If you have ever thought of riding without a helmet, here is something to make you think again.
In the video below, 2008 Olympian Courtney King-Dye discusses living with a traumatic brain injury almost three years since a riding accident when she was not wearing a helmet.
Following Courtney’s accident, a few people got together to create the Riders4Helmets campaign with the simple objective of getting more equestrians to wear helmets at all times when riding (even wearing them when you’re not mounted can be advisable sometimes!)
The campaign now runs a Safety Symposium (more information about this year’s Symposium coming soon), the Helmet International Awareness Day and the Equestrian Safety Awards. On their website they relate the story of Charlotte Dujardin fracturing her skull in a riding accident a few years ago; Charlotte told the BBC in an interview “I feel unsafe without me helmet on”. She certainly proved that you don’t need to have a top hat on to be the best in the world at the London Olympic Games and is a great role model.
We all hate wearing helmets on those boiling hot days but, before you decide not to bother with a helmet, please think about Courtney and reconsider
The copy of her speech is also provided below
Many thanks to Riders4Helmets for the use of this video and accompanying text
My name is Courtney Dye-King and I was a member of the 2008 Olympic Dressage team
I’m very disappointed that I cannot be there with you but I’d committed to do a talk in Wisconsin nearly a year ago
In March 2010 I suffered a traumatic brain injury while riding without a helmet
Living with a TBI has changed my life, which changed my husband’s. And my family’s. And my close friends
Take that into consideration before you get on a horse without a helmet
And there are great financial consequences as well
I’m still in occupational therapy and physical therapy (which insurance helps with but I still have to cover a portion of) and need to see a chiropractor a couple of times a month, 3 years after my accident
I should still be in speech therapy but my insurance stopped helping with it. They tried to stop coverage in my other therapies as well because I “didn’t improve enough” which I feel shows a need for MORE therapy
On top of these expenses I had a substantial loss of income so this could have been debilitating
I was lucky that the public made my therapies possible through generous contributions to a medical fund that Lendon started for me. Not everyone is so fortunate. Most accidents are not so widely publicised as mine so they don’t have a chance that people will contribute money to help with their recovery
Riders4Helmets is making serious changes in safety though. Not only has it instigated rule changes at shows, I’ve gotten countless emails from people telling me that a helmet has saved their life, as has Lyndsey, and its reaching more people; now 25,000 equestrians in over 40 countries visit the website on a monthly basis
Riders4Helmets International Helmet Awareness Day attracted participation from over 700 retailers in 4 countries and the FEI wants to become involved
I hope to see support for the campaign expand even further in 2013
Riders4Helmets will be hosting the first International Safety Symposium this summer and we need your help to successfully bring it to a wider audience; with your support we can educate even more equestrians and save even more lives
It took my accident to exemplify that safety has nothing to do with the level of skill
My horse did nothing naughty, he simply tripped over his own feet and fell
You can be on the quietest schoolmaster and the same could happen to you
I’ve learned to expect the unexpected and hopefully you’ll learn from my mistake
Please CHOOSE to wear a helmet every time you get on a horse
