How often do you drop your hat

[SammySpeaks]

I bought a new hat recently and within a fortnight, i've managed to drop it three times. By dropping i mean once it (goodness knows how) flipped from boot of 4x4 onto concrete doing a sort of roll in the process and the other two times just dropped from my hand onto concrete.

I know upon each impact the foam is less effective but how many of you have had similar situations and still ride in said hat?

I'm not usually this clumsy! and really really don't want to have to replace a hat i've only just bought.

 

[Roxylola]

I'd rather replace a hat than risk my head. They aren't really foam its the damage you do to the shell, so that when you need it it breaks apart because it's been compromised.
I think I'd consider it an expensive lesson in being careful and replace personally

 

[poacher82]

Only once per hat - I'm with Roxylola, a dropped hat is a binned hat.
I remember reading somewhere that dropping it from knee high was enough to damage a hat, and have always been taught to "treat a helmet like it's made of glass". My pet hate is seeing helmets placed upside down so they can roll off a table or chair!

 

[SEL]

One of our local tack shops used to fit hats (pre covid) and I volunteered one of my old ones to them to take apart as a demo. I'd only replaced it because it had an odd strap arrangement which was really uncomfortable if you were in the saddle all day and it never felt entirely 'right'. I'd never fallen off and hit my head with it on.

When it was stripped down and the velvet stuff removed there was a tiny, tiny crack in the shell. It really wasn't obvious but must have come from me dropping the hat at some point. Real wake up call because that tiny hairline crack would have been a weak spot if I had fallen onto it.

 

[AFB]

I'm VERY protective of mine and always very careful at holding them by the harness as I feel more secure.

I did once manage to throw mine up in the air while taking it off, try to catch it and bat it about 6ft away for it to bounce on a concrete floor it was almost brand new and I couldn't afford to replace it so wore it for much longer than I should have. It was most definitely compromised, I'd chipped a 50p+ sized chuck of the paintwork off and could see a hairline crack in the shell. Won't be making that mistake again!

 

[Squeak]

Another who'd be a bit worried about it being compromised after being dropped on concrete three times.

 

[TPO]

Ots always been something that I've just known from being a child that if you drop a hat onto hard ground or it hits the ground with force then it needs to be binned and replaced.

I was trained to fit hats by Champion and Charles Owen (years ago so dont know how long a qualification lasts for) and they showed us dissected hats not only from "insignificant" falls from horse horses but also hats that had been dropped. This was so we would emphasis the need to be careful with hats and replace them if dropped when selling to customers.

So yeah, it's an expensive game but cheaper than ending up with any sort of head injury. Always replace a dropped hat and cut the straps so no one else can retrieve it from the bin and use it (if on a yard)

 

[Bernster]

Yesterday! And having just had a discussion with a friend about replacing hats. I half caught it though so it only lightly made contact with the floor. I wasn’t planning on replacing it but I’ve just remembered that finnegan also picked up the hat bag and dropped it, so actually I think I do need to!

But 3 times a proper drop on concrete I’m afraid you need a new one ?

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I've trained myself..... hat in padded hat bag with gloves in the side pocket. Lives on dog crate in hay barn unless travelling out.
Hat comes out of bag and onto my head. Stays on my head till finished and then I walk to hat bag and deposit, sometimes upside down to dry, before zipping bag up.

 

[Mrs G]

Yes i think a new hat is needed OP! While your shopping, get a proper riding hat bag too and whenever your hat isn't on your head - put it in the bag straightaway and keep it there until next time. Get into that habit and your hat will be protected.

 

[McFluff]

Another one who has learned the hard way to use a padded hat bag. Zipped up, and kept out of my cheeky monkey's reach (he loves picking things up and throwing them).
If you go to the bother of wearing a hat, may as well be as fit for purpose as possible.

 

[Bernster]

Exactly what mine did mcfluff! I’m usually good at keeping things out of his way but he just about stretched to pick up my hat bag, had a quick wave around and then dropped it, the little bugger.

 

[McFluff]

Exactly what mine did mcfluff! I’m usually good at keeping things out of his way but he just about stretched to pick up my hat bag, had a quick wave around and then dropped it, the little bugger.

I think my language was more colourful

 

[Kaylum]

Never and I replace mine every two years with regular riding and nobody else wears it ever.

I treat my hat like I treat my saddle.

 

[SpotsandBays]

I haven’t dropped a hat I don’t think! My hat is either on my head, in its bag, or in my Stubbs saddle thing. I’d probably replace if I were you but that’s me!

 

[Birker2020]

I have dropped mine a couple of times from waist height out of my car boot but if I had been doing anything other than hacking at the time I would have changed my hat I think.

Having had a serious head injury which required a CT scan, suspected brain bleed and hospitalisation I know how serious head injuries can be. And that was me riding an experience Grade B showjumper who took off too soon and landed on the jump and fell over throwing me on sand!

As an aside, I know you are asking about riding hats, but I hear the lads outside my office drop their hard hats on numerous occasions (they are not called helmets on site for the dubious and obvious connotations/jokes that one can attach to such things) and have even see them kick them around in annoyance or as a football during break time. They differ from riding hats in that they have a kind of sling system in place inside so that top of the hat, when fitted correctly is kept away from the head. They don't treat them with respect and I think they're bonkers.

