Horseback riding helmet safety

[Macinnis]

My wife is an avid rider. We live in St. Louis, but her house barn is a mere 20 minutes away, so she rides 3-4 times a week. She always wears a helmet.

Last night I got a call that she had fallen off the horse and was in route to the hospital.

The horse either kicked her or more likely stepped on her orbital bone/eye socket and shattered it (after it bucked her off).

After surgery today, they managed to save her eye, but they say she has almost certainly lost all vision in that eye.

It would appear that her helmet didn稚 help matters in this case...but having had hours to think about this in the hospital today...without the helmet, she could have easily died.

I know most people relate to a REAL LIFE STORY (Even though I am a lurker here-nobody really knows me)...which is why I am posting this. If you have a loved one who rides, please pass on this story as a reason to ALWAYS wear a helmet.

 

[mddorange]

Sorry to hear about your wife. Glad it wasn't worse.

I don't know of anyone around here who uses a helmet when riding. I even see children without helmets. It only takes once for everyone to be sorry.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Many prayers for your wife. I especially hope that she will get at least some of her vision back. Doctors tend to be pessimists.

 

[4570Man]

Many prayers for your wife. I especially hope that she will get at least some of her vision back. Doctors tend to be pessimists.

I guess if they tell you you might make a partial recovery and you don’t then you think it was their fault.

 

[radios1]

I know someone that died falling off a horse, from a ruptured colon, they missed that at the hospital!!.. a helmet would not have helped..

 

[bunyip]

Our girls always wear helmets when riding and I would rip into them if they didn't so now it is habit, if they fall on their head (and they have done) we replace the helmet.
They also wear jumping vests when show jumping to minimise back injuries, looks like a ribbed vest and flexes one way only.
Sorry to hear about your misfortune but sometimes you can just be unlucky despite precautions.

 

[Sigarms]

Glad to hear things weren't worse.

I know someone that died falling off a horse, from a ruptured colon, they missed that at the hospital!!.. a helmet would not have helped..

Sometimes nothing will help given the situation, however you're only increasing the odds of safety with with a helmet as your head is very suceptable to impact (which increases IMO) during some activities. I see kids tearing it up on ATV's without helmets and just shake my head. Skate boarding is another one...

 

[dmccarty]

...
I don't know of anyone around here who uses a helmet when riding. I even see children without helmets. It only takes once for everyone to be sorry.

Around our area, people in the horse riding set, usually women, wear helmets but they are often jumping horses and such. The non helmet people seem to just own a horse and ride in a low key way. Course, one can fall off a horse either way.

An old thread just popped up and the last post before the discussion was brought back alive was from Cowboydoc who used to be very active on TBN. I believe he was an orthopedic doctor and he treated many a cattle rancher which explains his user name.

He told of an incident where a brother and sister went to a farm to go horse riding with a friend of the sister. The sister got on the horse and the brother thought it would be funny to slap the rear of the horse. How many Western TV and movies have we seen that done? Well, when he slapped the horse, it reared up and his sister fell off and was seriously hurt. Can't remember if she had a helmet or not because the discussion was about lawsuits. The parents of the injured girl sued the farm even though it was the brother that caused the accident. :confused3::shocked:

I hope the OP's wife can recover from her injuries.

Later,
Dan

 

[riptides]

Prayers for your wife, and you too.

Look to the bright side, she is alive. It could have been worse.

Stay positive during the recovery period. And remember, take care of yourself too. It is very difficult to care and lend support to loved ones.

 

[cqaigy2]

Hope your wife's recovery is speedy.

Thank you for posting as it educates some of us and reminds as well.

I've not heard of those jumping vest, bunyip refers to, but i don't ride anymore and aren't around horses, so maybe they are common. I do know i'll tell my sister about them, she still rides some.