This is a note I sent out to boarders a little bit ago, and thought I’d share a longer version here.

Dear Whispering Hills Equestrians – 
Just a quick note from the woman who is known as “TREAT DISPENSER” by most of the four-legged crowd who lives here.
I had another conversation with one of my best friends who I met just a couple of months before she took a hard fall off of a very tall horse. She was just hopping on for a moment to ride him up the canal behind her house where she’d ridden him many times before. She hit hard, had a stroke at the age of 40, and five years later is still feeling the effects. She’ll never be quite the same as she was before. 

ANYWAY. My friend’s story is on my mind, so it seemed like a good time for us all to do a self-check on our helmets. Or even take a moment and have a peek at the helmet of a friend as we head out to ride.

Here is how to do a quick fit check:

1. A snug fit with even, firm pressure around the entire head
2. No specific pressure points or gaps
3. Helmet locks onto the back of the skull
4. Helmet sits level on the head, covering the forehead leaving about an inch above the eyebrows (this is SO important)
5. With the harness unfastened, the helmet should not rock forwards nor backwards (ALSO CRUCIAL)
6. The chinstrap should sit just under the chin and gently touch the bottom of the ear lobe, avoiding the throat (Had a student the other day whose helmet I did not double-check. The horse hopped sideways, and her helmet was no longer in a good position!)
7. You should be able to put ONE finger between the strap and your chin
8. The laces at the back of the helmet should be secured tightly. Or if you have an adjustment knob, that should be secured.

My instructor used to have us occasionally undo our chinstrap and shake our head a little to see if there was any wiggling (there should be none or very little)

More information here: https://www.charlesowen.com/guides/how-to-measure-head-riding-helmet.html

Helmets should be replaced: 

• About every 5 years, 
• if you’ve been in a riding accident, 
• if the helmet has any INTERIOR or exterior cracks.

I spent a long time researching helmets before my last purchase – I have a strange-shaped head and like young horses… The tech and research behind the MIPS helmets is pretty awesome. I’ll post a link to that here (yes, this is a study BY the MIPS system people, but you can find independent studies if you like).

Even Troxel (far more affordable than the other brands who started the MIPS trend among equestrians) now has a model with the MIPS system. I know a helmet is a big purchase, but I also have seen the effects of not wearing one, or not wearing one properly. I took a hard fall in a helmet that I did not replace, and my next fall resulted in a concussion that left me dizzy for weeks. Fortunately, I was in my early twenties and bounced better then.

https://mipsprotection.com/helmet-technology/

This is one of those things where I hope that by being prepared, we never have to use it. Like when I packed two raincoats for Ireland and didn’t need either one. GO ME! (and you’re welcome Ireland for the unseasonably lovely fall weather back in the fall of 2019).

Thank you friends! Happy riding!(And check your helmet)