AppyButt wrote:
I've never understood why thinking that wearing a helmet or not is a personal choice and not really anybody else's business is such a big deal, which is what most people here are saying. Unless you are a minor or otherwise subject to someone else's rules (riding a horse that is not yours, show rules, etc), wearing a helmet isn't anyone else's decision but your own. Many of the things we do as adults are our own choices, good or bad, for better or worse. Why should wearing a helmet or any other type of safety gear be different? Shit happens, people get hurt. Sometimes it's their fault and sometimes it isn't.

That depends.  Do you have enough health insurance to cover an extended hospital stay?  Or will the public be picking up the tab if you're in a coma for 2 yrs from a *possibly* preventable head injury? 

I've argued this type of thing before. As members of a community/society, we ALL have a certain level of responsibility. It's not ALL personal choices because potentially *everything* we do impacts others...whether it's immediate family, the community or just a financial burden to the public in general.  This does NOT mean that all of our personal rights are secondary to our societal responsibility...but there has to be a balance and a compromise.

Would I mandate that all riders in a "professional" situation wear helmets?  Yes.  As in, if a clinician is putting on a clinic (getting paid for it), then the instructor and riders wear helmets while on horseback.  Or if it's a show, participants wear helmets.  Yes, even the fancy dressage riders should lose the top hats and wear a helmet. 

Doesn't matter how you try to argue it...IF you take a fall, a helmet CAN prevent injuries.  That's not saying it will prevent injuries 100% of the time, but if you don't wear it, it's guaranteed to NOT help 100% of the time.

Would I carry the argument so far as to say riders should wear chest protectors and other protection? Nope.  Because, again, it's a balance.  A helmet is an EASY and rather inexpensive piece of equipment to wear to potentially protect you from COMMON injuries to your head.  Granted a chest protector will protect your ribs and internal organs, but those types of injuries from horseback aren't as common.

I also wouldn't take the argument so far as to say that, in a personal capacity, everyone has to wear helmets, because, again, there has to be a balance. 

I usually don't wear a helmet if I'm riding in the indoor round pen.  It's sand.  Yes, I know I could hit my head hard enough or even hit a round pen panel.  But it's a relatively "safe" environment.  However, on trails or riding in the outdoor (rock/gravel/harder surface), I put the helmet on.