PSA: Helmet Awareness Day

The Riders4Helmets campaign was founded in 2010 as a direct result of American Olympic dressage rider Courtney King-Dye's accident.  A young horse she was schooling fell, leaving King-Dye (who was not wearing a helmet) with severe head injuries.  The campaign has the aim of educating equestrians on the benefits of wearing a properly fitting, secured, and certified helmet.  This is the second year in a row I have now bought a new helmet for Helmet Awareness Day. But now I don't need any for another 4-5 years.  Right?  Lol.

My daily helmet is a basic Tipperary Sportage.  I used to ride in Troxels, and had several, but once I tried a Tipperary I have never, ever went back.  SO much more comfortable.  When my first Tipperary expired (you replace yours every 5 years too, right?) I went to the All American Quarter Horse Congress and tried on every brand and model I could find.  And I didn't like a single one better than my cheap Tipperary. Charles Owens were too round.  As were One K.  Ovations just felt...weird.  There were 3 or 4 more brands that I don't recall, I ended up with another Tipperary.  And another.

I think what I need to do is actually go into a fully stocked tack store and try helmets on again but those are woefully absent here in my new neck of the woods.  The closest is over 1.5 hours away! And sadly I didn't take the time to do it when I was in MI, you know, close to things.  Last year I replaced my show helmet with one of the snazzy looking T4s.

New(ish) show helmet

Sadly they seem to not be making them anymore, I was going to get one for my regular riding helmet.  My daily helmet is set to expire in February so I knew I needed a new one, thankfully Helmet Awareness Day does a great job of providing big discounts from retailers so I scored another Sportage for $63 from Equus Now, almost 25% off with free shipping!  Riding Warehouse is having a really nice 20% off sale as well (coupon code HAD20) and Dover is suggesting 50% off retail (but...it's Dover so.... compare and add in shipping cost) and lots more.

New daily helmet

The $900 FB Pony has a good write up already and you can go to riders4helmets to find retailers that are participating as well.  Protect your noggin, save some monies and buy a new helmet! I did!