Riding without a hat

[jaypeebee]

I love how you can take a joke!!

More to the point are you calling me names now???? Rude, and nasty????

Ill let you answer that. Do you think calling someone a "fuc*ing stupid numbskulled dic*head" is rude, nasty and judgemental? Or do you think calling someone a "fuc*ing stupid numbskulled dic*head" is acceptable?

 

[Sarah Sum1]

Ill let you answer that. Do you think calling someone a "fuc*ing stupid numbskulled dic*head" is rude, nasty and judgemental? Or do you think calling someone a "fuc*ing stupid numbskulled dic*head" is acceptable?

Oh grow up! everyone can see that it was a joke!! WHO?? did i call that?? noone, stop SH*T stirring and leave me alone. If you can't see that as a joke then you should step back and calm down. Now leave me alone.

ANd to answer your question NO i am not.

 

[Angel44]

I voted yes but I wouldn't now.... In South Africa none of us would ride with hats. We would hack out, school or even jump at home without our hats on. The only time we ever wore them was at a show. Looking back I can't believe how irresponsible we were, or how lucky we were that nothing happened to us! It makes me feel sick to think of what might have happened.

Funnily enough the thing that changed for me was becoming a parent - suddenly life was far too valuable to risk. I have ridden with a hat for the last 12 years and although in the beginning it felt uncomfortable, I wouldn't be without it now.

 

[somethingorother]

When i put never would and never will... i was forgetting the time i took a big ID to the field in a headcollar, bareback, no hat and leading 2 others. It felt kind of liberating. For about 5 seconds. Then i felt naked and vulnerable and stupid.

I wish my skull was made of metal. It would be nice to not have to wear a hat if i am honest. But my skull is made of relatively thin bone, and you don't even need to crack that to damage your brain, just the impact absorption of the hat can save your brain.

It's an individual decision, but it affects other people. Because when you're a drooling vegetable, someone else is going to have to feed you, wash you and wipe your Sh!tty a*se, and it's more than likely going to be those who you love most. You won't only ruin your life, but theirs, so do them a favour and put a hat on. Even if you don't care about your own head, i would hope that everyone had someone they cared about enough to not want to put them through grief and upset. I think anyone who doesn't care enough about those who love them to put a simple hat on their head, is pretty selfish tbh.

Life is dangerous enough, and unfortunate accidents happen. Add in dangerous sports which involve sitting on half a tonne of muscle with a mind of it's own and i think risk prevention is the least you should do. Accidents are a part of all aspects of life, but so is the strive to prevent them.

 

[jaypeebee]

Oh grow up! everyone can see that it was a joke!! WHO?? did i call that?? noone, stop SH*T stirring and leave me alone. If you can't see that as a joke then you should step back and calm down. Now leave me alone.

ANd to answer your question NO i am not.

I have been told that people who use multiple !!!!!s and ?????s in their forum speak are people who indicate strong feelings, loudness, excitability or anger. Normally it is children who use this type of writing. I only use one punctuation mark.

You called people who do not wear hats "fuc*ing stupid numbskulled dic*head"s. Surely you know that as it was you who wrote it.

 

[Sarah Sum1]

Look, please i don't want to argue, sorry for making you angry. I apologise. Can we end it here please.

 

[Spudlet]

I think it's interesting that lots of people said they have ridden without a hat but wouldn't now. Is that mainly people who rode without a hat when they were younger do we think, as lots of posters have said they did so when they were teenagers and thought they were invincible?

 

[Sarah Sum1]

To all those who do not wear hats. I was not aiming my silly swearing post at you personally, i was carrying on a joke from the above posts about a slogan that could be used. I would never call anyone anything of the sort and it was intended as a joke. If anyone was/is offended then i'm sorry. It was silly but not aimed at non hat wearers it was a joke between the above posters.

 

[jaypeebee]

Look, please i don't want to argue, sorry for making you angry. I apologise. Can we end it here please.

