Professional dressage rider - no hat?!

[Cortez]

For me, I just can’t see what you gain by not wearing one. What is the benefit? Some safety measures have significant drawbacks, but now with the huge range of hats on offer, I just don’t get why you wouldn’t wear one. Obviously riding is a dangerous sport, and you can’t legislate for all accidents. You take a risk just getting on the horse. But I don’t see why that means you wouldn’t want to take a simple measure to reduce that risk just a little bit? It’s been totally ingrained in me that getting in the saddle requires a hat, I’d feel totally vulnerable without it.

I don't wear a hat BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO. The "totally ingrained" part of your statement above is key; I haven't been inculcated to believe that I will instantly die if I get on a horse without safety gear on. My lived experience has led me to the knowledge that this is not so. If I happen to fall off on my bonce there is a higher risk of me hurting my head, but it is a risk that I am happy to take. If I am doing something that carries a higher risk of me falling off on me bonce, then I will wear one.

Judging by my recent performance walking down the street (I've tipped over twice in the past week: bird poo & a piece of plastic) I would be better off wearing full body armour at all times.

 

[JFTDWS]

Judging by my recent performance walking down the street (I've tipped over twice in the past week: bird poo & a piece of plastic) I would be better off wearing full body armour at all times.

I spend a lot of time walking into door frames, sometimes, spectacularly, head first. I'm thinking of demanding that all door frames are covered in foam to prevent injury going forward. Nobody cares about idiots like me with no spatial awareness

 

[Follysmum]

I do think it’s pretty irresponsible not to protect yourself as much as you can when riding especially when the nhs have to come and scrape you off the floor. I know Of 2 people that didn’t wear a hat and fell, one is dead the other was in a coma for months.

After 50 yrs of riding I had my worst fall at a walk when horse tripped and fell, my hat saved my head. I still have a slight dent in my head, my hat has a huge one. You can all say I’m a good rider, my horse is bombproof. It can happen at any time. Please be sensible.

 

[Cortez]

I do think it’s pretty irresponsible not to protect yourself as much as you can when riding especially when the nhs have to come and scrape you off the floor. I know Of 2 people that didn’t wear a hat and fell, one is dead the other was in a coma for months.

After 50 yrs of riding I had my worst fall at a walk when horse tripped and fell, my hat saved my head. I still have a slight dent in my head, my hat has a huge one. You can all say I’m a good rider, my horse is bombproof. It can happen at any time. Please be sensible.

I know of two people (actually more than two...) who are also dead and in a coma, and they were wearing hats (one for the first time: she's the dead one). The NHS will not have to scrape me off anything, I don't live in your country. I am very sensible (possibly as a result of the latter situation ). In over 50 years of riding I have had many falls, including at walk, and have hurt myself a bit (I've also done this skiing): riding can be dangerous but I repeat: it's a risk I'm willing to take.

 

[Follysmum]

We all have our own views and opinions and that’s great, I really am not preaching, just safety conscious

I wish you all the best

 

[Leandy]

Really, life is not risk free. It would be so boring if it was. Personal choice is increasingly underrated it seems in favour of a trend to seek to impose one's own views, standards and risk tolerance on others in the arrogant belief you know better than they do what is good for them. I'll weigh things up and make my own decisions thanks. I still maintain one is more likely to die or be injured in a car crash on the way to the stables than when there. No idea if that is actually true but we seem to be increasingly unable to assess comparative risks. We give undue weight to exceptionally unlikely scenarios (the risk of vaccinations causing catastrophic damage) and accept far riskier activities as an everyday part of life without a thought (crossing the road, getting in the car). Perhaps we should wear our riding hats and body protectors in the car too? It would be safer that way.

 

[TPO]

I think this is really hard because everyone's opinion is based on their own experiences and external influences and those opinions are also subject to change!

I grew up jumping on my ponies bareback and headcollar-less in the field and bombing about hatless along with bareback/hatless rides in from the field etc. Now I'm terrified to put my niece or nephew anywhere near the horses without hats on. They aren't particularly horsey so it's not a big deal but I think it's a shame for children to miss out on the fun that I had being carefree and having the best time with my ponies. ETA - as far as I'm aware my mum wasn't trying to kill me by allowing this and was quite fond of me. Growing up in the 60s/70s most of her experiences were hatless or with one of those old school paper mache hats with an elastic strap!

