The following report was written for Riders4Helmets by Jackie Baker of Regarding Horses.
What happens when you bring together a host of knowledgeable horse men and women who are competitors, manufacturers, physicians, retailers, representatives of equestrian organizations, parents, media and more and who are also passionate about equestrian safety?
You get quite an education and a lot of great ideas by people in a position to actually make a difference, that’s what.
The second Riders4Helmets Helmet Safety Symposium was held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington on Saturday, July 23, 2011, generously sponsored by GPA, Samshield, Troxel, Ovation, Charles Owen, and Tipperary.
The day started at 8:30 am and went until 5:00 pm and was jam-packed with sessions and open discussion on traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and concussions, helmet safety standards and certifications, personal stories of lives affected by riding accidents, and ideas from competitive riders. The overall theme for the day was how to get more riders wearing approved safety helmets.
Riders4Helmets Raising Support and Awareness
Lyndsey White launched the Riders4Helmets campaign in March 2010 when Olympic dressage rider Courtney King-Dye suffered a traumatic brain injury when a horse tripped and went down with her – not wearing a helmet.
Medical and rehabilitation costs of a TBI start at $1.5 million, and can reach as high as $3 million. What Lyndsey originally started as an eBay store to raise medical funds for Courtney quickly morphed into a full-scale awareness campaign advocating helmet-wearing.
After general Symposium introductions by Lyndsey and co-host Dr. Craig Ferrell, USET physician and FEI Medical Council Chair, we started the day with a personal video message from Courtney King-Dye.
Dr Ferrell, US Equestrian Team Physician and Chair FEI Medical Council, co-host at the 2nd Riders4Helmets Helmet Safety Symposium. PHOTO Copyright: Riders4Helmets
“Expect the unexpected, “Courtney said. “Safety has nothing to do with level of skill. I intend to make my terrible injury into something great. Everyone is a role model for someone.” To watch Courtney’s video presentation see this link.
2nd Helmet Safety Symposium Sessions and Speakers
Every symposium is a little bit different, and this time the overarching themes were:
- Getting every rider at shows and at home wearing helmets
- Appealing to individual riders in a personal way and helping them determine their “tipping point” or the most convincing reason they would wear a helmet
- Starting with the top riders in each discipline as they are role models for their sport
- Educating trainers, parents, and riders on choosing the most appropriate helmet and ensuring it is correctly fitted and worn
Parent Kemi O’Donnell on the Approved Safety Helmet
Starting out the day was Kemi O’Donnell sharing her heart-wrenching story of losing her 12-year-old daughter Christen in a riding accident in 1998. Christen was wearing a velvet hard hat with a chinstrap, as required at all times by her trainer – but it wasn’t a certified safety helmet. Had she been wearing an actual helmet that day, she may have survived her fall.
Since then, Kemi has been working to get legislation passed to ensure that every hard hat or helmet on the US market meets basic safety standards. She hopes to prevent other unsuspecting parents of young riders – like herself – from purchasing something they think is protecting their child and isn’t.
An emotional Kemi O’Donnell discusses her daughter Christen’s tragic death in a riding accident. Photo Copyright: Riders4Helmets
Dr. Lola Blackwell Chambless on Traumatic Brain Injury
Neurosurgeon at Vanderbilt University and Event Rider
The most important thing we took away from Dr. Chambless’ discussion on types, diagnosis, and treatment of TBI is that you should never mess around with a potential head injury.
She shared some pretty sobering statistics:
- A motorcyclist can expect one serious accident for every 5,000 hours of riding. An equestrian? One serious accident in just 350 hours of riding.
- On average there are 8 TBI deaths a year in contact sports like football. There are approximately 60 equestrian deaths each year.
- Of all TBI’s incurred during recreational sports, horseback riding accidents make up 12% – the largest group.
- Most riding TBI’s happen at home – not at shows – where regulations have no effect
TBI’s are costly to rehab, and many people never make a full recovery. Prevention is key.
Dr Chambless, Vanderbilt University, presenting at the 2nd Riders4Helmets Helmet Safety Symposium. PHOTO Copyright: Riders4Helmets
Rider Panel on Helmet Wearing Across Disciplines (and a Safety Conscious Fashion Show)
The rider panel discussing helmet use in specific disciplines included an eventer (Cathy Wieschhoff), dressage young rider (Kristin Posner), ex-jockey (PJ Cooksey), polo player (Peter Rizzo), dressage rider (Kim Gentry), USEF safety rider representative (Reese Koffler-Stanfield), and barrel racer (Mary Miller Jordan).
Rider Panel at the 2nd Riders4Helmets Helmet Safety Symposium. PHOTO Copyright: Riders4Helmets
Each discussed the specific challenges for getting riders to wear helmets as well as the opportunities within his or her discipline. They generally agreed that riders need to buy in at the individual level, that top riders have a great deal of influence, and that competition regulations are just one place to start.
The rider panel also participated in a fun fashion show sponsored by Equisafety modeling high visibility apparel for horses and riders. Started by Nikki Fletcher in the UK as a protective measure for riders hacking on roads, she’d like to bring her high visibility wear to the US for use on roads, during hunting season, and for easy location in a rescue situation. The “models” also all wore helmets from the event sponsors and breeches donated by Ovation.
