What's the safest type of hat?? Accident Sunday

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jen1

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As the title really. Went with a friend to a XC training place on Sunday I was on foot with the dog while she and another person rode. My friends horse spooked badly and threw her and I ended up in A&E with her the rest of Sunday as she suffered quite bad concussion.

She had on a regular type of riding hat with a peak. Fairly new only a year old so up to date on all the regulations. When she fell she banged the front of her head breaking the peak of the hat. She had a huge bump on her forehead. Later on we were discussing if it's better to wear a skull cap or a peaked hat. I assumed that a skull cap would be safer as it's used for XC and all the top riders and jockeys wear them. Someone else pointed out though if she hadn't had the peak then her face would have been damaged as she hit the ground.

Spoke to her this evening and apart from a rotten headache she is recovering fine.
 
i cant really answer your question, i just know my friend fell off and landed on the peak of her hat (it was one of those newish ones with a badge at the front and a stripe down the middle if that makes sense!) and the entire top half of the hat broke off!
i suppose it protected her face but she did look daft getting back on in a kind of 'skull cap covered with glue' type hat;
incidentally the top half of her hat flew over the school fence and bounced off across the back field.......

she was ok but it did get me thinking about the safety of that kind of hat as the peaks are so solid, if you don't fall hard enough to break the hat you could damage your neck or similar.
 
My charles owen very expensive showing hat.....(big treat for me this month!) has bendy peak? I thought that regs meant they had to be flexible now?
 
gatehouse HS1 (High Spec 1) is the only one that passed the higher-rated American Snell test.
that or the one Lucinda Green rides in, which covers lower down over the ears. Ruth Edge uses one too. i have one, feels very secure and protective. can't remember what make it is, can check in the lorry tomorrow if you pm me!
 
Well looking at the peak yesterday it was actually bent upwards not exactly snapped off but certainly useless now!
 
So is the peak just for 'show' or traditional? I am assuming that a skull cap is the safest design of hat?

I have a J3 skull cap and love it but it's about 5 years old now, looking at what happened yesterday think it's time I invested in a new one just in case!!!
 
Tell your friend to get herself a Charles Owen APM skull cap for XC, it's what all the National Hunt Jockeys wear, and what I wear for point-to-pointing and hunting. It not exactly flattering, but it's really comfortable, the harness is padded with the same stuff they use for body protectors, so it saves your ears and cheekbones if you get kicked in the head, and it's designed to protect the base of the skull without giving you a sore neck from trying to look where you're going.
smile.gif
It's expensive I know, but well worth the money.
http://www.saddlery.biz/pp/Riding%5FHats/Horse%5FRiding%5FHelmets/APM%5FJockey%5FHelmet.html
 
Mine is an ugly as sin new fangled hat with all the holes. However I've landed on my face and the peak detached. So just saw plaid (not stars) for a while and then was none the worse!

Best survery IMHO is the Mark Davies injured jockeys fund survey http://www.mdirf.co.uk/

This is not sponsored by any manufacturer and quite a few were pee'd off with the results! Velvet show helmets offer the worst protection available!
 
shes bound to have suffered some whiplash so will have asore neck from that. i have acharles owen gr8 and find it comfy but have to say it is quite diff to see when you're in xc position as it is quite long at the back
 
That is very interesting and if I am reading it correctly some of the lightweight hats are safer than the Jockey skulls?? Even the Gatehouse HS1 as has just been recommended on here?? thought that was supposed to be very top of the range and safe?

Therefore is the Troxel Spirit hat which is about a third of the price of the Gatehouse hat safer, even though it looks like a cycle helmet (just googled for a picture of it) or have I read the results wrong??!!!
 
Skull hats are slightly safer but they don't fit everyone (certainly not me) and it's safer to have a hat that fits correctly no matter what and has a peak.
 
Yep - The HS1 doesn't rate that highly

Interestingly the SNELL test is more like a motorbike crash helmet test. So good in some respects, but not in all.

The HS1 is relatively heavy and hard, it probably doesn't absorb as much shock as the cheaper hats made of what can be described as polystyrene!

Remember a good brand and shed loads of money doesn't technically mean its 'better'...
 
I had an old Pikeur GPA that I was sure was broken, so I bought a new hat and was just going to throw that one in the bin.
Instead we decided to try and destroy it by throwing it as hard as we could onto the concrete yard, we also threw it against the wall and stamped on it. Outwardly it looked fine, so we cut the cover off and revealed this
christmas2007030.jpg


The hat was still rigid and would have given loads of protection if someone's head was in it. Strangely tho, GPA's don't score very highly in surveys!
 
The peaked hat was replaced by the skull cap and back in(the dark ages when I learnt to ride and you didn't have to wear a hat) if you fell on the peak it would break and (the rigid ones) the sharp corners could peirce into the side of your head and kill you. It was considered better to break your nose as that would be the first impact that kill you or break your neck? Also even if you drop your hat on a hard surface (replace it )because if you then have a fall it will possibly collapse anyway. My OH was thrown from a horse he was trying and knocked out. The hat looked fine and he said the hats O.K. and he said he didn't need to buy another one. So to prove my point I sliced it open the velvet with a knife much to his disgust. But when he saw the crack down he was convinced he'd only just bought the had for A LOT OF PENNIES. But as I told him it did its job even though we spent a day in A & E as he had concussion and a bad back.
 
Seahorse, i know that logically it seems "well, if it can withstand concrete then it certainly will protect me!" but this really isn't the case.
This means the helmet is transferring the shock onto your body e.g. causing YOU to experience the damage, rather than the hat.

I don't understand why GPAs are so expensive!



Also, found the Enhap results quite astounding, really not sure if i believe them! I have a Charles Owen Young Riders skull which needs replacing as it's 5years old, despite never having been dropped/involved in a fall where i hit my head -
was told by the tackshop that it was v safe yet scored RUBBISHLY on that...?
 
The best hat is the one designed by Lucinda Green based on a bobsleigh helmet (and you can imagine how much concussion one of those has to withstand. Worn last season by Ruth Edge and Lucy Wiegersma. It is NOT pretty but I encourage everyone I know to get one as it is SUPER safe (and keeps yr ears warm!!). Full temple protection. Zebra products...or Wychanger Barton saddlery.. Lucinda admitted to me at Burleigh last year that she had chickened out of wearing it hunting etc because of the comments...Your head is more valuable than your vanity!!!!
 
The best hat is now one called the PROtector made by gatehouse and peter charles. Think its the same one as lucinders HS1 but in a showjumping style. They look like motor bikehelmets . IMO.
 
Oh I'm so confused now! I need a new hat and I don't know what type to go for!

Also can anyone think, is it better to have a hat that will withstand a horses hoof going through it or that will absorb the impact of a fall, or is it possible to have both??

I'm SO confused...
 
QR and another thing, can anyone confirm if ventilated hats are less safe than non-ventilated? I spoke to a manufacturer at YHL last year who told me that but I cant' remember who...
 
[ QUOTE ]
The best hat is now one called the PROtector made by gatehouse and peter charles. Think its the same one as lucinders HS1 but in a showjumping style. They look like motor bikehelmets . IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

SNELL is a more difficult test to pass than the European standards, however the idea that Gatehouse is the 'safest' or 'best' hat on the market is merely a product of good marketing !

Appears people often seem to think if a hat costs more than £150 it has to be 'best'
 
... but I'm not a XC rider, I'm a riding club sort who at the moment has a skull cap and silk for everything..???
 
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