Gucci Launches Equestrian Themed Handbag

Equestrian themed handbag

When I first saw this equestrian themed handbag, I thought it was a joke. Especially when I saw the price. $4,000 to carry a facsimile of an equestrian helmet? I doubt it’s even ASTM certified. I do like the details. The strap looks like a chin strap and the buckles look like equestrian hardware. Perhaps, […]

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Recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury

Recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury

If you’ve been riding for as long as I have (about half a century if you count my up/down lessons as a kid), the chances that you’ve had a concussion along the way is pretty high. According to a report issued by Ohio State University in 2020, approximately 10%-30% of horse-related injuries are head injuries. […]

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Take Advantage of Helmet Awareness Weekend Sales

Now’s the time to buy a new helmet and take advantage of the International Helmet Awareness sales that are running this week and through the weekend. Sadly, it appears that the organization that started the initiative, Riders4Helmets, is gone. Their website is abandoned and their Facebook page hasn’t been updated in a year. So kudos […]

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Simple Saliva Test May Diagnose Concussion

A simple saliva test is being used successfully to diagnose concussions among professional rugby players in the UK. Researchers have found distinct chemical “signatures’ that correctly diagnose 96% of concussions among 1,028 male professional rugby athletes from the two top-tier leagues in England over two seasons. The results are reported in the British Journal of […]

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Brimmed or Brimless: Which is Safer?

Much of the talk in the development of equine helmets centers around the rollout of MIPS technology. But there is another consideration when evaluating helmet safety: namely, should you go brimmed or brimless? In eventing, the helmet of choice is typically a jockey skull cap. This design has no built-in brim. Instead, helmet covers are […]

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Research on equestrian helmets at the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab is Fully Funded

Virginia Tech Helmet Lab

It’s about time that riders have enough information to compare the safety performance of different equestrian helmets — and that’s finally going to happen now that the Virginia Tech Helmet lab has been fully funded to study equestrian helmets. More than $425,000 was raised through the collaborative efforts of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), […]

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Study shows helmets do not protect from lateral crush impact

Helmet study on side impact crush resistance

A study published in Applied Sciences suggests that current riding helmets do not prevent skull fractures in adults when crushed from the side, as may occur if a horse falls on its rider. The study team comprised Connor, Michio Clark, Pieter Brama, Matt Stewart, Aisling Ní Annaidh and Michael Gilchrist, variously affiliated with University College […]

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FEI Requires Protective Headgear for all Riders beginning in 2021

The days of the traditional top hat are numbered. Dressage riders must wear protective headgear at all times, in the show ring and out, at FEI events as of January 1, 2021. In addition, helmets are required during the marathon phase of combined driving events.  The delay in implementation is to allow time for education […]

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