Safety first! recommendations for hats and stirrups please..

tobiano1984

tobiano1984

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After having my second fall from my youngster last week, landing on my head and getting dragged AGAIN, I've decided to reassess my equipment!

I've always been paranoid about getting dragged, partly because my aunt was dragged down the road for miles and it's given me nightmares - but for some reason, having never experienced it before in the various falls I've had, both times I've fallen of my youngster I've been dragged across the school - despite riding on my toes!

Can anyone recommend safety stirrups? The Sprenger ones seem very expensive, what about the bent leg ones?

I'm also looking for a new hat as I landed on my old one, and anyway it was a pretty unhelpful show-style hat so I want to get one of the modern ones now! I tried on the JTE Sprint Excel, and it fitted well.

Any recommendations/ones to be avoided would be very welcome - I'd like to try and spend under £150 if possible, but safety is a priority :-)
 
Hi, bent leg stirrups are great and stop your foot from getting caught up - most riding schools use them as they are solid and theres no need to replace rubbers. You can pick them up new for about 20-25 pounds.

As for hats - i use a Champion jockey skull - paid about 80 pounds and from bitter experience it does the job very well.
 
It might be worth searching the forum as there have been a few threads on the subject, but my personal view is that bent leg irons are incredibly dangerous, and the best and safest thing is the stirrup cages which attach to a normal pair of stirrups.

The worst fall I ever had involved being dragged by bent leg irons, and the worst experience as a mum was watching my son being dragged by his Peacock (rubber band) irons. That was when I invested in the cages and I am now much more relaxed watching the kids ride. I'll find a link for you.
 
Regarding hats, or perhaps we should call them "helmets". I'd always advise going to a BETA retailer who has a BETA trained helmet fitter. Don't be frightened to ask to see the fitter's certificate for helmet fitting.

The problem is that different brands of helmets seem to have different fits.

You might be interested in watching this video (The safety implications of having an incorrectly fitting helmet):

http://www.riders4helmets.com/2012/...rectly-fitting-helmet-roy-burek-charles-owen/

I remember (was it last year?) that Horse and Hound visited a major show with BETA and found a high percentage of helmets didn't fit properly therefore reducing their effectiveness in a fall.

Forgive me for having a B in my bonnet regarding the terminology. I always think it's quite interesting that in the horse world we tend to call helmets "hats" mainly due to common usage, because that's what we all say!

The truth is, that today's riding helmet is produced after a lot of research. There is no doubt that riding helmets save lives. The manufacturers are now moving on to see what they can do about also reducing concussion. The resulting condition which is often underestimated.

"Riding hat" or "Skull cap" using the word hat and cap seem to refer to fashion items or something to keep your head warm. Nothing could be further from the truth
 
For hats I love my Gatehouse HS1, very comfy and practical. I use it for everyday and XC keeping my velvet one for SJ and dressage.

From a safety point of view it has been great too. I had a bad fall hunting a couple of months ago and was completely knocked out, I don't remeber a thing but a friend told me my horse had a rotational fall after putting his foot in a rabbit hole. I'm sure I got off much better between this hat and my point 2, the only damage was a couple of weeks of concussion and forgetfulness.
 
Really agree with getting the hat fitted correctly. The shop I got mine from made me walk about for a few minutes wearing each one to make sure they were correct and comfy. Left to my own devices I would have chosen one, which was in the fitters opinion, too large. Maybe consider a body protector too if you don't already have one. I started to wear mine all the time after I broke my collarbone. I don't even notice I have it on and riding without seems strange. Take care :)
 
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