What do YOU think?

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aimeejay

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My friend rides her 15 yr old cob without a hat, this cob bein a total plodalong nd tbh does not have the energy to do anything naughty. I know that you can 'never predict a horse' but do you think its acceptable to ride without a hat in this case, btw by ride I mean simple groundwork. I know many people on the farm tut at her but she has been with this horse since he was only 5 months old!

What do you think about it?
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I always ride with a hat, I've had my mare 14 years and know her inside out and she is plod along but it's just not worth the risk IMO. She could slip or trip or anything. I feel weird without one, like not wearing a seatbelt.
 
I think it's a personal choice, if she isn't bother what shape her skull and brain are then ride without a hat.

If she likes having the ability to feed herself and walk around the yard then wearing a hat would be the sensible option.

She's 15, I'm sure she knows everything there is to know about horses and safety and fully understands all the hazards around her. Great thing about teenagers, they are so full of wisdom from their many years on this earth.
 
Personally I would NEVER ride without a hat. Apart from the fact I DO fall off quite alot I think it's just stupid... But then again if someone doesn't mind risking their own life then what can you do.

I left my hat at home one time, and I rode and I just felt naked, as i do if I don't wear my seatbelt but besides all that you just never know and also whether the horse is a plod or not, what happens if it falls over? All horses can fal, ploddy or not. So yep, I always wear my hat.
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I just wouldn't. My mare is a total legend and as safe as houses, but I just wouldn't ride without a hat. No one ever plans to fall off do they! A hat is comfortable and could save your life or help you retain some sort of quality of life should the worst happen. No need to take unnecessary risks I reckon.
 
I never ride without a hat. My boy is the most bombproof horse you could ask for and yet accidents can still happen. I once popped on him when a friend was riding him and I felt sooo wrong and naked. I wear a hat while lunging and longreining too, and even walking out on the roads in hand. Its a small price to pay for my life.
 
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I think it's a personal choice, if she isn't bother what shape her skull and brain are then ride without a hat.

If she likes having the ability to feed herself and walk around the yard then wearing a hat would be the sensible option.



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I agree with this
However sensible a horse is who is to say they may not spook at something and who's to say they will not slip, trip or fall
 
Your friend might not mind what happens if she comes off and cracks her skull. However, those who have to pick up the pieces afterwards might feel differently especially if serious injury could be avoided by simply wearing a hat.
 
As somebody who occasionally rides without a hat, and has no issues with beaglers/dressage hats (whcih are the same as no hat) I would say it is up to her if she is an adult, as long as she is aware that there is a risk.
 
Not wanting to scare anyone, but I recall reading a tragic news story about something very similar happening at a yard, cant remember where exactly.

If i remember correctly a girl, roughly the same age as your friend used to ride her horse bare-back to/from the field without a hat, always had done, however only one day that she did, she fell off head first, when the horse slipped & tragically she died.

Personally i would never ride without a hat/body protector, but that is my choice, even tho my horse can also be described as a plod, it is just not worth the risk, perhaps im just older & wiser to know better. I remember wot I was like back in my younger days, No Fear!

*ETA i am only 28*
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ETA i am only 28

Maybe it is actually an older generation that is more casual about this. My age group can remember only having velvet hats that would have offered little protection when they were new - and most of them were old and soft. In my teens i regularly rode without a hat - and only cracked my skull once
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Nope, I dont think its ever wise to ride without a hat. I have done this on a couple of occassions but only in the USA where I went hacking at a local yard which didn't even have hats to offer me!! I would never ride at home without a hat, no matter how safe the horse.

I just think about my mum who was leading a VERY plod along pony at an RDA event, the disabled kids were doing a little display in front of their parents. The pony my mum was leading was the dopiest thing ever and had been doing its RDA thing for years. The pony was moping along and suddenly it flipped out and bolted throwing the poor kid off. They have no idea what happened, assume it was stung by a wasp or something. But just emphasises how unpredicatble they are.
 
Personal choice.... If riding out on the road then unacceptable I think because a car could cause the horse to spook etc and then the driver is left feeling guilt for an injury a hat could have prevented.. But in the school it is the riders fault/guilt if anything happens therefore it is the riders decision.... If you look at many pictures abroad in a school, about half the time the rider will not be wearing a hat.
 
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She's 15, I'm sure she knows everything there is to know about horses and safety and fully understands all the hazards around her. Great thing about teenagers, they are so full of wisdom from their many years on this earth.

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I know what my quadraplegic friend would say to her.

"Look what happened to me the ONE time I rode a horse with no hat" at the time her little girls were 3 and 5.

Not worth the heartache.
 
If your friend's an adult, it's her personal choice. I wouldn't ride without one myself, but until it becomes a legal requirement it's up to the individual to decide.
 
Presuming she's and adult and she's not on the public road then entirely her choice.
Well all decide what the risks are around our horses and take the precautions we see fit.
 
I think....as a health worker and a mum.....she is being incredibly stupid and selfish.

I used to work in A+E....I have seen spinal injuries and head injuries following falls from horses....it might be her choice not to wear a hat, but it wont be her mum's choice if she has to spend the rest of her life pushing her around in a wheelchair and wiping her bum for her.
 
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It's the horse that's 15
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note to self...read posts more carefully!

so scratch the sarcastic comment about teenagers knowing everything
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I still stand by what I said. rider choice, brain intact or brain a tad damaged. I'm 27 and remember being a teenager that thought it was pretty cool to ride without a hat, my YO on the other hand would have strung me up by the eye lids had I done that. I got over the coolness factor when my young WB bronc'd me off and continued to bronc over my head...that hat took quite a stomping...gladly not my skull.
 
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It's the horse that's 15
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Well...no offense but wheres the relavance in that?

My horse is in his 20's...he has perfected the art of canter-stop- dead-and throw -yourself-sideways-technique......older does not necessarily mean steadier/spook-free
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I know of two people recently whose horses have had a heart attack and died whilst being ridden. One managed to get off but the other, a girl of about 20 was killed.

Nobody's fault, the horse did nothing wrong and wasn't known to have any problems, she was just walking down the road. She was wearing her hat and was still killed as the horse crushed her.

I also used to know a riding school horse that developed epilepsy. As it was a riding school the girl riding when she had her first fit was wearing a skull cap and escaped with just a broken collar bone but it could have been worse.

Nevermind the possibility of slips, trips, collisions, falling debris etc etc
 
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It's the horse that's 15
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Well...no offense but wheres the relavance in that?

My horse is in his 20's...he has perfected the art of canter-stop- dead-and throw -yourself-sideways-technique......older does not necessarily mean steadier/spook-free
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I don't think that was the point being made
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The relevance is that it's the horse who's 15, not the rider. We don't know how old the rider is.
 
I think that it doesn't matter how old the horse is, or how long the owner has known it.

Accidents can happen in all shapes and forms and I don't see the sense in not wearing a hat.

It could get stung by a wasp for example and throw her, not her fault or the horse's but it could easily happen.

Personally I don't understand the mentality of people not wearing a hat.
 
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...he has perfected the art of canter-stop- dead-and throw -yourself-sideways-technique......older does not necessarily mean steadier/spook-free
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Is that the PBA by any chance? My pure bred had a drop-spin-gallop moment in the stubble field at the weekend...a bit of straw went pop under her feet, utterly terrifying. that kicked it off then we spooked at: a branch, a pile of straw, the earth changing colour, a sheep, another sheep running, a dog barking, a puddle, the mud around the puddle which was a little bit slippy and the barn door we pass twice a day. She's 24 in March, I here they mature in the mid twenties
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