This message is from: "Claudia" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello,
In reference to the helmet issue, it has been years since I got on or behind a horse without a helmet. I know four people who would still be alive today if they had been wearing a helmet when they had an unexpected accident--two were driving and two were riding. One was a young teacher my husband had just hired. She was riding her old steady horse that she had owned for years, and was sitting on him waiting for her friend to mount. They thought later that he must have been stung by a bee or something, because without warning he reared and she went off and struck her head on the blacktop and was killed. She was just setting off on her new career as a teacher, and had owned and ridden the horse since she was thirteen years old. So it isn't just the "risky" horses who can do it. Another was Hope Jenkins Jones who judged our North Star Morgan Show some years ago, and was killed driving a young horse at her own farm a few weeks later. It seems that in the accidents I have had in the past I always land on my bottom (heaviest part--gravity?) so perhaps I need to wear padded breeches instead--but I wear the helmet anyway. My friend's husband is an anesthesiologist and he said he sees more horse accidents than from motorcycles. That should tell us something! I just took my Fjord gelding Vergel back to Ken Raspotnik's to drive for a day. I had not had him out on the road since I bought him, and since he is only three, I thought it was a good precaution. Vergel was very good and paid no attention to the traffic or anything else. Ken measured him for me--he is 14 h. now--and also tried some collars on him so I know what size to order for him. I have been driving him at home now and he's been very good. Now we just need to put on miles and work on finesse. I had a bobsled made for Vergel and it was just finished. It was made by Hobie Knowlton of Osseo, WI who is 83 years old. He has made many carriages in his life, and said this would be his last, so I am honored that he made it for Vergel and me. It is beautifully made and for the first time in years I am looking forward to winter so I can use it---therefore the collar for Vergel. Hobie said a collar is better than a breast collar for the weight. As to "other life" I am a retired school counselor, and I supported my 'habit' with my salary during the years I was working. My husband is a retired school superintendent who doesn't ride or drive but loves the horses, and knows how to handle them because he grew up on a farm with working horses. He often cleans stalls for me, and does the heavy work in the barn that I can't do easily any more. He is gentle and willing and I think might have been a Fjord in an earlier life! from Claudia in WI where Vergel is going to have the day off because it is already almost 90 here. The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
