Re: RC: thanks for helmet info..........

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

why they didn't require helmets for 
> junior riders at CSHA events and basically got the answer that it > had
never occured to them, and she didn't think it would be met with >
success.........

Safety statistics aside, I think the trick is to make helmets status.  I
was the first person I know if in this area who wore a helmet outside the
jumping horse ring.  I remember when I got it for Christmas, it was one
of those big things Phelans used to sell that was almost as big as a
motorcycle helmet.  The first day I rode down my road I was so self
conscious. Then a guy that I actually had a crush on in high school
walked out of his house and said, "What's with the helmet, are you scared
of him?"  I said, "Yeah, and Dale Earnhardt is scared of his car...some
of us just push it a little closer to the edge."

It took 12 years, but I can't think of one person who rides with my crowd
who doesn't wear one.  It has become a symbol of being a serious
horseman, not just (God forbid) a DAY-RIDER. My kids equate no helmet
with people who have curling fenders on their western saddles, insulated
saddlebags full of beer, and a *crawling* pace. They wouldn't dare go out
looking like that.  At the Chickamauga Battlefield where lots of us
train, we once trotted up behind a big group of horses dragging along at
a crawl and the one in back called out "helmets" and the whole line
shifted over to let us by.  Tell them it means SPEED! not fear. :-)

Angie
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