Using Your Head
March 25, 2009
The death of Natasha Richardson last week was tragic in so many ways.
Not only was it the loss of a talented actress, but two young boys must now grow up without their mother. And what makes this death even more heartbreaking is that it was such a trivial thing: a fall while skiing on what was pretty much a bunny slope.
It reminded me of something similar that happened to me in the early ’90s. I was living in southeastern Idaho at the time, and some friends wanted go to out for a Sunday afternoon ride. I decided to take a horse we’d just bought. She was an ex-racehorse but was pretty good-minded, and I thought it would be good for her to get out and stretch her legs. So I threw on an Aussie saddle that I liked to trail ride in and took off with her.
We were up in the mountains near my home, and it was just a nice ride with nothing out of the ordinary other than the mare spooking at some llamas. We all decided to lope our horses down a part of the trail we knew was safe. I asked my horse to pick up her speed, and the next thing I remember, I was on the ground and my friends were all around me.
I’d fallen off my horse. I don’t know how or why, but I was on the ground. My friends informed me that the air had been knocked out of my lungs and I had struggled to catch my breath again. I don’t remember any of it.
I told my friends I was fine and got back on my horse, who had stopped as soon as I came off. (She was a good horse, and I still miss her today.) We rode back down to the trailhead, I loaded my horse back in the trailer and drove home. I got her unloaded, back in the pasture and as soon as I got in the house, I collapsed on the couch. That’s where my husband found me when he came home.
I was nauseous, my head hurt, and my body ached, but most of all, my pride was hurt. He wanted to take me to the doctor, but I refused. It was Sunday, and we would have to pay extra for an emergency room visit. So instead I went to bed and made an appointment with my primary physician the next day.
Well, come to find out, I had suffered a concussion and probably should have gone to the ER. I was lucky, though. Nothing serious happened to me, and I healed just fine. But you know what, I was stupid. Because I was embarrassed and didn’t go to the doctor right away, it could have ended up being something as tragic as what happened to Natasha Richardson.
My doctor encouraged me to wear a helmet, and I went out and bought a good one. Sometimes I would wear it, and sometimes I just didn’t feel like it. I’m still the same way today.
I know helmets create a lot of controversy in not only the horse world but also for motorcycle riders, skiers, bicyclists, etc. Hey, it’s our head, and we’ll do with it as we please.
However, a few states and municipalities have laws on the books requiring helmets while riding horses, and Florida this month is even considering a state law that would require children under 16 to wear helmets while riding on public roads and trails. The bill is called the Nicole Hornstein Act in honor of a girl killed when she took a deadly blow to her head after being thrown from her horse.
At AQHA, Rule 445 (b) says a helmet is mandatory for riders in all hunter, jumper and equitation classes where jumping is required. This also includes when schooling over fences at an AQHA show. In all other classes, however, a helmet is optional. I know a helmet will not prevent all injuries, but for me, it’s much like wearing my safety belt in the car.
In the late ’90s, I saw the benefits of a helmet. I was living in Washington State and had stopped by the feed store to pick up a bucket. While there, a woman came in with a busted helmet and told the feed store owner it was defective. Her daughter had fallen off the horse and the helmet cracked. The owner looked at the helmet and told the woman to go and pick another and he would exchange it.
After the woman left the store, he turned to me and said, “That helmet isn’t defective. It did exactly what it was meant to do: It protected that girl’s head. Can you imagine what her head would have looked like if she hadn’t had the helmet on?”
I’m not saying everyone should wear a helmet nor am I saying helmet laws are a good thing. I actually think the decision should be left to the individual rider. However, after the death of Natasha Richardson and reading more about head injuries, I’m going to make more of an effort to wear mine when I’m out riding. And the next time I fall off my horse and I can’t remember anything, I’m going to forget my pride and go to the doctor immediately.
I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m going to use my head.
Tonya Ratliff-Garrison
Field Editor
American Quarter Horse Journal
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Comments
15 Comments on “Using Your Head”
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March 27th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
I totally agree. I have been riding about 50 years, most of my life. I bought my first helmut last week and plan to use it.
