Helmets and Parellis

[RRDRanch]

Debra....I was going to reprimand you for responding But you did it so nicely, I didn't bother.

Floridahorsmanship........RUN LIKE HECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh....one more thing. Debra, you followed Parelli and you wear a helmet......hmmmmmmm

[bswall]

I hate getting involved in these discussions, but this time I have no problem.

Everybody knows what a great mule Grace is. She is rock solid. She does what I ask. She has never offered to do something that could hurt me. She is not the friendliest mule in the pasture and doesn't like to be caught, but once caught, she is good as gold.

UNTIL. . .

Friday, as usual, I walked out to the pasture to get her to tack up. As usual, I had a halter and lead rope and got on her bareback to walk back to the tack area. I've always done it and saw no reason not to do it this time.

When I ride I wear a helmet. Just something I do when tacked up. But in my pasture bareback. Come on. Grace just has to walk across the acre and to the barn.

She started walking fast. I pulled back. The other two mules started to run behind her. This has happened before and she ALWAYS listened. I pulled again and she started to lope. Now she was crow hopping. I'm bareback with no mane and one lead rope off to the left. I pulled to no avail.

Directly before me was a field wire fence with a metal pole almost in front of me. I thought, "Can't hit the pole." The narrow bridge was on my right. She was going pretty fast and still crow hopping. She made a direct right turn and I knew it was coming. My rope was on the left side of her.

All I could think of was "not head first, not shoulders first." I remember how fast it all happened. I must have thrown myself to the left and sideways. I hit the fence and it must have absorbed some of the hit and then spit me back and down.

I remember laying there for a second. My hubby was just about to go off on a wagon ride. I called for him although my rib cage felt like it was all busted up on the left side and it was really hard to breathe. The pain was excruciating. I finally go his attention and he came running.

Called 911 and ambulance carted me off 30minutes after the accident. I didn't hit my head and everything worked but my breathing.

Three broken ribs, No's 10, 6 and 7 and a slightly punctured lung, very minute. I had to have oxygen to breathe.

So, I will not ride any more without iron in the mouth I will not ride bareback or any other way without a helmet. If I had hit the metal post with my head, or the fence or the ground without a helmet, I probably would have been airlifted out with possible long-term problems.

My step daughter gave me her story: The most hurt she had ever been was being bucked off riding her tried and true horse bareback with a halter.

Sometimes we just need to bite the bullet and learn from others.

It doesn't matter what the "prideful" want to do. I'm suggesting that everyone do what is smart not popular.

I'm out of things for a while until the ribs heal. I'm doing great. I have everything working: fingers, toes, motion. BUT I'm smarter than I was at 4 pm Friday afternoon. I really try to learn from my experiences and everyone else's. Oh, well, if it doesn't conflict with my image? No, even when it does conflict with my 'image.'

I was very tempted to have my very own mule throw rug but I got over it

Helmets and bits in the mouths. Yes, Parelli fans. Iron in the mouths. Sorry. At all my clinics from now on. I learned and don't want anybody else to learn this way. It might not have turned out so well for me.

[partlycloudy]

Ouch, Bess, that sounds painful. Hope you and the mule are ok. Mules are cool.

[Kellye]

Thanks for sharing your words of wisdom Bess. May I ask, how long have you been wearing a helmet and do you encourage your students to do the same?

[lovemysoda]

YOUCH! That smarts - hmmm - I'm thinking a nice mule rug in front of the fire place is not such a bad idea


Hope you recover quick! If you are interested this will help your bones heal super fast. I have a friend on it -she had radiation treatment which destroyed her bones - when she bent over she would fracture bones they were so weak...it hasn't happened to her since she started this stuff....sorry for the long link

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DN%26um%3D1

[bswall]

I've been wearing a helmet since I was 7, just learning to ride. I didn't do it for a period of "cool" years when I married my husband and I rode western. I started wearing one again when I rode my zorse, Zeb. That was close to 10 years ago or more. haven't been encouraging them to wear helmets, not from an active standpoint, although i tell people I wear it no matter what. I ride it in the challenges regardless. It only takes on moment, as seen by my fast dismount

I may have all my participants to wear them from now on. It isn't about whether they want to come or not if I make them wear a helmet. It is about not wanting to be a participant in a brain injury (through holding a clinic).

And, yes, OUCH. Touchy touchy touchy. Whatever they are giving me for dope and anti inflammation seems to be doing the job without making me high. Hate that floating feeling associated with some drugs.

Grace is fine. I'm a bit hurt that she didn't come ask me if I needed help, though.

[bswall]

Lovemysoda, thank you. I will check on that Bone Up. Anything to help heal these old bones. I will give them plenty of time to heal. Don't want to pull them apart again.

[FloridaHorseman]

I know. Shame on me for resurrecting this old thread. But I think those who participated in the food fight this post started might be interested to know that I CALLED the Parelli Colorado Training Center to check the authenticity of "the letter". I talked to one of Pat Parelli's personal assistants (Carole), sent her a copy of the letter as posted below, included a link to this thread and flat out asked her if this indeed is Pat Parelli's position on helmet use. She promised to find out and call me back. That was almost a month ago. She never called back.

