What do YOU think?

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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.

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Again...what relevance is the horses age????? Young or old.....makes no difference.
And TBH.....neither does the riders. Head will still crack open if smashed onto hard surface.
 
I think it's totally her choice.............if she wants to drastically increase the chances of having someone else change her nappies for the rest of her life then it's sod all to do with me.

It is BLOODY stupid though!
 
Personally I always ride with a hat, as for the sake of a few seconds to put one on I don't feel it's worth not riding in one. I know some people don't find hats very comfortable or feel that they give them headaches etc. but you'd think there are enough hats on the market now that there would be one to comfortably suit everybody?
 
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Again...what relevance is the horses age?????

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I think HW was commenting on my remarks about the rider being a teenager, I don't think they meant that it made any difference that the horse was older when it came to not wearing a hat
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It's the horse that's 15
grin.gif


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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
grin.gif


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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.

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Again...what relevance is the horses age????? Young or old.....makes no difference.
And TBH.....neither does the riders. Head will still crack open if smashed onto hard surface.

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Yes, of course. I don't think anyone is saying the age of either the horse or the rider makes much difference. However, there was some misunderstanding earlier on in the thread that it was the rider who was 15. The person you quoted was simply clarifying that it was the horse who's 15. Nothing more.
 
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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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Yep..thats the one.....hopefully he will settle down by the time he's in his 30's lol
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I would never ever ride without a hat. Even the most solid, predictable bombproof horse could trip and fall. Or get scared by something as they are after all a horse.

Riding without a hat is to my mind at least extremely selfish. If you want to get brain damaged or killed hey that's your choice. But what about your family, friends, the emergency services who have to scrape you up and put you back together etc.
 
People always say 'it's my choice'

well it's not your choice when you end up disabled and everyone else around you has to care for you.

wear a hat for christ sake. IMO it's unaceptable whatever your age, the horse, experience.

*gets off soapbox*
 
I think the YO should consider their position too. I've had to show insurance docs and agree to ride with hat at various livery yards and I'm pretty sure that was to protect them from liability...

As others have said it is both selfish in terms of people and resources that would be used to pick up the pieces and shows a lack of care for herself.

Edited to add: although of course it would be much better for the NHS if we didn't ride at all I do think taking reasonable safety precautions is something we should feel obligated to do. It is just a question of agreeing on reasonable!
 
Supposing she did suffer a very bad injury to her head. She might survive, which is great. But the problem is not that she got hurt because she didn't wear a hat.

The problem is that there will be hundreds of hours of time from a collection of people including doctors, nurses, paramedics, surgeons consultants physios etc to get her better at great expense.

Money and time which could have been spent getting someone well who had an unavoidable accident, who did their best to keep themselves safe and not took stupid risks.

Selfish.
 
I forgot to say that I would never ride without a hat and i do tell her she should wear one for her own safety, but she thinks she would never get hurt :/!! Shes 20 btw to all the confusion lol.
Im quite pleased with myself ive got so many responses!
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*realises she needs to get out more*
 
In my line of work I find out exactly how many millions of pounds it costs to care for someone with a head injury, and that money has to come from somewhere.

In this country the NHS, and the local council would fund the treatment and life long care she would require following a fall without a hat. That means it is MY (and yours too of course) tax payments that are paying for her pride and stupidity when it all goes wrong. Personally I don't want to have to fund that.

She should visit a hospital head injury unit and see the state of some of the people who have had accidents without head protection. If she fancies adult nappies, feeding through a straw and drooling then she can pay for the treatment and care herself! She is overwhelmingly stupid and unbelieveably stupid and so is anyone else who thinks riding without a hat is an acceptable risk.
 
You should show her this thread. The stories and comments about serious injuries might scare her a bit. Im 21 and would never ride without a hat regardless of what horse I was on. Like many others have said - her choice whether to wear one but not her choice to pick up the pieces after. I think its extremely stupid, immature and selfish and I hope to god she doesnt experience a bad fall
 
Personally I would never ride without a hat any more (I used to when I was young and foolish!) I feel as long as she is happy to accept the risk and she is prepared to put her family and friends through the possible trauma of dealing with a loved one with a preventable major brain injury then go for it!
 
I always ride with a hat...a few months ago I was in the school and Finn slipped and fell on top of me. I broke my collar bone and smacked my head pretty hard. I hate to think what would happen had I not have been wearing a hat...
 
Personal choice.

I always ride with my hat, depsite Tyler being a very safe horse.

I do get annoyed when people turn up at hosptital after riding with no hate, falling and expecitng eveyrone else to pick up the pieces.

The evidence shows that hats can prevent or reduce injury so it makes sense.

Jen
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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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Hehehe
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LOL I can remember going to my local riding school when I was about 7 and being told to run off into the tack room dear and find something (hat) that you think fits. We were never supervised at this point and just grabbed something that seemed to stay on, but invariably ended up over your eyes so you couldn't see where you were going
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Blimey times have changed.
 
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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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I still have my 'velvet' cap-it is now a pretty shade of greeny brown
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We all wore them and as an extra safety measure, we tied a knot in the bit of dodgy elastic that ( supposedly) kept them clamped to our heads
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I can even remember mine ending up on the horsebox floor and being kicked around by the ponies-I was really upset, it got all pissy
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Werent the best ones made by Charles Owen? M.
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I actually don't feel right without a hat and I started riding about 25 years ago. The cob may be 15 and lazy, but lazy cobs trip.......
 
I would be a tutterer I'm afraid. I don't like to see people riding without hats whatever the horses nature.
My daughter was riding a 'dead from the neck down' type a few years back and he put in a whopping great buck from absolutely nowhere and she flew off and hit the deck. She was fine luckily but my point being that ANY horse can have a 'moment'. This buck was a kind of 'whoopee' buck but it totally took daughter by surprise. I'm very glad she had her hat on.
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I would be a tutter I think
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I personally would always wear a hat even on my 19 year old mare
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It's just not worth the risk, it doesn't cost me anything to wear my hat (well apart from buying it) so why not wear it ???????

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I only ever ride if I've forgotten my hat, I only have fields, no shelters/sheds.
I would never ride a nutter without one, I have hacked Bear out twice without one and Gimley twice, thats it. Ive schooled them both without one.
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This week i have seen 4 riders in just bridles (one might have been in a headcollar) bare back, all on VERY busy main roads without hats. STUPID!

I dont ride without a hat neither do my daughters or hubby. Even the quietest horse can trip.
Hats can be replaced if you fall off, your head cant. I think hats should be compulsery on roads for anyone on a horse.
 
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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.

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'll send her a picture of my brain - the bleed is easily seen.

If I hadn't had a hat on, someone else would have had to send the picture - I either wouldn't be able to operate a keyboard, or....
 
Mrs M I think you are the perfect person to advocate wearing a hat, after all without it, OMG it doesn't bear thinking about!!!!
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Hope you are getting better
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