On the subject of hats...

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kit279

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.. I wouldn't normally post this but I had to attend a truly horrendous trauma call last night that absolutely put the fear of God into me.

Please do wear a hat when you ride. I know you think it will not happen to you but without being able to say too much, you just wouldn't want to have seen what we saw last night.

:(
 
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Oh no :(.

I hope you and your teams intervention have helped the person on the way to recovery and they suffer no permanent damage.

I do think your post will be in vain though :(, some people just won't/don't want to listen to the voice of reason.
 
Oh dear sounds pretty horrendous! I would say that I hope the person is ok and on the road to recovery, however the tone of your post would suggest otherwise, and if that is the case then I am very sorry.

I always wear a hat and its been drilled into me from an early age to never ride without a hat or gloves (saw a horse bolt and someone skin their palms on the reins) but unfortunately people will still ride without a hat no matter what!

Until top riders are seen schooling/riding with hats some people will follow suit and I have heard people say 'its ok it won't happen to me, I trust my horse' but even the best riders and well schooled horses can still have mishaps.
 
Thanks for posting this, sorry to hear there has been a serious incident. Thoughts to those affected and also hope that you are OK too, it must be so frightening to see these things first hand.
 
Thanks for posting although I fear nothing will persuade the non-hat-wearing brigade to get off their high horses (no pun intended) and take responsibility for themselves. (and I have ridden without a hat when I was younger and foolish but never again - I love life too much now!).

I'm sorry you had to see what you did, and for the person's family and friends who will have to cope with the upset and trauma.
 
The thing about hats these days is that they're so light & comfy that you completely forget that you're wearing one. I once got on without my hat, didn't notice til I got to the gate & v nearly didn't bother going back cos I was only schooling up the field & I cba taking my hair out of a ponytail.

I got the hat, grumbling away to myself, then while I was schooling, the horse slipped when jumping (a total accident) went over, I went flying and whacked my head hard enough to actually crack my hat. I walked away from that one with only a bit of a headache.

I was maybe 23 then & I'm 41 now, & I think of that day whenever I get the feeling that it's too much trouble to go back in the house to get my hat.

V sorry you had to witness something awful.

T x
 
I do hope this post makes at least one person reconsider and wear a hat.

It's hard to convey how frustrated it makes me to see people taking risks when I've had a bad head injury and have to live with the constant pain and impact it's had on my life.
 
Oh no :(

FWIW I didn't always used to wear a hat (when riding bareback across the field in a halter for example!) but I always do now, in fact I really need a new one, and will be buying a new hat this year, as mine must be too old by now. :o
 
Puppy, I couldn't agree more. I don't think anyone really appreciates how much damage it is possible to do, from even a small knock to the head and this was catastrophic. It was extremely sobering stuff and working at the regional trauma centre I'm beginning to appreciate just how many of these accidents there are. I'm sure none of them expected to get injured and all of them would have worn a hat if they had known what was coming. I know people say it is their choice and it definitely is. But I don't think until you've seen first hand what the consequences are that you can make a totally informed decision. Let's just say i met every surgeon in the hospital last night.
 
:( I think it's something we've all done in the past but the though gives me chills now. It doesn't sound like a happy ending for the person you saw :(
 
:( :( :( sounds very very bad.

i used to ride without a hat sometimes, now i would never never do so, even on the quietest donkey on the planet.
this makes very sobering reading:
http://www.riders4helmets.com/2011/...ugh-and-changes-who-you-are-by-brita-theriot/
i guess she's one of the very lucky ones - she survived, she can still do a lot of things... but now she's a totally different person. that's really really tough, on her and her loved ones. We can't imagine what it's like.
Courtney King-Dye did a speech recently and described how much effort it is for her just to pick something up. The fact that she can't have her hair long any more because she can't put it in a pony tail. We can't imagine... and they're the lucky ones, relatively speaking...
 
Completely agree. I have never ridden without a hat and never will, even on my calm mare, it's not a risk i'm willing to take. Also throughout my riding career i have always had my hat checked regularly to make sure it still fits and change it if needed. Sometimes an ill-fitting hat can cause problems too.
 
Maybe riders should be shown pictures, you know like how the police do when they visit schools to talk about drink driving?