However, today I finally received an email response from her that does NOT deny the authenticity of "the letter" originally in question. But the wind generated by the obvious back-pedaling will blow your hats off.

To recap, here's the original "Parelli Helmet Letter", followed by the letter I received today...

Originally Posted by MOVOS

UPDATE ON POST #96

Got this from someone in my driving group today. I am guessing you will all find this of interest.


<<<I am sending this to a couple different groups as I feel it is important to get the word out to potential Parelli followers. As many of you know, I am currently recovering from a brain injury from a fall from a horse this summer. This was a green horse but he spooked while I was getting off, something any horse could do and the odds of a serious accident on a horse finally caught up with me. One thing I have noticed is an ad for Parelli and Linda is jumping a horse bareback and no helmet. Also while I was bedridden I watch a couple of his episodes and he had a a young person who was physically disabled riding without a helmet and it was obvious her balance was not good. I sent a letter to Parellis asking them to please advocate the use of helmets. This is their reply, which I think is totally STUPID coming from professionals.

Patti - w.wa

Hi Patti,

Thank you for taking the time to write us. We understand your views and
concerns. As quoted by the faculty at our ranch:

"You are quite right - helmets are fabulous things and they save many lives. Tragically
though, people who ARE wearing helmets also die or suffer serious
head injuries in accidents with horses.?

Our program is intended to address the safety problem at its root - which is
behavioral - rather than address the symptoms of it. Our message is about
developing the relationship with the horse, and the savvy level of the rider,
so that unsafe behavior is addressed long before the rider gets on the horse -
rather than allowing the unsafe situations to continue to occur and hope that
the helmet, body protector, etc, will protect us from the consequences.

The reason you do not see our people wearing helmets is because we try to teach people
that rather than be brave because they are wearing a a helmet to protect
them, they would be better off not riding until their horse is behaving safely.

People have called us brave for not wearing helmets, but we say they are a lot
braver than we are. We would not get on their horse until we had addressed the
issues that cause it to behave in unsafe ways.

We hope this helps,

From the Faculty, Parelli Centers" >>>

Here's the most recent position they're taking...

Dear Skip,

Thank you very much for your email. We understand your concern about
safety and helmets and we are grateful that you took the time to email
us so we can better address the issue.

Our goal at Parelli Natural Horsemanship is to make the world a better
place for horses and humans, and a critical component of that goal is
safety. We support any protective gear - including helmets - that gives
the rider a safer experience, and we require children under the age of
18 and recommend beginners wear helmets no matter the circumstances. We
encourage each rider to thoroughly evaluate their situation, enroll in a
training program and research and consider all available protective gear
and safety procedures.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Parelli Natural Horsemanship
End of letter

To be truthful, I am not a Parelli fan or devotee. But even so, I thought it only fair to investigate the validity of the original letter before commenting on it. After all folks, this IS the Internet and anybody can purport to be anybody. I find taking things such as this at face value when verifying the truth is often just a few keystrokes or phone call away to be irresponsible.

Make of this "new" position what you wish. But I KNOW it comes from the Parelli executive staff and is certainly more acceptable to me than the first letter. And I have a feeling whoever the author of the first letter was is now mucking out stalls in the rarefied air of Parelli-Land.

And if anyone would like to verify MY verification, PM me for Carole's phone number. ~FH

[BlondyB]

Pish posh...

People on here have already said they do not follow Parelli-so I don't get the big stink as to if grown adults refuse to wear helmets-why it is a big deal.

Yes, they could be viewed as role models....but come on. The Parelli's aren't responsible for everyone's head out there. If people claim that they don't wear helmets JUST BECAUSE the Parelli's don't, well, that is their OWN stupidity.

We are responsible for what WE do and the actions WE take. If someone doesn't want to wear a helmet-and that is their belief than so be it....and vice versa.

[debra1625]

Thanks for taking the time it took to get the response.


Dear Skip,

Thank you very much for your email. We understand your concern about
safety and helmets and we are grateful that you took the time to email
us so we can better address the issue.

Our goal at Parelli Natural Horsemanship is to make the world a better
place for horses and humans, and a critical component of that goal is
safety. We support any protective gear - including helmets - that gives
the rider a safer experience, and we require children under the age of
18 and recommend beginners wear helmets no matter the circumstances. We
encourage each rider to thoroughly evaluate their situation, enroll in a
training program and research and consider all available protective gear
and safety procedures.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Parelli Natural Horsemanship
End of letter

To be truthful, I am not a Parelli fan or devotee. But even so, I thought it only fair to investigate the validity of the original letter before commenting on it. After all folks, this IS the Internet and anybody can purport to be anybody. I find taking things such as this at face value when verifying the truth is often just a few keystrokes or phone call away to be irresponsible.

Make of this "new" position what you wish. But I KNOW it comes from the Parelli executive staff and is certainly more acceptable to me than the first letter. And I have a feeling whoever the author of the first letter was is now mucking out stalls in the rarefied air of Parelli-Land.

And if anyone would like to verify MY verification, PM me for Carole's phone number. ~FH[/QUOTE]