re: helmets always

[Karen Sullivan <greymare@jps.net>]

I am responding because I feel this is an important issue and I will try to relate it to endurance riding.....very often, in riding at a good pace we are ducking branches and brush.  Don't know how many times a branch has just glanced off the top of the helmet-sure glad it wasn't my bare head.

I started wearing a helmet at age 32 or so......after a very gentle but green filly bucked me off and I did a double somersault and landed on my butt. I realized how easily it could have been my head, and me with two little kids at home.  My next horse was a green Arab, and I was sure there would be spills.....so I bought the Troxel helmet in Sportack.

Since then, three good friends have come off their horses backwards, and split open the backs of their helmets....I also started my kids on our pony and made the rule, a helmet every time.  I also wanted to set a good example for my kids, and also the other kids and families in our county.

I LOVE the helmet!  It is lightweight and floats on my head and I generally forget it is there.  I used to wear a baseball cap, and that darn thing had to be pretty tight, or it would fall off, same for cowboy hats.  The helmet is far more COMFORTABLE than either.

Yes, I always wear it now.

Karen