I am not angry in the least . Im not even arguing. You do not need to apologise to me as I do wear a hat when I ride . I was just putting forward a different point and stressing how often people make decisions which others may frown upon.

 

[Puppy]

It's an individual decision, but it affects other people. Because when you're a drooling vegetable, someone else is going to have to feed you, wash you and wipe your Sh!tty a*se, and it's more than likely going to be those who you love most. You won't only ruin your life, but theirs, so do them a favour and put a hat on. Even if you don't care about your own head, i would hope that everyone had someone they cared about enough to not want to put them through grief and upset. I think anyone who doesn't care enough about those who love them to put a simple hat on their head, is pretty selfish tbh.

Very well put!! Having had an inkling of what being somewhat disabled by a head injury is like, and having my mother and sister care for me during that time, I would consider myself incredibly selfish if I didn't take sensible precautions to protect myself, my head, and them from going through anything like that again!

 

[Flame_]

I've not read all the thread, but I won't miss my chance to annoy people.

When I had a horse I knew inside out and really trusted in any situation, I would happily ride hatless. When I'm in the same situation again, I'll sometimes ride hatless again.

 

[PaddyMonty]

Thought I'd be brave a post a pic of me riding hatless.
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[BBP]

I have certainly been guilty of choosing to ride without a hat in the past, Ive lost count of how many times i rode my pony in from the field without a hat, but I have had it brought home to me that that possibly wasn't the brightest thing to do.

On two occasions I removed my hat to get a photo (thinking it would be a much more 'romantic' image) - once when riding in California, once in New Zealand. The horse in California was fine that day, but a few days later another horse jumped the warm up fence behind him and he turned into a raging broncho, slamming me head first into the arena fence. New Zealand horse (having clearly not learned my lesson) I put my hat back on after the photo and 10 minutes later he put in three mahoosive joyful bucks whilst cantering by the river and I hit the floor and got dragged.

After that, I was the only trail guide who wore a crash hat out on the treks in NZ, and was mocked relentlessly by the Kiwis I worked with (I got as much stick off them for wearing it as people in the UK do for not wearing one). The ribbing stopped the day I was giving a raw broke 3 year old to take out on the trail, 5 minutes out he bolted across a road, slipped and we both slid along the road on out sides at high speed. My hat when I later took it off looked like someone had taken a cheesegrater to it, right down through the shell to the lining. I know for sure i would have lost a good chunk of my skull and probably my right ear.

Since then I have taken more care!

 

[LittleSoph]

I've not read all the thread, but I won't miss my chance to annoy people.

When I had a horse I knew inside out and really trusted in any situation, I would happily ride hatless. When I'm in the same situation again, I'll sometimes ride hatless again.

I haven't gotten involved in this argument and don't intend to say much more than this... but I feel I needed to tell you three small stories...

A friend of mine had had her horse for 9 years. She knew the horse well and trusted her. She was taking the mare out to the field. There was a combine harvester in the next field and it got a little close... the mare spooked to the side (not a spooky horse but I think we could forgive any horse for looking twice at a combine) my friend came off and woke up 20 minutes later on the floor, broken collar bone, cracked hat, pony escaped onto the roads...

Another friend had had her horse for 11 years... obviously knew the horse very well. They were walking out to the school and the horse tripped, went head over heals and landed on my friend. The horse did NOTHING wrong!

In both cases my friends had hats on that saved their lives without a doubt. Neither horses misbehaved or did anything outlandishly naughty. One simply fell and one just got scared by an unforeseen circumstance... I'm just trying to highlight that it isn't about how well you know your horse. These are animals, not machines, and they react to things and make mistakes that we can't always avoid, no matter how careful we are.

Just one more thing...
I had a friend at school who had horses. When we were 15 my other friend went to her house for the weekend. They were messing around with the pony in the field. The pony was an ancient little first ridden that didn't really do much other than the occasional mess around, as they were doing on this day. Pony was very well behaved 99% of the time. They only had one hat between them and were swapping on and off the pony. During one of the swap overs, my friend who owned the pony got on the without the hat (just hadn't yet swapped it over) and was apparently going to put it on when she was on...
Unfortunately the pony moved as she sat in the saddle and tripped forward. Didn't go all the way down but unseated my friend. She fell and hit her head on the hard ground.
We had a very moving memorial assembly that Monday back at school... I've never forgotten it... and that's how easy it is. One split second changed her families lives!

