Granted, I’ve been more cautious since my accident, but my latest concern has been about jewelry. As the weather here has gotten warmer, I noticed my rings was getting tighter. To the point where I wasn’t sure I could get my engagement ring off without a considerable struggle.
That got me thinking. Could I get it off quickly? Back when my daughter was a few months old, I broke my hand when my horse slipped coming into a jump. We took the whole thing down and I hit my hand on a standard. Luckily, back then my rings fit a little looser and I managed to get it off before my hand swelled up. Excessive swelling can cause you to lose a finger. No joke.
But there are more reasons than broken bones why riders should be careful about their jewelry. When I was a teen, our trainer wouldn’t let us wear dangling pierced earings when we rode — she’d seen too many girls with ripped earlobes after they caught those earrings in their horses’ manes.
I once had a favorite pendant go flying (into a patch of poison Ivy, as I later learned) when I caught my crop in a necklace while jumping. The good news? The chain broke. The bad news? I had the worst poison ivy ever, all over my legs.
Rings, too can get caught. On manes, on halters, on bridles, and more. The consequences are often not pretty and can result in nasty breaks, degloving and even — yikes — people losing their fingers altogether. Wearing gloves can help, but some people have been badly injured even then.
Now that my imagination has been primed by my accident, I decided to look for a safe ring to wear a the barn. I don’t like to take my jewelry off because I lose it. Finding one that met my requirements was not easy. First I tried a silicone ring, which stretched. Nice idea, but kind of ugly. So, I looked for an adjustable ring, which I could remove in a pinch.
At long last, I found one that I love — it’s comfortable, elegant, expandable, and the hand hammered finish is really pretty. The ring is made by Etsy seller AAurous.
I haven’t taken it off since I bought it, but I’m confident that I can if I need to.
Do you wear your jewelry to the barn?