I went to work on cattle stations in outback Australia when I was 20. People wore Akubra's (like Aussie Stetsons) and we were starting/backing feral youngsters that were mustered in and the work horses were all semi feral with a buck in them (undoubtedly lots of factors causing that). Cattle would run at you, snakes in the grass would spook the horses, feral horses would go for ridden horses when being mustered...I got dumped, hatless onto sunbaked rock hard ground, for those reasons. I had one bad concussion where I didn't know where I was and couldn't remember the previous weekend, just one of those things <shrugs>. I got a lot more beat up working feral cattle in the cattle yards!

When I came home I rode hatless for schooling or riding around the fields on the farm but put a hat on for roadwork and jumping. I clearly knew it all and was a highly skilled individual having ridden the bombscares and sharp horses that I had...<tongue firmly in cheek>.

A lot of western riders don't wear hats over here, most of the "propaganda" comes from the US and the majority is helmet-less. However there have been a few crashes with older, experienced rodeo competitors and some steer wrestlers, ropers and barrel racers have started wearing helmets, possibly even some reiners too (fast dressage). Reining is an FEI sport so I think they will all need hats in line with the new rules so I don't know if that will have a impact on the average rider.

Courtney King-Dye does a lot for Helmet Awareness after suffering a brain injury getting on/walking her dressage horse who slipped and left her with life altering injuries as she wasn't wearing a hat. On the other hand I know someone who was competing in a cattle event, generally a helmetless sport, wearing a helmet and when she had a fall the helmet went back and also cut off her oxygen. She was severely mentally and physically disabled; no one can say for sure but without a helmet she *might* have faired better. Life is just a roll of the dice...

I wear a hat now but when I'm back in Oz (6wks today!) one of my friends is talking about mustering some of his cattle in and I'll be on a strange horse, helmetless in a heartbeat with no hesitation at all to get back out on station work. Plus it's also over 35 degrees C and a cap/akubra is 100x better to be wearing than a hat in those temps/that sun.

Yes the sensible answer is to always wear a hat but then the sensible answer is to have one on 24/7 around horses. There was a spate of fatalities with people getting kicked in the head turning horses out and I've seen a lot more "near misses" lunging then ridden. Heck some folk are more at risk because they've not taught their horses to safely lead/tie up/load/not bite their face then others are riding helmetless.

Adults have to be responsible for their own children's welfare and be their role model. I don't know what rider/trainer this thread is referring to but there are plenty of hat wearing dressage riders if the need for a hat wearing dressage role model is essential. What you do as an adult is on you but it is wise to do as much as is practicably reasonable to negate risk to life/health/wellbeing while around horses. Nothing in life is risk free or without potential consequences but that's the price you pay for not living in a cotton wool bubble I guess??

 

[Bernster]

Is riding insurance affected if you don’t wear a hat?

 

[TPO]

Is riding insurance affected if you don’t wear a hat?

I've never had it but I'd imagine that if you had a rider policy then yes wearing a hat at all times when mounted (possibly stricter restrictions than that) would be a requirement.

I would imagine that business/property insurance would be affected if you hired out your arena or taught someone on your premises. It's been the clause in livery yard policies that I've seen and individual business insurance for freelance trainers

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Is riding insurance affected if you don’t wear a hat?

On BHS approved yards staff have to wear safety helmets and other safety equipment as directed, otherwise the yards liability insurance is invalidated in the case of an incident.

 

[AUB]

When I was young and stupid, I never wore a hat for dressage. Now I'm older and wiser and always do. It has nothing to do with being an experienced rider or having stickability, IMO. I've seen a 4-year old have an aneurysm and just... die under it's rider. And I've also seen a horse have an aorta rupture under rider, also not a pretty sight. And that can happen to pros and amateurs alike. It actually did happen to finnish GP rider Terhi Stegars in 2017 (http://www.eurodressage.com/2017/11/04/terhi-stegars-axis-tsf-passed-away ).