 

[Saucisson]

Quality photo JunoXV! Just felt the need to reply to this post to say that really.

Personally, I always wear a hat. There are two main reasons:-

1.I fall off a lot
2.In order to start riding lessons at 10 yrs old, I had to promise to my Mum that I'd always where a hat.

OH only wears a hat for competitions (because he has to). He has two reasons for not wearing a hat:-

1.He never falls off
2.He's a man

I'm not sure I can argue with his stone cold logic there but at the end of the day, he's been riding/competing for over 40 years so it's up to him.

Quite honestly though, disregarding the risk of head injuries from falling etc, I couldn't stand hacking out without it and getting thwacked in the head by trees all the time?

Don't like seeing kids/teens riding without hats too much either.........

 

[PaddyMonty]

Quality photo JunoXV!

Thnakyou. I'm very proud of my latest showjumper and expect great things from him round hickstead derby. Not sure he's the full 17.1hh he was sold as though.

 

[Kat]

my neighbours arab collapsed and died whilst out on a hack. heart attack. he was as bombproof as they come but he couldnt help dropping dead, rider still hit the floor...

I know of two people to whom that has happened, one escaped uninjured even though he was on the roads at the time. Sadly the other died.

 

[posie_honey]

used to never wear a hat unless competing (polo) or hunting
now i always wear a hat
lost a dear friend to a bad fall onto her head - a horrid wake up call as to how fragile we are...

 

[Capriole]

I think it's interesting that lots of people said they have ridden without a hat but wouldn't now. Is that mainly people who rode without a hat when they were younger do we think, as lots of posters have said they did so when they were teenagers and thought they were invincible?

yep that was me, the odd ride without a hat when i was a kid, after all nothing bad will ever happen and you think you will never get old when your 13, dont you, lol

 

[ZorroR]

Depends what im riding and wether its been worked or not. Stupid really because i should all the time. Is just laziness really and after seeing my trainer get concussion after falling without a hat i should know better!! DONT DO IT GUYS!

 

[_April_]

I absolutely DO judge people who don't wear a hat when riding - as either a bit thick or chavvy

It's natural selection at it's best really lol

 

[*hic*]

I think it's interesting that lots of people said they have ridden without a hat but wouldn't now. Is that mainly people who rode without a hat when they were younger do we think, as lots of posters have said they did so when they were teenagers and thought they were invincible?

I'm an old lady: when I learnt to ride it wasn't compulsory to wear hats on motorbikes, nor seatbelts in cars. When I passed my car test I wore a seatbelt because it gave a better impression to the examiner. We wore hats for shows, hunting, PC and riding lessons, other than that yes we children all had hats but we were still likely to get on the ponies in the field saddleless, bridleless and hatless and have races. I used to wear mine most of the time when hacking out on the road, but not always. Schooling in the field, with my green as grass youngster - probably not, later on when we got to grips with jumping and I used to see how high he could jump (over 4'9") - almost certainly not.

What brought it home to me was my daughter having a fall and landing on her head. Now, we live in the Fens and our field is mainly peat and it's reasonably soft to land on (I keep telling myself that anyway, it's hurt when I've come off on it though) but my daughter managed to hit her head on one of the very very few stones and put a hole in her hat. I dread to think what the damage would have been to her head without it.

So now I always wear a hat on the road but on very odd occasions, in the school, on my reliably sensible mare, I have been known to poddle round without a hat. We probably don't even get into canter on those days. Nowadays even if I'm just going to hop on something for a minute or two, that isn't the sensible girl, I go back to the tackroom and get my hat.

FWIW I wear a proper good quality motorcycle helmet when score collecting on a quad as well, although one of the great joys of my life used to be riding a bike with no hat.

