Linda Parelli and helmetless jumping...

I thought, looking at the picture, that this was likely just an off moment for Parelli, that maybe she'd left her helmet in the car or something. But no, apparently Linda Parelli doesn't believe in helmets. She wrote this response to a concerned viewer who was, at the time of writing, recovering from a head injury she received when her horse spooked out from under her. She said to Ms. Parelli that advocating activities like jumping without the use of appropriate safety gear was setting people up for life-changing and potentially life-ending injuries.
Linda Parelli disagreed and this was her response:
Hi Patti,
Thank you for taking the time to write us. We understand your views and concerns. As quoted by the faculty at our ranch:
You are quite right--helmets are fabulous things, and they save many lives. Tragically though, people who ARE wearing helmets also die or suffer serious head injuries with horses.
Our program is intended to address the safety problem at its root--which is behavioral--rather than address the symptoms of it. Our message is about developing the relationship with the horse, and the savvy level of the rider, so that unsafe behavior is addressed long before the rider gets on the horse--rather than allowing the unsafe situations to occur and hope that the helmet, body protector, etc. will protect us from the consequences.
The reason you do not see our people wearing helmets is because we try to teach people that rather than be brave because they are wearing a helmet to protect them, they would be better off not riding until their horse is behaving safely.
People have called us brave for not wearing helmets, but we say they are a lot braver than we are. We could not get on their horse until we have addressed the issues that cause it to behave in unsafe ways.
We hope this helps,
From the Faculty,
Parelli Centers
http://jacksonsgrrl.blogs...of-preposterousness.html
So....apparently helmets are only for cowards with badly behaved horses. It boggles my mind.
From Bad_Riding
Let's not mention the issues with how the jump is set up.
I thought, looking at the picture, that this was likely just an off moment for Parelli, that maybe she'd left her helmet in the car or something. But no, apparently Linda Parelli doesn't believe in helmets. She wrote this response to a concerned viewer who was, at the time of writing, recovering from a head injury she received when her horse spooked out from under her. She said to Ms. Parelli that advocating activities like jumping without the use of appropriate safety gear was setting people up for life-changing and potentially life-ending injuries.
Linda Parelli disagreed and this was her response:
Hi Patti,
Thank you for taking the time to write us. We understand your views and concerns. As quoted by the faculty at our ranch:
You are quite right--helmets are fabulous things, and they save many lives. Tragically though, people who ARE wearing helmets also die or suffer serious head injuries with horses.
Our program is intended to address the safety problem at its root--which is behavioral--rather than address the symptoms of it. Our message is about developing the relationship with the horse, and the savvy level of the rider, so that unsafe behavior is addressed long before the rider gets on the horse--rather than allowing the unsafe situations to occur and hope that the helmet, body protector, etc. will protect us from the consequences.
The reason you do not see our people wearing helmets is because we try to teach people that rather than be brave because they are wearing a helmet to protect them, they would be better off not riding until their horse is behaving safely.
People have called us brave for not wearing helmets, but we say they are a lot braver than we are. We could not get on their horse until we have addressed the issues that cause it to behave in unsafe ways.
We hope this helps,
From the Faculty,
Parelli Centers
http://jacksonsgrrl.blogs...of-preposterousness.html
So....apparently helmets are only for cowards with badly behaved horses. It boggles my mind.
From Bad_Riding
Let's not mention the issues with how the jump is set up.
