What a wonderful Sunday morning to take Gabriel out on his first ride after his month of EPM treatment.  He is showing great signs of improvement.  As we were riding past my Great Grandmother’s farm and I was remembering my childhood in the field making hay, I felt the breeze blowing through my hair and thought how nice a day it was, the breeze so wonderful.  Then the next thought was “You big dummy – you forgot your helmet!”  So, very carefully we turned around and returned to the farm to grab my helmet.  As I was riding back, all I could think of were the different people in my life whose lives were saved because of a helmet.  Mine included. . . .

When I was a young girl riding at Deerfield Riding Center in Great Fall, VA I had a nasty fall.  I was riding the owner’s horse and jumping about a 3-½ foot jump.  The girth broke as we cleared the jump. I fell and the horse landed on my head, resulting in a bad concussion.   I was riding with an old school riding helmet.  Keep in mind this was in the early 70’s.  It saved my life.

My daughter used to love to ride until the day she had a horrible accident on our little endurance Arab.  They were cantering through a 125 acre cornfield on Thanksgiving day when her stirrup leather came off the bracket of the old English saddle she was riding in. (This was a long time before treeless saddles came into our lives.) She lost her balance and fell. With her foot stuck in the remaining stirrup, the horse dragged her for who knows how far, kicking her in the head and ribs.  She was trying to pull herself loose by grabbing corn stalks.  Finally she broke loose.  Without her helmet the doctors said she would have died of head injuries.  She survived with a concussion, cracked ribs and loss of her peripheral vision in one eye.  It was a truly scary day.  I knew something was wrong and walked out the door to find her carrying a stirrup and leading the horse.  She was in shock.  Without a helmet I would have lost my daughter and never would have met my wonderful grandson.  To this day she doesn’t want to ride.

My dear friend had a horrible fall May 2010.  Her Spotted Walking Horse mare went nuts, totally out of character for this horse, bucking her off at a gallop.  I witnessed the whole thing. After hanging on to the horse’s neck for what seemed like miles, she fell into the woods and landed on her head.  She is still recovering from a severe concussion.  Without her helmet who knows what the outcome would have been.

Please – always wear your helmet.  If it’s old or cracked, replace it.  It’s much cheaper to replace a helmet than to………. Well, think about it.

For your helmet needs please contact Amy at http://www.cadencefarm.us/