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  • From: Una Smith <una@lanl.gov>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [MSAR] Re: helmets in MSAR
  • Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 08:25:09 -0700

Personal safety can be taken to absurd extremes. For example,
a case could be made that everyone who travels in a car should
wear not only a 3-point seatbelt, but also a helmet. Racers
wear helmets, and the average highway car driver is neither as
skilled nor as experienced as a racer.

That said, there are many horse riders, even some MSAR riders,
who in my personal opinion should never get on a horse without
wearing a helmet.

It is preaching to the choir, to tell experienced horse riders
about head trauma. Most of us have seen it up close, have gone
to the hospital with injured riders. But I hope (even expect)
that for MSAR riders the incidence of head trauma is far below
average. Not because we are great riders (many of us are not
great riders, myself included), but because we are very careful
riders who spend huge amounts of time, money, and hard work on
training ourselves and our horses, and we practice safe riding.

My philosophy about SAR missions is that urgency comes second
to personal safety. I ride with more, not less, caution on a
mission precisely because of my responsibility to the subject
and to all the other SAR volunteers.

Una Smith
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Posse, in New Mexico

Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS K-710, Los Alamos, NM 87545
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Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 17:34:13 -0800
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Subject: Re: [MSAR] Re: helmets in MSAR
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Sorry it's taken me so long to respond back to this thread. It's been a
week of late SAR meetings. But there isn't one tonight- yippee!

Una Smith wrote:

> Personal safety can be taken to absurd extremes.

Well, now, I don't think that wearing a helmet is an absurd extreme and
I am surprised that you would respond in such a way. It is an easily
adapted accomodation that adds just a little bit more protection in case
"the worst case" scenario should ever happen. Maybe not for everyone but
certainly acceptable and reasonable.

>
> It is preaching to the choir, to tell experienced horse riders
> about head trauma.

I really disagree with you here. I can back this up by asking on this
list of hopefully experienced riders how many wear a helmet? If you were
truly speaking to the choir about head trauma everyone here would
already be wearing a helmet and this discussion would be a non-issue.
One of the best riders I know, and she' s also a trainer, is a
neurosurgeon. And yeah, she always wears a helmet. Her reason "I see
what happens and I don't want it to happen to me."

> But I hope (even expect)
> that for MSAR riders the incidence of head trauma is far below
> average. Not because we are great riders (many of us are not
> great riders, myself included), but because we are very careful
> riders who spend huge amounts of time, money, and hard work on
> training ourselves and our horses, and we practice safe riding.

In a perfect world that would be the truth. However let me share with
you my story. I am a very experienced rider- 42 years on horseback. I
spend a lot of time in the saddle. I work hard desensitizing my horses
to everything (They will walk UNDER a tarp and stand quietly while
someone shakes it ) I provide the best gear I can for each particular
job. I have mucho training in as many different situations as could
possibly happen. My horses are generally rock steady. I was at a play
day event with my daughter. We were saddled up and ready to mount. I
swung up into the saddle and before I could get my weight down my horse
took off like a bolt of lightening. Still don't know why- probably never
will. A bee? a zephyr? the proverbial wild hare? I ended up riding my
guy from behind the saddle sitting on his butt at a full gallop.
Unfortunately he has a VERY long full mane and it was tangled in my
hands along wtih the reins. I judged the situation, the direction he was
heading (between closely parked trailers and pipe railing) and decided a
quick if not graceful dismount was called for. I did everything right.
Pulled my leg over, tucked, rolled- at the last second someone ran at
him from the right and he veered left. My dismount came seriously close
to a trailer. Too close. On my first roll while my body was still
partially in the air the right side of my head connected with the corner
of a welded metal bumper rail. Squared off corner. I ended up completely
under the trailer when I stopped moving. Thank God I am so used to my
helmet that I always wear it. It cracked. Without it there would most
certainly have been a real emergency that day. I may not have lived, I
most likely would have had a long road back to health. Instead I tore
the trapezius at the skull (6 months healing) and replaced my helmet. I
consider that to be money well spent!

The moral of this story? Weird stuff happens. Calm horses bolt, decent
riders fall off, trails give way. It doesn't have to be your horse doing
something out of the ordinary. It can be Joe Schmoe's horse who freaks
at the chopper and knocks you off the trail and down the cliff. It can
be a sudden rock slide. A gun shot whistling past his ears. Just riding
in a group ups the risks. A million and one things can go wrong that we
have no control over. I like to think I am smart enough to recognize
this and to take whatever reasonable precautions I can. To me a helmet
is reasonable.

>
> My philosophy about SAR missions is that urgency comes second
> to personal safety. I ride with more, not less, caution on a
> mission precisely because of my responsibility to the subject
> and to all the other SAR volunteers.
>
> Una Smith

I am sorry that you feel that way. My philosophy is that if urgency is
more important that personal safety than you have a high chance of
becoming part of the problem. First rule of SAR- Don't become part of
the problem. My helmet is part of my tack- it hangs with my saddle- I
don't grab one without the other. If urgency was truly the main issue
I'd ride bareback and bridleless (yes, my horses do that too.)

As for my territory- I go places on a search I might not choose to go on
my own. However some of the places I go on my own are pretty rough and
wild! <G> I ride seriously steep trails and very rocky areas. I ride
heavily wooded hillsides of soft dirt. I go deep into canyons where I
can't see the edge above me. I ride over narrow trails and where there
aren't trails. I ride where I might spook a bear or a cougar at any
time. I often ride alone. And I always wear my helmet.

To each his own- this has been one woman's viewpoint! <G>

Chris Pennington
Big Bear Sheriff's Posse
Mounted Search and Rescue






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