I’ve Missed this View

Six weeks after having surgery on my wrist I’ve finally been released from “stall rest” and thoroughly enjoyed a four-mile hack through the fall foliage. Zelda was content to meander along the trails and the weather was perfect. Thankfully, we are having unseasonably warm weather right now in New England and I’m planning to take […]

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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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The Wrong Kind of Boot

Major Bummer

Little did I know when I rode in the Hunter Pace that it would be my last long ride for some time. Last week, when walking down a hill in the rain to check on the horses I slipped on the grass and fell. I knew it was bad. There was a popping, which didn’t […]

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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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Mounting your Horse Safely

Three step mounting block

When are the riskiest times during your ride? Mounting and dismounting rank right up at the top of the list. Especially mounting. This is when you are in a precarious position. An unexpected move by your horse or a shift in the item your standing on, can cause you to fall and potentially get caught […]

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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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New Method detects traumatic Brain Injuries

Traumatic Brain Inury

According to a study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery, revealed that 45.2 percent of TBI among adults were related to horseback riding, Over the years, I’ve had two concussions — at least that I know of. The last one occurred about 10 or 12 years ago, while I was hunting. There is an in […]

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