Sounds like bad news all round Kit :(

I noticed on my local BBC news that a rider had been flown to London with severe head and spinal injuries. Just don't get why people take the risk I really don't :(
 
It would have been completely inappropriate but I wish I could have taken a cautionary photo so people could actually SEE what it means to have a bad accident.

There was a different case a while back that I saw and to see someone young with a GCS of 3, intubated in ambulance with ENT siphoning blood from both nostrils having broken almost every skull bone possible and a pelvic binder to stop the patient bleeding out while surgeons discuss whether to remove most of the bowel because the pelvic fractures have perforated their colon... I didn't think I'd see a worse case TBH.
 
kit279 said:
It would have been completely inappropriate but I wish I could have taken a cautionary photo so people could actually SEE what it means to have a bad accident.

There was a different case a while back that I saw and to see someone young with a GCS of 3, intubated in ambulance with ENT siphoning blood from both nostrils having broken almost every skull bone possible and a pelvic binder to stop the patient bleeding out while surgeons discuss whether to remove most of the bowel because the pelvic fractures have perforated their colon... I didn't think I'd see a worse case TBH.
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Jesus :(
 
In fairness a hat doesn't protect your pelvis. Sounds like two absolutely horrific incidents anyway. I do wonder if video nasties might be more effective in changing young rider's behaviour than campaigning for pros to wear hats. I don't remember a childhood watching what pro riders had on their heads but I certainly remember some of the videos we saw at school that advised not playing on railways/ electricity substations etc
 
armchair_rider said:
In fairness a hat doesn't protect your pelvis. Sounds like two absolutely horrific incidents anyway. I do wonder if video nasties might be more effective in changing young rider's behaviour than campaigning for pros to wear hats. I don't remember a childhood watching what pro riders had on their heads but I certainly remember some of the videos we saw at school that advised not playing on railways/ electricity substations etc
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If I'm honest I've never seen a young rider without a hat, on my yard its very much the older riders who ride without.
 
Not wearing a hat is madness. Utter madness.
I was pleased to notice in H&H that a fair few prominent dressage riders are now wearing hats instead of top hats for their tests. If Carl Hester doesn't feel "embarrassed" by wearng a hat, there really is no excuse for the rest of us!
 
I consider this every week when i watch 24 hrs in a and e. There always seems to be people who have come of a bike and have quite bad head traumas, some wear a hat, some don't. If it is that easy to come off something without a brain that is smaller than a horse and cause that damage, and see the nightmare it causes everyone around you, then, putting a hat on isnt actually that bad.....
 
Sharon White's video on wearing her hat all the time
 (Plus it has footage of my horse, common sense plus my beautiful boy, what's not to love!)

With modern technology there really is no excuse. I rarely ride anymore (breed them and let pro's do the hard stuff :D) but every time I do I wear a helmet, and whether it's comfort or age I do sometimes forget to take it off, and wander into the house still wearing it!
 
wits end said:
With modern technology there really is no excuse. I rarely ride anymore (breed them and let pro's do the hard stuff :D) but every time I do I wear a helmet, and whether it's comfort or age I do sometimes forget to take it off, and wander into the house still wearing it!
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I once got in the car with my hat on and drove all the way home - I must have looked a right sight :D

I have had a serious head injury - not from riding, I was dragged while leading, but it was not pretty and I was pretty much scalped - 7 surgeries later I look normal but it was 4 years of constant pain and balloons in my head and scalp rotations and skin stretching - and that was without any brain damage - I was lucky. I would never have ridden before without a hat and I wont now :)
 
I love my hat, it's like underwear to me - you're crazy if you go out without it on :)

Sorry you had to witness something like that, I support people's right to choose but please remember those who are faced with you if it goes wrong :(
 
Oh no, sounds like a horrific accident :(

I think that any picture showing someone without a hat should not be published, I know H&H has a little comment saying 'they would always recommend wearing a hat' but maybe they should make a policy to only ever publish photos of people with hats on. there was a comment recently that someone lost their hat during a prize giving - I'm very happy I'm female and don't feel the need to remove my hat - always seems a bit bonkers with crowds clapping/spotlights etc.
 
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