So for that reason, I use a hat. Of course it's no guarantee, but hats do save lives and it might as well be mine.

 

[Ambers Echo]

I have ridden without a hat, I used to do so quite often for comfort reasons: wearing a woolly hat in windy cold winter weather is more comfortable to me and when it's boiling hot there is nothing more lovely than feeling the breeze in your hair.

This. I grew up in a no-hat culture and for a long time thought nothing of hopping on without one. Especially if I was wearing a woolly hat and did not want to get cold. I also hate hat hair and stinky-hat syndrome. I would always wear one on Amber. But I'd still probably hop on Dolly once in a while without if mine was not handy for whatever reason. It's a percentages game. Of course accidents can and do happen anywhere but they are far more likely on some horses and in some settings during some activities than others. So if I wear a hat in all higher risk situations, on all higher risk horses and about 90% of the rest of the time then I consider that perfectly reasonable.

I actually have a harder time justifying eventing at all with kids and a business to run than I do riding hatless occasionally.

 

[hattie2525]

I think it is a choice, generally I am pro hat, as a child I went to PC and was taught to always wear a hat so I did. However when I worked at a stunt yard no one ever wore a hat for anything so I chose not to as well, I know wearing a hat is safer but I rode 6 a day 6 days a week for 3 years and no harm came to me. In fact the worst concussion I ever sustained is when I fell and landed flat on my feet on a very firm wax track surface and the impact shot straight up my spine and properly scrambled my brains, I was wearing a hat in this case but due to the nature of the fall it really didn't make a difference. We are very pro hats in the UK which is great but as others have said particularly in Europe or the US it is more relaxed. Lets be glad we have high tech effective headgear if we want to wear one and the free choice not to if we don't.

 

[JFTDWS]

Heck some folk are more at risk because they've not taught their horses to safely lead/tie up/load/not bite their face then others are riding helmetless.

I wear a hat for the vast majority of riding I do, but I certainly didn't when I was younger, and I still hop on bareback to hitch a lift up the yard or down the field if I feel like it.

Risk awareness is actually really interesting. There are studies with cyclists which suggest they engage in more risky behaviours if they're wearing PPE. I do think riders in the UK obsess over hats (and other PPE), and imbue them with greater protective properties than they possess - this is particularly an issue with body protectors (or worse, with the misnomer of back protector). I'm not saying that's a reason to not use PPE - it's just something that people need to be aware of when they do use it, and when others choose not to use it.

I also think TPO's point above is really important, and goes even further than that - people are more at risk if they overhorse themselves, if they don't take their own development (skills, fitness etc) seriously, if they don't manage their horses well, or if they don't train them well. Loads and loads of people in the UK seem to suck at a lot of these things, but we don't blame them for it the way we blame people who don't wear a hat. Personally, I think that's a bit bonkers.

 

[Follysmum]

I do think when you have had a bad fall it will obviously make you think twice. Many of my friends and family kept telling me I should wear a body protector or air vest, I really didn’t think it was necessary as I’m not jumping and didn’t think I was at such a risk. Will I wear one now ? Yes probably. I want to do all I can to never feel paralysed again, I was lucky it was only temporarily and I’m getting better but it certainly makes you think more about safety. Most of our cars have air bags and we wear a seatbelt so why should riding a horse be any different for us.

 

[JFTDWS]

I definitely don't want a seatbelt on a horse

 

[Follysmum]

I definitely don't want a seatbelt on a horse

? I need a parachute

 

[daffy44]

I grew up riding bareback and hatless, but now I do always wear a hat, but I think its an adults choice as to what they do. I do teach on my own yard, and I do insist that all my clients wear a hat.

[QUOTE="JFTDWS,


I also think TPO's point above is really important, and goes even further than that - people are more at risk if they overhorse themselves, if they don't take their own development (skills, fitness etc) seriously, if they don't manage their horses well, or if they don't train them well. Loads and loads of people in the UK seem to suck at a lot of these things, but we don't blame them for it the way we blame people who don't wear a hat. Personally, I think that's a bit bonkers.[/QUOTE]

Totally agree with this.

 

[ester]

Re cyclists it is often cited that car drivers perceive those with helmets to be safer, so pass closer/make contact more frequently. Which is why the stats say wearing a helmet is not a good idea.

