In a gesture that spoke more than words, Steffan Peters rode into the ring to collect the bronze medal he won for his Freestyle test on Ravel wearing his helmet. He had dedicated his ride to Courtney King-Dye, who was in a coma after hitting her head when her horse fell. King-Dye has recovered enough to spectate at WEG.
“I sent an e-mail to Courtney today saying that tonight I would dedicate the ride to her. She has inspired me…and I felt like what she overcame in the last six months was so extremely inspiring that I made the ride for here tonight.”
I want to make sure I understand this correctly (seriously, no sarcasm): Stephan Peters won while not wearing a helmet, but collected the medal while wearing a helmet in order to honor Ms. King-Dye, who was severely injured riding without a helmet?
I realize it’s (sadly) risky for Dressage riders at top levels to wear a helmet during a test. I applaud Stephan Peters for honoring Ms. King-Dye by wearing a helmet at any time, and I find it incomprehensible that his only ‘safe’ recourse to do that honoring was during a victory lap. It’s insane that realistically, he could have been risking his marks if he wore a helmet during the actual test.
I know they say Judges won’t ding the rider for wearing one instead of a top hat, but if they won’t, then why are there so few top riders who wear helmets?
You are correct. And it says something not-very-positive about upper level dressage that it WAS such a big statement for Peters to wear his helmet for his victory lap.