 

[emma69]

I think age does play a part. As a kid / teenager I would muck around with the horses without a hat on, in the field / woods bareback, headcollers etc. I think we all did. My first riding hat was little more than velvet covered cardboard! However, when I started teaching I thought it important to set a better example to the children I was teaching than was set to me. I was lucky in that I never lost a childhood friend to a head injury - looking back a lot of what we did was just plain stupid and things could have ended very dangerously.

There is no such thing as a horse that is 100% - 99.9, sure, and they are a joy to ride, but I have seen a horse have a heart attack and drop dead during a flat work lesson, I've seen a placid horse suddenly rear with their rider (turned out after a PM to be a brain tumour). Horses can have lapses in judgement just like people can - how many of us have had a trip when we were just walking down a street? No, it is unlikely that a horse on a good surface will go all the way down, but a rider can be unseated, perhaps if they are distracted, adjusting tack etc.

I know people who have had serious head injuries from riding accidents - and I am fortunate enough to be able to say they were injured not killed, because they were wearing hats. I know someone who had the most horrific head injury, not from riding, but from an utterly 'couldn't see it coming in a million years' type accident, one at which they were not at all at fault, and that person lives with the side effects of that injury every day. If anyone doubts quite how bad a head injury can be, maybe pay a visit to a neurosurgery unit - they are very sombering things.

I wear a hat, even when it is 40 degrees outside - so being a 'bit hot' in the UK isn't really valid IMO (sure it gets sticky, but that is what a shower or a cold hose was invented for!) Yes, it is a personal choice whether you wear one or not as an adult, but just like people who choose not to wear a seat belt, why would you not decrease the risk of injury / death if you could. In cars, a seatbelt comes as standard, and even among the people I know who ride without a hat, I don't know one person who doesn't actually own a hat, so it can't be an excuse of the equipment not being available / too costly. For the record, I also look before I cross the street, remove toys from the top of the stairs, earth my plugs, wear shoes when mowing the lawn, refrain from drying my hair in the bath, and other, what I consider 'normal' things - there are enough things in life out to get you, injure you and kill you without giving them an advantage!

 

[muddy boots]

To all those who do not wear hats. I was not aiming my silly swearing post at you personally, i was carrying on a joke from the above posts about a slogan that could be used. I would never call anyone anything of the sort and it was intended as a joke. If anyone was/is offended then i'm sorry. It was silly but not aimed at non hat wearers it was a joke between the above posters.

Anyone sensible would know that. Really no need to apologise.

 

[_April_]

Anyone sensible would know that. Really no need to apologise.

but if they were sensible they would wear a hat, so....





I'm really sorry - I couldn't resist

 

[jessicabeau1]

IMO I think you should all get a life and worry about yourselves and not judging other peoples choices, especially you 'april' seen as you think they are chavvy or 'a bit thick' if they dont wear a hat! think you got your own f*cking issues!

 

[_April_]

IMO I think you should all get a life and worry about yourselves and not judging other peoples choices, especially you 'april' seen as you think they are chavvy or 'a bit thick' if they dont wear a hat! think you got your own f*cking issues!

so which one are you?




come on lighten up, I'm allowed an opinion surely. I don't care if you do/don't wear a hat - just wanted to give my viewpoint which is that in my opinion, just mine, people who don't wear a hat are either a bit dim or care too much about what they look like.

 

[benson21]

never ridden without one, never will. Not worth the risk.
I have only really scanned through the replies and it does stike me that the only replies on here that are coming across in their replies as really quite rude, swearing, and telling people to get a life are the people that dont wear a hat!! Hmmmm........
(note, I maybe wrong, as I say only just had a quick scan through the replies!)

 

[jessicabeau1]

so which one are you?




come on lighten up, I'm allowed an opinion surely xx

Im neither but obviously you are!

 

[SmallHunter]

Never have and never will. I had a grandmother who was far too scary to disagree with and would have dragged me off my pony if I'd ever got on without a hat so it's pretty much ingrained.