 

[SpringArising]

I always wear a hat. And more recently I've been wearing it to lunge in and even lead in - my horse can have a jump about and there have been a few close calls. I don't know if it will always save me, but there's a damn good chance of my head being better protected with it on than off.

I've fallen off and smacked my head a few times and it was damn painful - I can't imagine how much worse it would have been or felt without one.

I also don't want those who love me to have to wipe my arse for me for the rest of mine, and their, lives.

 

[JFTDWS]

Re cyclists it is often cited that car drivers perceive those with helmets to be safer, so pass closer/make contact more frequently. Which is why the stats say wearing a helmet is not a good idea.

That's interesting, a third party variation on the phenomenon I mentioned above

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I'm very glad I was wearing my hat this morning - as I smacked my head on a door frame..... whilst getting a turnout rug out, saved a right royal walloping! ?

 

[Tiddlypom]

TFF, joking aside, do remember that if it has had a hard blow, you may need to replace your hat.

 

[TPO]

TFF, joking aside, do remember that if it has had a hard blow, you may need to replace your hat.

Just to jump on that point I was on a yard with a fully paid up member of the "everyone must wear a hat and only complete idiots don't" brigade (fair enough) but I personally witnessed her drop her hat on the ground out of her car and from a high shelf on the tack room onto a concrete floor and still proceed to use it. She'd have been as well with the wooly version! So not everyone is truly practising what they preach

Having dropped a brand new hat the very same day I took it home I know how expensive being clumsy can be! Hat went in the bin and new one was purchased.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

TFF, joking aside, do remember that if it has had a hard blow, you may need to replace your hat.

Yup, going to tack shop tomorrow.... didnt really need to spend any this month, but arrived at yard this afternoon to find B Fuzzy had destroyed her turnout, the only 50g I have, grr!

 

[Tiddlypom]

Oh, boo, expensive times. I’ve dropped a (thankfully fairly old) HS1 onto concrete before and I said many a rude word about that.

 

[NinjaPony]

I don't wear a hat BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO. The "totally ingrained" part of your statement above is key; I haven't been inculcated to believe that I will instantly die if I get on a horse without safety gear on. My lived experience has led me to the knowledge that this is not so. If I happen to fall off on my bonce there is a higher risk of me hurting my head, but it is a risk that I am happy to take. If I am doing something that carries a higher risk of me falling off on me bonce, then I will wear one.

Judging by my recent performance walking down the street (I've tipped over twice in the past week: bird poo & a piece of plastic) I would be better off wearing full body armour at all times.

I wasn’t having a dig at you, I’m genuinely curious now to know why it is you don’t want to wear one, because as far as I know the drawbacks are massively outweighed by the advantages. I suppose I just posted because I’m interested in finding out why it is that people who don’t wear one, don’t want to wear one. FWIW I don’t wear one because I think I’m going to die every time I’ve got on a horse- my lived experience of my own (8 years and counting without a fall touch wood!) suggests I would be fine without one. But I just feel the benefits of wearing it outweigh any negatives.

 

[Mule]

I'm very sensitive to heat so on really hot days I wasn't inclined to wear a helmet. Last year I bought one that has lots of vents, a removable liner and none of the soft inside padding. It's ideal because it's never too hot to wear.

I actually came off recently at a walk. I was riding a 4 year old and another rider lost control and cantered almost right in to the back of my horse. Mine did two enormous bucks and deposited me on the ground?
My head got a fair whack off the ground. I was fine (soft surface) but it does show how accidents can happen when you least expect it. I'm very happy to have discovered my nice comfortable helmet, particularly as I'm accident prone ?

 

[doodle]

I’m actually am getting to think it is people’s own choice. I always wear one. The worst fall I have had was off the safest horse I had. She tripped, I went straight over her head. I was wearing a hat but still gave myself a nasty injury. If no hat I dread to think.

 

[ester]

Oh, boo, expensive times. I’ve dropped a (thankfully fairly old) HS1 onto concrete before and I said many a rude word about that.

Frank stuck his bloody hoof in my air rider and proceeded to walk around with it on