An upper-level dressage rider was recently injured in New York when her horse reared and fell backward on her. Having suffered a serious head injury, she is now in a long-term rehabilitation facility, and her prognosis is unknown. In Kansas, an event rider experienced the same riding accident but walked away with just some bruises. Both riders were working on the flat and not jumping. The difference between the two? The eventer was wearing a helmet.

In December 2005, the United States Equestrian Federation announced it was requiring all junior and adult riders in all hunter, jumper and hunt seat equitation classes at shows to wear headgear that meets ASTM/SEI standards when jumping anywhere on the competition showgrounds. However, it did not extend the requirement to riding on the flat.

According to the Brain Injury Association, brain injuries account for 60% of equestrian related fatalities, and 17% of all equestrian injuries are brain injuries.

"In the upper levels of dressage riding, a competitor wears a derby; whereas in the upper levels of jumping, the competitor wears a helmet," commented Celine Kudravet, a riding instructor in New York. "There's still this fallacy in dressage and recreational riding that if you're not jumping, you're not going to fall off or get hurt."

According to the American Riding Instructor's Association (ARIA), most deaths resulting from head injury can be prevented by wearing American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM), Safety Equipment Institute (SEI) helmets approved for the sport they are used for and which fit correctly, with harness affixed snugly.

ARIA notes that a fall from just two feet can cause permanent brain damage, and being on a horse elevates the rider to about eight feet above the ground. Plus, ARIA reminds riders that a human skull is shattered by impact of 7 to 10 kilometers per hour, and horses gallop at 65 kilometers per hour.  

"The problem is that the concept helmet protection has not readily progressed as quickly in the minds of the western rider or upper level dressage rider as it has in the hunter jumper rider," comments Celine, an instructor and dressage rider who states that she always rides with a helmet. "I think we really need those riding communities to actively persuade riders that it doesn't matter if you're jumping, walking on the trail or riding a fourth level dressage test. You are still on an unpredictable animal, and you can get seriously hurt."

And sometimes it's not your own mount that you have to worry about. Phyllis Marks has no memory of the riding accident she had in a warm up arena at a local show, but witnesses described a runaway horse that plowed into hers, sending both her and her horse crashing to the ground. Phyllis suffered a fractured jaw and expects that her injuries could have been far worse if she were not wearing a helmet. Her horse escaped injury.
  

In 1999, there was an estimated 6,000 horseback riding related brain injuries, according to the Brain Injury Association. At the CaitiRose Farm in Baiting Hollow, New York, every horse owner is required to wear a helmet regardless of riding discipline, and at the Thomas School of Horsemanship, Melville, New York, all riding students wear certified helmets around horses even when unmounted and leading the horse from the stall or longing them in the arena.

For more information on brain injuries, see http://www.Biausa.org