Thank god for my hat!!!

friesian80

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Thought Id upload a picture of my riding hat following my fall from Vel, if there is anyone out there who occasionally rides without wearing there hat please take a look at mine.
Id be dead if I had not have worn mine, no two ways about it!
DSC05185.jpg

This hat has a fixed peak but if I had been wearing a jockey skull with silk I think Id have broken my nose and scrapped the skin off my face as you can see on the side of the peak its been shredded

Also just before I went to ride that morning I had recieve my brand new Ariat jacket in the post which I had worn, the nice ambulance men shredded it! :mad:
DSC05182.jpg
 

friesian80

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My horse had a spook whilst out hacking on the road, gave a buck very unexpected by me and I went flying :(

I cant really remember falling off and how I fell but ended up lying in the middle of the road unable to move, thankfully the road is very quiet I was worried I would get run over as I was wearing all black (had covered my horse in hi-viz but didnt anticipate I would infact end up apart from him).
Thankfully a nice Hydro Electric man stopped and came to see me and phoned an ambulance (my leg was at a very strange angle and obviously i was very shaken up.

My horse ran home, we were in fact 2 minutes from the house and a friend who had been out for a hack noticed him on his own at the house tacked up so saw to him.

Anyway ambulance came after about 40 mins by this time I was cold and getting a morphine drip in me was impossible as my veins had colapsed.

I went through one and a half cylinders of gas and air then they decided to straighten my leg, this is the most excruciating thing I have ever experienced.

My hip had been dislocated and I have a fracture in my pelvis so im on total bed rest for 2 months.

A very scary experience but I have to remember how lucky I have been and am so thankful for my hat as I have mentioned I would for sure not be alive without it!
 

HollyB66

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I hope your recovery is speedy, it's good you can see the positive side that it could have been so much worse - but ouch - poor you.

Best wishes HB x
 

Hollie15

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Hope your ok, sounds like a horrible experience!

Definately ALWAYS wear your hat!!! I work in Brain Injury....it is SO NOT worth the risk of not wearing it. You only have one head and one brain, look after it, wear a hat!!
 

friesian80

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Thanks for the best wishes

Im really impressed with this hat, I was thrown about 10 feet over the road but the hat didnt budge and inch on my head and I had absolutely no head or neck pain afterwards.

I know many dont agree with a fixed peak but in this case it totally protected my face and nose and did not hurt my neck at all.
 

jaijai

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Sorry to hear about your accident :(- pleased though that you are okay. :)Totally agree withyou with regards to hat wearing - I see so many people riding without one. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
 

libertylou

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Today I arrived at the yard, saddle and bridle in tow. I groomed the mare and tacked up only to realise I had forgotten my hat..... :rolleyes: very annoying!

Anywho I actually debated riding out without it, after several minutes I woke up, told myself to stop being so silly and we walked out in hand.....
 

friesian80

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Today I arrived at the yard, saddle and bridle in tow. I groomed the mare and tacked up only to realise I had forgotten my hat..... :rolleyes: very annoying!

Anywho I actually debated riding out without it, after several minutes I woke up, told myself to stop being so silly and we walked out in hand.....

Libertylou very sensible decision, I bet after my thread your quite relieved! x
 

Fiagai

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Thanks for the best wishes

Im really impressed with this hat, I was thrown about 10 feet over the road but the hat didnt budge and inch on my head and I had absolutely no head or neck pain afterwards.

I know many dont agree with a fixed peak but in this case it totally protected my face and nose and did not hurt my neck at all.

Glad you are feeling better! btw you were given moprhine - you aint goint to feel anything with that stuff...

I usually feel the worst a couple of days after a fall!
 

friesian80

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They only got the morphine drip in once I was in the ambulance and had warmed up enough for my veins to be acessable :(

Tbh I had the max dose I could have........and I was still pain scoring at around 8
 

Dubsie

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DId you get any grazes etc to your arms? If not I'd def write to Ariat and say how well it stood up to the fall (with pics) and protected you, but comment it was a shame about the ambulance men ruining it and ask if you could be cheeky and see if they could possibly give you a discount off a new one!
 

Spotsrock

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DId you get any grazes etc to your arms? If not I'd def write to Ariat and say how well it stood up to the fall (with pics) and protected you, but comment it was a shame about the ambulance men ruining it and ask if you could be cheeky and see if they could possibly give you a discount off a new one!
My instructor got new mountain horse boots this way after they saved his leg after a hunting accident. Worth asking.
 

ISHmad

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Thank goodness you are okay. Wishing you a straightforward recovery and hope that you are not in too much pain this morning.
 

pip6

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Hope you feel better soon. Accidents happen so easily, friend last year broke her pelvis in 6 places after her very quiet horse for some reason reared up & went over backwards landing on her. Don't think anything bar personal experience will change the mind of non-hat wearers, but the main thing is you are alive with full faculties intact, the rest will heal & you'll be back riding in the summer.
 

Scoutie

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Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Another thought about hats, I see to many people wearing a hat but not doing up the chin strap including some of my friends. I was out hacking with a friend a couple of weeks ago who usually does not do up the chin strap, for some reason they decided on that day just before a long canter to do it up. Just as well as they came off smashing their head on the ground. The hat certainly prevented serious injury but had the chin strap not been done up it would have come off as they sailed through the air and I hate to think what could have happened.
 

Kenzo

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Flipping heck, just goes to show doesn't it what can happen, even from a what can be a usual (or unsual) silly spook and a buck, if you land awkward, not only that but landing on the road as well.

I've been thrown a few times out on hacks and my head's taken a good bang on the back and yep I just felt like you, thank god I had a hat on! and nother reason why I choose to wear my BP when out hacking...plus it keeps me warm:D

All the best for a speedi recovery (((hugs)))
 

friesian80

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DId you get any grazes etc to your arms? If not I'd def write to Ariat and say how well it stood up to the fall (with pics) and protected you, but comment it was a shame about the ambulance men ruining it and ask if you could be cheeky and see if they could possibly give you a discount off a new one!

This has been suggest to me and I think I will Im also currently trying to find an email address for Champion hats (the one on their website under contacts doesnt seem to work and my email keeps coming back as failed :( )

I want to thank them for the quality of their hats and to let them know how well it protected my head.

I am covered in scrapes, my knees and lower back were shredded but my Jodpurs didnt rip at all so they did provide me with protection, which again shows how important horse riding gear really is.

I had my Ariat grasameres on but mum thankfully pulled them off when we were in the ambulance before the ambulance men or nurses had a chance to damage them, good thinking mum!
 
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friesian80

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Thank you so much for the best wishes, it lovely to have so much support as such a new member to the forum.

Kenzo ive been for ages wondering about getting a BP, ive never owned one but will be purchasing one for future hacks, I dont think it would have minimised my injuries in this particular fall as im broken in the hip/pelvis area, but it could just as easy have been my spine which took the brunt of the fall.

To me riding out without doing up the chin strap defeats the whole purpose of wearing one, im not sure it would stay on your head if you were thrown off. :(
 

MrsHutt

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Hope you feel better very soon and everything heals nicely!

I wouldn't even consider riding without a hat, and I am getting more and more that I wear it all the time when round horses (nothing in particular, just a general safety awareness, I guess).

Wearing a hat with the strap undone is pretty useless, I would suggest, although I can understand that when it's all hot and sweaty (lovely!) ;)

Just thank your lucky stars that your outcome was so good and fingers crossed that Ariat and Champion appreciate your good publicity with a nice 'freebie'! :D
 
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