March 27th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I also agree. When I was younger we had to wear a helmet at the place I learned to ride. I stopped wearing it when I was around 14 years old, but now I’m back to wearing it again because I had a hard fall a year ago. My hat flew off in the wind and my horse spooked. To make a long story short, I had a concussion and 6 staples to hold together a gash in the back of my head. I’m only 19 and I want to keep on riding. I now own not only my older helmet which I recieved as a gift when I was 10(which my mom uses when she rides my mare now), but I also bought a new one within the last year which I use regularly when I exercise other people’s horses.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I never wore a helmet growing up. As an adult, while riding in an arena, my horse spooked, I fell at a gallop, & was knocked out. I woke up that night, home in bed; my only recollections of the entire day were: thinking I was going to die right before impact; after coming back to conciousness, trying to convince my husband I was fine, when I didn’t even know my name; and vomiting in the hospital. I haven’t ridden without a helmet since & have even broken a few during subsequent falls. I am the odd-man-out in my western circle, but it is my choice and I am happy with it. I do wish others would jump on board so I am not the only one showing western with a helmet on, though!
March 31st, 2009 at 9:55 pm
I learned about the dangers of NOT wearing protective headgear when riding, through 4-H, when I was a kid. The horror stories scared me enough to wear a helmet ever since. Because of that I wear my helmet about 95% of the time when riding, even in a round pen near the house. It just takes a split second for an accident to occur.
I just had a horse paw me in the head and knock me to the ground two days ago. I had a little cut and was bleeding, but never went unconscience, nor have the wind knocked out of me. But, since Natasha Richardson’s incident, it sure scared me. My head still hurts a little as I write this. The next day I went to work with that horse, I wore my helmet, even though I was just leading her from the ground.
My son thinks I look funny wearing my helmet when I ride. It smashes my hair every which way and makes me hot in the summer. But I value my brain and my life more than I mind looking a little strange. I also respect the fact that a horse is bigger and stronger than me and unpredictable at times. A helmet starts around $50; a life is priceless.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Just wanted to add, the horse that pawed me in the head was young, not broke to ride, and NOT a Quarter Horse.
April 1st, 2009 at 5:29 am
Wearing a helmet is very important. I learned riding when I was thirteen (very late though)and was used to riding with a helmet. When I was eighteen I bought my first horse and trained her myself. At that age you think you can do everything. After a while I never used a helmet any more because of my “hair”. Later on I had a filly with this horse and when she was four years old I started riding her. At some day I said to my husband I’m going to wear my helmet again. You never know with a young horse. I now think that it was my sixth sense because that same day I had an accident during ridingclass and woke up three days later at hospital. I can’t remember anything of it. But people told me that I had fallen of with my head on top of the wall of the riding arena. I had a fracture of the skull at the right back side of my head, a split membrane and a severe concussion. I had to recover for about half a year and I’m very glad that I completely recovered. I still enjoy riding but I always ride with a helmet.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I too was wishy washy with helmets until I recently started taking private lessons and my instructor demands helmet wearing anytime you are on or near a horse. I think it saved my life last week when I took a fall off my horse. it’s all explained in my blog if ya wanna read it
http://www.ridinglessonslateinlife.blogspot.com
April 1st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
…I too didn’t want to wear that darn big, heavy, hot thing. But years ago, after my sister took a serious fall off a friend’s horse and ended up in a coma for 3 days and almost lost her life – it changed my view of helmets. Then, the very next summer another tragedy happened when my sister’s sister-in-law was killed in a riding accident. While riding down the side of a road in the ditch with a friend, “Mary’s” horse spooked on to the road. Not being able to settle the horse, an impatient motorist blew his horn at them which totally freaked the horse and it reared and Mary fell off on her head. She died almost instantly. Mary was only 16 years old. I know of many other instances of injury, and near death accidents. I would totally be o.k. with AQHA requiring helmets for showing, especially in all Youth classes. Just my opinion – but I’ve seen first hand the results of not wearing helmets – and I haven’t even mentioned my own near death experiences!
Mary
April 1st, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I agree with this also. Although, un horse related, last month I was at a waterpark and fell off of the tube. I hit my head hard inside a waterslide and slid down the rest of the way on my face! Besides being shaken up, I felt completely fine, until an hour or so later I felt nautious and got completely sick to my stomach for about 12 hours following unknowing that I had a concussion. I didn’t go into the Dr but now realize that I was sick for a reason and that was connected to hitting my head earlier in the day. I don’t wear a helmet when riding but after that and of how easily tragic mistakes happen. I will consider wearing one also!!
