letters to the editor
Trail Blazer, Just got my May Trail Blazer magazine
and was delighted to see my friend Linda Bullard on the cover riding her fabulous mare, Salty. This photo was taken May 2009 at the Franklin Family Ranch in Blanco, Texas at the ACTHA year-end Champion- ship Ride where she won Reserve. The jump was one of our obstacles. Deanne Prusak Waller, Texas
Dear Trail Blazer, I’ve been a subscriber, article author
and advertiser since the days when Trail Blazer was printed on newspaper stock. I’ve never seen a cover photo as incongru- ously placed over an issue topic as May’s shot of a rider with no helmet, clutching her saddle horn while jumping over a fallen log, above the cover line “Ride Smart to Avoid Injury.” I applaud Peggy Cummings for using photos by Debbie Hopper of hel- meted riders in “Developing a Connected Partnership” with their trail horses. But I have noticed a trend developing in Trail Blazer, exemplifi ed by the photo on pages 32 and 33, showing another rider without a helmet illustrating an article ironically entitled “Ride Smart.” In my 30 years of producing daily trail
rides and horseback vacations for over 200,000 riders (I did the math), I’ve prob- ably heard every horseback riding horror story out there. The worst are about the avoidable deaths and permanent brain injuries that happened to riders from nov- ice through professional who for whatever reason were not wearing a helmet at the moment when the accident happened. By far the greatest percentage of these fatal or nearly-so accidents occurred while at the stand still, walk or trot on well-broke horses. I’m sure most trail riders have their own
version of the “my helmet saved my life” story. In my case, on a pleasure ride trot- ting along a hard-packed dirt road with my son and husband, my horse stepped into a duff-covered hole and fl ipped. My head hit the ground with a sound like a rifl e shot. My family thought they’d watched me die.
8 June | July 2010 •
WWW.TRAILBLAZERMAGAZINE.US
My helmet split in two, I had a moderate concussion, but I’m here to write about it. I wish I could re-print the entire letter written by Michael S. Smith, MD MS (Stat.), Arizona, in another horse magazine this month. In brief, this neurologist and stat- istician, horseback rider and cyclist states that basic physics tells us that a static fall from 10 feet is equivalent to hitting a wall at 25 mph. “Head injuries affect the frontal and temporal regions of the brain due to the bony anatomy inside the skull, primary areas for speech, judgment and personality.” We have a poster hanging at my stables: “Regarding the wearing of helmets: If you think your hair-do is more important than your brains.... you’re probably right!” Lari Shea
Fort Bragg, Caliornia
Publisher’s note: We appreciate your thoughtful letter, Lari, and we’d like to add to the dialogue with a slightly different perspec- tive. The rider on the cover of the May issue was specifi cally chosen because of her excellent balance going over the jump with her horse. We saw this as using—not clutching—the saddle horn to steady herself, which is actually a safe thing to do when riding through technical terrain or jumping. We often see other unsafe practices on the trail, whether endurance or recreational riding, such as riding in running shoes without heels (and with sticky treads) and riding a horse in a halter. We concur 100% that riding without a helmet can be dangerous, and we wholeheart- edly endorse helmet use, especially in juniors (see another May article, “No Kidding,” for more on this topic). Over the last year, we have featured three juniors on the cover, and all three were helmeted. We try to refl ect the full range of trail riders on our covers: Western and English, men and women, young and senior, helmets and hats, and all breeds. Ultimately, however, the truth is that LIFE
carries risks of all sorts—whether mounting your horse for a pleasure ride or getting into your car to go down to the corner grocery store. We all have to make the decisions we want to make about risk tolerance and our own personal safety. Having said that, we’d like to remind all riders that trail-riding helmets have never been lighter weight, better ventilated or more stylish, and we hope that anyone “on the fence” about wearing a helmet will “use their head” and take this opportunity to reconsider their choice!
We want to hear from you! Email your comments to
editor@trailblazermagazine.us, or mail them to: Let ers to the Editor, • Trail Blazer Magazine PO Box 27243• Prescot Valley, AZ 86312-7243
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