I lost a friend once who struck her head against a kerb stone when falling off her sons horse. She was riding the horse out hacking. She fell outside a hospital consultant and A&E nurses house and had to have an emergency tracheoctomy at the roadside. She had to have brain surgery but later died. She had left her hat at home and had borrowed someone else's. I can't say if she'd had her own hat on whether it would have saved her but I often wondered.

 

[SammySpeaks]

Thank you all so much for the responses. You've all confirmed that which i already knew but was desperately hoping not to be told! Time for a new hat (after 3 weeks with a new hat)

Im also very impressed with how careful the majority of you are - I need to be less careless!

 

[conniegirl]

I do not drop mine! If it gets dropped it is replaced!

 

[Roxylola]

Hats are expensive, heads are priceless

 

[smolmaus]

As an aside, I know you are asking about riding hats, but I hear the lads outside my office drop their hard hats on numerous occasions (they are not called helmets on site for the dubious and obvious connotations/jokes that one can attach to such things) and have even see them kick them around in annoyance or as a football during break time. They differ from riding hats in that they have a kind of sling system in place inside so that top of the hat, when fitted correctly is kept away from the head. They don't treat them with respect and I think they're bonkers.

Have you spotted them using their hats to hold gloves (which they should be wearing as well) and loose bolts while they work? Our health and safety seminars always feature a segment on lads doing the old duck-and-cover to tip the bits out and shove it on their head when they see a H&S guy coming. It's a terrible macho culture thing that thankfully does seem to be dying out.

I shouldn't need to be told really, having also had a v traumatic head injury, but yeah I have dropped mine on gravel and it's been banging about the boot of the car for who knows how long now. Purchase to include a hat bag this time too!

 

[Birker2020]

Have you spotted them using their hats to hold gloves (which they should be wearing as well) and loose bolts while they work?

Yes I agree.

It makes me smile when they say that their 'finger' doesn't work on the biometric turnstile scanner because they have worn down the fingertip by doing the work they do on site.
And my reply is always 'try wearing your gloves then'

 

[Winters100]

Poor you, what a nuisance having to spend money on a replacement. I am afraid that I am with the others though, you definitely need a new one. To be honest my answer would have been the same if you said you had dropped it once. At least hats are replaceable though, unlike heads.

 

[McFluff]

Thank you all so much for the responses. You've all confirmed that which i already knew but was desperately hoping not to be told! Time for a new hat (after 3 weeks with a new hat)

Im also very impressed with how careful the majority of you are - I need to be less careless!

Definitely feel for you. I'm only careful now as I learnt the hard way by leaving my hat in throwing range. It's an expensive lesson, but as Winters100 said, at least the hat can be replaced... And I say that as someone who is still here due to a well fitted hat saving my head in an innocuous fall.

 

[Lipglosspukka]

I don't drop it, however it is rather concerning that they are so badly damaged that they require replacing just from being dropped once or twice?

I would hope they would be more hardy considering they are designed to protect your head under a high impact fall.

 

[smolmaus]

I don't drop it, however it is rather concerning that they are so badly damaged that they require replacing just from being dropped once or twice?

I would hope they would be more hardy considering they are designed to protect your head under a high impact fall.

They're meant to protect you during ONE high impact fall. They're meant for single-use impact force dissipation, not durability.

I'm looking for a simple source on the physics of it and can't find a nice one. This one is decent but focuses mostly on the padding increasing the impact time. There will also be a certain amount of force absorption from the energy required to flex and crack the outer shell that will be lost if it is already cracked and that force now has to be taken by your skull. I suppose hypothetically if the helmet is dropped and the polystyrene (or equivalent) material has been partially crushed already that is also a certain amount of energy that can't be dissipated.

 

[conniegirl]

I don't drop it, however it is rather concerning that they are so badly damaged that they require replacing just from being dropped once or twice?

I would hope they would be more hardy considering they are designed to protect your head under a high impact fall.

Not really, a fall onto concrete is a considerable force.
Hats are supposed to protect you from ONE fall.
The materials in a hat protect your head by deforming and changing under force/shock to absorb the energy of tge fall instead of your skull or brain. the materials do not rebound after that shock and thus can only be used once.
If the hat had been dropped already the materials in the area around the impact site will have deformed and thus will not be able to protect completely should you fall and hit your head.

 

[BatHorse]

I would replace the hat. I fell off onto concrete a couple of weeks ago landing on my head, but was absolutely fine thanks to my hat. Protecting your head is so important

 

[phizz4]

I think it will depend on the design of the hat. If it is a modern design, like the Uvex ones, they use the similar foam and shell to cycling helmets, and one impact and the foam is likely to be damaged, so scrap it. If it is the very hard shell jockey style, which doesn't have the thick layer of shock absorbing foam, it's probably alright. If you have any doubts in your mind, change it, you only get one head (and brain). i remember watching a police demonstration for motorcyclists where the audience were asked if anyone had recently dropped their MC helemt. One stepped forward, so the policeman proceeded to take it apart, ripping out the lining, exposing the foam and the inner shell. When it was all in pieces he said 'yes, that's fine, you can carry on using it'. Of course, he couldn't but the point was made.

 

[littleshetland]

I reversed over mine with car once....

 

[canteron]

I am going to dissect my old hat when
I have second.
It has a similar life to OP’s hat.
If I remember I will film and report back!!!