could, happen if some one used heroin everyday for years.
 
Which is obviously what the majority of heroin users do isn't it. Sorry but your extreme example just doesn't stack. If you substitute cannabis for heroin then I would probably agree with you but not this extreme example.
Can you guess what would, not could, happen if some one used heroin everyday for years.

I don't need to - I deal with these people almost daily. In any case, I said it doesn't mean it's any MORE OR LESS dangerous. Someone could get on a horse once in their lifetime with no hat on, and end up dead or a vegetable. They could be on heroin for five years or more, and go clean, and live a relatively unharmed life. It's irrelevant, the fact is, both are dangerous things to do, to one extent or another. We can throw not wearing a seat belt into the mix too - you could go ten years not wearing one and be fine, or one day, and die. It still should not be put out there in adverts that it's acceptable to not wear that seat belt.
 
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There are many valid reasons to wear a hat, I am interested to know from the non hat wearers, why dont you wear a hat? What is your reason not to wear one? Personally I cant think of any reasons not to wear one!

this ..other than fashion but fashion in general (not just horsey) I find pointless
 
We wouldn't want pictures of people shooting up heroin put in adverts (unless it was one to deter usage), for the same reason - we wouldn't want our kids seeing that.

I think there is every shade of grey between riding without a hat on and shooting up Heroin, but that is HHO for you.

I am not going to stop going to the pub on a Friday evening in fear of some other person's child seeing me and thinking it is a good idea to have a large Pinot after work - I still maintain that it isn't my job to become a role model for other people's children.
 
My main reason for not wearing a hat (there are several others which I won't bore you with) is because I don't wish to. After evaluating the risk over the 50 or so years that I have been riding (without) I deem the risk to be acceptable to me, and also nobody else's business.
 
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