Fashion Show sponsored by Equisafety, Ovation and Equestrian Collections. PHOTO Copyright: Riders4Helmets
Helmet Safety Standards and Certification
Dean Moran, SEI
Roy Burek, Charles Owen
Len Clement, Tipperary
These three gentlemen primarily discussed what it takes to get a riding helmet certified for safety. In an ASTM/SEI certified helmet, the “ASTM” is the standards to which the helmet adheres, and “SEI” is the third-party organization that tests and certifies that the helmet meets those standards.
Dean Moran, SEI, 2nd Riders4Helmets Helmet Safety Symposium. PHOTO Copyright: Riders4Helmets
Testing includes hard impacts on flat and sharp services, give of the chin strap, security of the helmet (won’t move around on the head), and drops from various heights. Manufacturers submit to testing at least once a year, more if any significant changes are made to one of their product designs.
Roy Burek, Charles Owen, 2nd Riders4Helmets Helmet Safety Symposium. PHOTO Copyright: Riders4Helmets
Sallie Stewart’s TBI Survivor Story
Sallie, a dressage rider, got on her horse without a helmet in February of 2008. He took 6 steps and fell. Her husband performed CPR and saved her life (read Sallie’s story at this link).
She spent six weeks in the ICU (most of which she doesn’t remember), but because she wasn’t in a coma, on a ventilator, and could move with assistance she didn’t qualify for rehabilitation therapy. All her therapy was done by her husband and 12-year-old son – neither of whom she could remember for many months. Sallie’s cognitive skills (IQ, concentration, etc) have been permanently affected, and she still has issues with some motor functions. But she’s back to riding and getting some of the best therapy possible on the back of a horse with a good trainer.
“The price that you pay for a TBI is huge,” Sallie said. “You will emotionally bankrupt yourself. The post traumatic stress disorder you live with is an absolute nightmare. The financial ruin is something else. For anyone who doesn’t want to wear your helmet all I can say is you better hope to God [your spouse] really meant it when they said for better or for worse.”
Sallie Stewart, 2nd Riders4Helmets Helmet Safety Symposium. PHOTO Copyright: Riders4Helmets
Tonya Johnston on Encouraging Helmet Use with Performance Strategies
Tonya is a mental skills coach (and soon-to-be published author) who works with equestrian competitors. She discussed factors and motivations that contribute to behavior change, reasons why people don’t wear helmets, and tactics for getting people to wear them.
Positive reasons for wearing a helmet (how it can improve performance) are often more effective than negative reasons (preventing a serious injury). Tonya discussed ways to “mobilize riders to create their own reasons.” It doesn’t matter why you choose to put that helmet on – it’s just a matter of getting it done. Activate each rider’s own: motivation, creativity, problem solving skills, ability to recognize and account for their own unique personality/experiences.
Tonya Johnston, 2nd Riders4Helmets Helmet Safety Symposium. PHOTO Copyright: Riders4Helmets
Mary Miller Jordan on Helmets in Western Disciplines
Mary is a successful barrel racer and Extreme Mustang Makeover competitor – who just started wearing a helmet recently. She explained that in her world growing up riding gaited horses western, nobody wore helmets. The riders she looked up to didn’t. And as a result, in her mental picture of herself as a successful rider a helmet wasn’t included. It took having her daughter last October to change her mind. Mary knows that she will require her daughter to wear a helmet on horseback – and the best way for her to encourage that behavior is to be a role model and wear one herself. Now she never gets on a horse without one.
Mary had some great ideas for getting helmets on Western riders – including offering more stylish designs with “bling”, snakeskin, and animal prints and offering cash prizes to riders competing successfully wearing helmets.
Mary Miller Jordan, 2nd Riders4Helmets Helmet Safety Symposium. PHOTO Copyright: Riders4Helmets
USEF CEO John Long on the Push and Pull
John put it well when he said that increasing helmet wearing among riders is both a push and a pull.
“The changes that stick, and that mean something come from a push and pull. What makes it work is that individually we change our own behaviors because there’s a reason for us to buy in to the change.”
In addition to increasing regulations over time, we have to continue to find ways in style, fashion, and through the athletes to make this happen.
Dr. Lola Blackwell Chambless on Concussions
We wrapped up the day with a discussion with Dr. Chambless on concussions. Simply, a concussion is an alteration in brain function resulting from trauma – and they do not require a loss of consciousness. Concussions are diagnosed based on the symptoms. Because they are a problem with function rather than structure (such as a fracture, bruise, swelling, or bleed) they cannot be seen with diagnostic equipment.
Know the signs and symptoms of a concussion. Be sure that symptoms have subsided before returning to the saddle – because a second impact before you’ve fully recovered can be much worse.
These are just the highlights of a day jam-packed with great information and discussions. We have video presentations of all the speakers that will be available shortly on the Riders4Helmets website, along with more in-depth reports from each session.
Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and get your Riders4Helmets gear at Equestrian Collections (all proceeds benefit the campaign!).
Ride smart and always wear your helmet!