April 1st, 2009 at 6:23 pm
You would have to look very hard in Canada for a boarding barn who allows boarders not to wear a helmet while on the property! I have been riding both English and Western for 45 years, I have always ridden with permission on private properties. I believe not only in wearing a helmet for safety, but that I have an obligation to protect not only my self but the owner of the property.
We have all fallen off and been a little shaken. Not getting really hurt lulls you into a false sense of safety. When you are young you are “invincible”. I was so invincible that I broke my shoulder and collar bone six weeks before starting high school. Hey girls, how would you like to start first year with your arm sticking out of your shirt. I can tell you the embarrassment of that far outweighs the embarrassment of messy hair!
Oh and getting hurt or breaking a bone is not the worst, think about comas, brain damage, bone reconstruction etc.
I am saying helmets are a good thing and all equestrians should wear one.
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:20 pm
I ride western and always wear a helmet, except when I’m showing and then I wear a hat because that’s what all the other riders show in. I would be just fine with AQHA requiring helmets in their classes, especially Youth.
Last year, a horse I was riding (not a Quarter Horse, by the way) flipped over backwards with me, and even with my helmet on, I suffered a concussion. I have no memory of hitting the ground, having the horse step on me, or getting up and walking around and looking for the horse (but others have told me that’s what I did) — just the memory of seeing the horse’s mane come up too high in front of me, and then finding myself sitting in the shade near the fence. Because I was disoriented, I was taken to the hospital emergency room right away, where among other tests, I had a CAT scan to check my brain.
I had a concussion, and my point is, it could have been so much worse without a helmet. My helmet didn’t crack during the fall, but it had a dent in it and I replaced it with a new helmet. Please know that if you fall and hit your head with your helmet on, that helmet should be replaced, because the fall’s impact may have compromised the helmet’s ability to protect you from another fall.
I’ll just add that, after hearing about an accident where somebody slipped and fell getting a horse out of an icy pasture, and then the horse stepped on the person’s head — I now wear my helmet out to the hilly pasture to get my horse whenever it’s really slick out.
By the way, I have one of those pretty leather-covered helmets that look a chaps’ yoke design, with rhinestone studs. I get lots of compliments on it and I think it looks really great on.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:08 am
ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET even if you think you look silly and uncomfortable. A young horse I had at the time bucked and I fell off. my helmet saved my head but my back was fractured. I healed and rode that horse until I lost him a number of years later.
My father had a severe head injury in a one car accident so I know about head injuries. Life is never the same after an injury like that. SO ALWAYS WEAR YOUR HELMET.
April 5th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Here’s another helmet story. I was trail riding and my 10 year old niece was behind me. We were riding up a hill and my mare was anxious because another rider had ridden off from us. She stepped over a small fallen tree that was laying vertically up the trail. She then tried to step back over it and instead stepped on the side of it. The log rolled up and I heard a noise behind me. The log had a limb attached and when the log rolled, the limb came up from the ground and struck my niece on the head. Her helmet was cracked. I feel the helmet saved her from a trip to the ER. She always wears her helmet!
June 1st, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Growing up around horses, I never wore a helmet until I started riding English and my instructor has a rule that while mounted the rider must wear a helmet. About 3 years ago I took a nasty fall off of our pony Angel, she slipped and fell off landing on the back of my neck and head. Luckily I had a nice helmet and it withstood the blow, though I still suffered a concusion and found out later that I also herniated 3 disks in my neck which required surgery to repair. I still ride, and wear a helmet without thinking twice about it, as does my daughter. It saved my life no doubt about it, even though I was hurt it could have been much worse.
August 23rd, 2009 at 6:42 am
“A horse is a horse”….when it comes to injuries and riding. Stated above in a few of the blog comments it mentions “the horse that pawed me in the head, was NOT a quarter horse” and “NOT a Quarter Horse by the way”…THATS COMPLETE STUPIDITY to select out a breed! I love most all horses and personally own and love my Morgans. I’ve raised/raising 5 sons on a farm where few places in the barn are safe for two 6 year olds. My boys have been thrown from calves while “playing” and now looking back on those years I think OMG THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD ON HELMETS!!! Yes, it’s our choice to wear or not to wear, but to single out a breed is ludicrious to say the least! This wasnt an article about who thinks what breed is the best, blah blah blah, it’s about safety. Especially when it comes to our children and grandchildren.
GREAT ARTICLE. BIAS, IGNORANT PEOPLE BLOGGING