This message is from: "Cheryl Beillard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Had to jump in on this one too. I'm in the "wear 'em" camp. I often feel confined, and I hate them on beautiful fall days or warm summer ones, but after having had a bad fall when I was in my 20's .. riding uphill, bareback, at a canter on a horse that stumbled .. I see the need. When my horse came down, I fell under him and he got all tangled up and as he fell his front hoof came slashing down. Missed my head by a whisper .. I felt the rush of the wind as it sliced by and landed on my twisted arm, which bore a perfect half hoof print for a year. I broke my hip and had a concussion but if that horse had hit my head, it would have been smashed .. I like to think that a helmet might have deflected some of the blow. It was an impressive sight and I have to confess that whenever a horse starts to dance under me, the vision of that hoof flying past me comes back in technicolour. Have had to learn to control my reaction so that I don't communicate an undue concern to the horse. But I don't ride or drive without a helmet. And I don't let anyone else either.
