How often do you drop your hat

[ycbm]

I reversed over mine with car once....

Ooh, that's not as useful as it was ?
.

 

[ycbm]

. My pet hate is seeing helmets placed upside down so they can roll off a table or chair!

If I don't store mine that way the mice take the lining for their nests in walls ?
.

 

[phizz4]

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!

In the climbing and caving world we use the terms 'Unhappy Turrtle' and 'Happy Turtle' to remind people how to lay them down.

 

[MereChristmas]

I only drop a hat once.
This is after a fall. The layers of shell can be seen amongst the mud.
Champion asked me to send it to them but I had already thrown it away.

 

[Big Bay Mare]

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.

THIS. I treat it like it is made of glass and take a super good care of it. My mom is a doctor and used to scare me with stories of horrific horse riding related head injuries she dealt with in ER. I would never ride without one and once it hits the deck, it is getting replaced.

 

[Winters100]

I also never ride without a hat - the risk / reward ratio just is not there. I do not allow others to ride my horses without a properly fitting hat either, even if it is a child being led around in walk on my schoolmistress.

It amazes me how many people where I am ride without a hat. We have one 18 year old who has started a holiday job grooming for a pro, and I now see her riding without a hat every day. OK she is legally an adult, but really I don't know why he stands for it. We don't have the same issue with compensation that you have in the UK, but surely there is a moral obligation? I can say nothing as I have seen her parents watching this, and they are somehow fine with it, so not my business.

The 2 really serious accidents that I have had (broken back and concussion that lasted more than 6 months) both happened when I was doing nothing really 'special', no reason to expect any problems. With the head injury I cannot see how I would have survived had I not been wearing a safe and intact hat. I always say this when friends tell me 'oh I wear a hat if I'm jumping' or 'the horse is really safe', in my opinion it is just foolish to ride without this basic protection.

 

[AFB]

I always say this when friends tell me 'oh I wear a hat if I'm jumping' or 'the horse is really safe', in my opinion it is just foolish to ride without this basic protection.

This drives me insane too - I can't remember the name now but there was a dressage rider a few years ago who fell off at walk and had life-changing head injuries IIRC. That one really hit home for me (not that I've ever been one for riding without a hat, it feels wrong!).

 

[rabatsa]

Before lockdowns we had a young RDA rider that three weeks running threw his hat down either just before or just after his ride. The parents were horrified when presented with the bill for three new hats and told never to bring him again.

They paid up due to peer pressure from the other parents and one of the hats was disected to show them all the consequences of the impact. One father went out and changed all the families cycle helmets that afternoon.

 

[m1stify]

Makes me wonder what the hat goes through before you even buy it ie delivery, possible fall in the shop itself I can’t imagine a member of staff admitting if they have let a hat fall

 

[Widgeon]

This is why I only buy cheap hats....(although it's all relative, even a cheap hat is still £60-£70)...given that it's fallen onto concrete three times I'm afraid I'd replace it too.

 

[mariew]

I got decked and hit my head on the concrete once. Just ended up wiht a mild concussion. We decided to take the helmet apart and the polystyrene inside was obviously compressed. At one stage i came off on a regular basis so i always had a spare backup helmet. Not so much now which is good. Although this thread has reminded me my helmet is probably a few years older than it should be and i probably should replace it.

 

[Cragrat]

How protective is a hat bag? I always assumed they made them easier to carry, and kept them clean/prevented scratches, but would they actually prevent damage if the hat was dropped in its bag?

ETA my biggest bug bear is people who save their safest/newest hat for competition. As others have said, many/most serious accidents happen just doing something everyday at home. I buy the safest/highest standard hat I can, and use it every time I ride. If it ever got to the stage where I felt it was too old/scruffy for competion, then it is most certainly not good enough for protecting my head in every day riding either!

 

[Brownmare]

The 2 really serious accidents that I have had (broken back and concussion that lasted more than 6 months) both happened when I was doing nothing really 'special', no reason to expect any problems. With the head injury I cannot see how I would have survived had I not been wearing a safe and intact hat. I always say this when friends tell me 'oh I wear a hat if I'm jumping' or 'the horse is really safe', in my opinion it is just foolish to ride without this basic protection.

I agree. I know of one lady who was walking her horse back to the stables from the arena after a schooling session, the horse tripped and she fell off and ended up losing the use of the right side of her body!

Another, even sadder, was the previous owner of a house we bought who saw his (adult) daughter die in front of him in the yard when she mounted up to go for a pootle round the farm and the horse's hindlegs slipped under him throwing her backwards into the concrete and killing her instantly. He said she only ever wore a hat if she was riding on the roads.

My own mum was using a hat that was several years old when her horse was spooked by a speeding van and threw her into a wall. She had severe concussion but recovered well.... until 30 years later she started having seizures as a result of bony overgrowth at the site of the impact and needed surgery to remove it.

It's just not worth not using a fully functional hat however angelic the horse is or however safe the ride usually is.

 

[Lipglosspukka]

A girl on a local livery yard was walking her pony up the last little track to the yard, took her hat off (unsure why) and the pony spooked. She came off and died from the head injury.

That was probably some 8-10 years ago now but I will never forget it. I didn't know her personally but it did shake up the local equestrian community. She was just a teenager. Very sad.