Cob Jockey

Every 5 years, I replace my helmet on International Helmet Awareness Day.  I get a discount, and I also use IHAD's excessive social media promotion as a "Time to make sure my helmet isn't expired yet" reminder.

I won't buy a helmet without trying it, and this year, I really wanted to try the new Charles Owen My PS MIPS helmet, but since my "local" tack store didn't have it (or any MIPS helmets), I ended up buying the same helmet as my expired one but in a different color (OneK in rose gold).


And then I went to the LandSafe clinic.  Danny is sponsored by CO, and had the entire range of CO helmets available to try on.  Aaaaaand the second I put the My PS on my head I knew it was coming home with me.  It fit like a glove, and made my OneK feel like a cheap toy.

I asked "Can I order this?" and he said "You can walk out the door wearing the one you've got on if you want."  So I did 😂

I had already spent a lot of time researching MIPS myself, and decided it sounded like a good idea for equestrians.  The concept is that the brain actually benefits from a certain amount of "slip" in blows that don't happen square on from the top of the head - which is how current helmet safety testing is performed, and how most falls don't actually go.  So MIPS helmets have this inner liner that moves:

The yellow part, which is very thin, moves around a bit

Of course I was aware that Danny had a vested interest in selling me something, but given that he's made a career out of equestrian safety after his own high-risk riding career, I asked for his opinion on whether MIPS was worth it.

I think it looks like a motorcycle helmet from the side, but I don't hate it

Paraphrased slightly, his opinion was: "MIPS is absolutely worth it, and today, if I was doing Dressage and Show Jumping I'd wear any of the CO MIPS helmets, which are the best for low-speed falls like you'd see in those sports.  For XC, I still think the CO 4Star is still the best helmet out there, but as soon as they put MIPS technology in the 4Star, that's what I'm buying." 

And yes, he's sponsored by CO, so he's not taking (other current MIPS helmet manufacturers) Champion or Trauma Void into consideration here, although he did seem very educated on the offerings of other helmet manufacturers in general.  I found his comment about the 4Star interesting, but I didn't press him for more info since I'm not shopping for an XC helmet.


In the end my feeling on this is that our helmets are only as good as the research that went into them at the time they were developed, and MIPS technology seems worth it to me after reading up on it. The bicycling world has flocked to MIPS much faster than the equestrian world, but I expect we'll see more and more helmets start to come out with it shortly.

And that's how I ended up with two helmets...

Bottom line: Top safety technology? ✅ Fits my head well? ✅ Removable, washable liner? ✅  Cost in line with other mid-range helmets? ✅  Sold.

What: Charles Owen My PS MIPS Helmet - Matte
Price: I paid $220 with the LandSafe discount.  $244.95 at Riding Warehouse
Where to Buy: Riding Warehouse

If you have shiny, poker straight hair, this post is going to be moderately irrelevant.  If you don't, hopefully you find this helpful!

Happy International Helmet Awareness Day (yesterday), everyone!

I wrote a post two years ago describing how IHAD reminds me that I was subject to some great parenting as a kid.  My mom is an equestrian too, and if I so much as sat on a horse bareback as a kid, I had to have a helmet on.  I joke that if I hadn't, I wouldn't have been allowed to pet a horse until I was 18.  Nevermind the fact that when she was riding, helmets didn't have chin straps and basically fell off with you if you fell.

My momma and I at Fox River Valley last month.

My own helmet, a Charles Owen Wellington Pro, I purchased when I was afraid for my life in jump class in the fall of 2009.  Nervous jumper, assigned a green freight train of a horse for class, and I had what I knew was the most disposable income I'd ever have in my life.  So I went all out.  I was also riding IHSA at the time, so that guided my helmet choice aesthetically.

Charles Owen Wellington Pro.  It does look good in the Dressage ring, I might keep it around just for Dressage tests even though it's expired.

I love the thing, it feels like a pillow sitting on my head.  The only thing I wish it had was a washable liner and a slightly cheaper price point.  So with this one expiring this fall (haven't had a fall in the five years I've owned it!) I planned for years on buying a new helmet on IHAD 2014.

Lots of research later, I bought...


The One K Defender Matte.  In large, because I have a big head I guess.  Reviews will be forthcoming!

Happy International Helmet Awareness Day, a day that will forever remind me that I was subject to some of the best parenting in the world.

My mom, who amazingly is seeming to age less as she gets older.  Hope I got those genetics.

Her two loves, Little Red and Festus.

I've discussed before that my mom grew up a horse-crazy kid in a completely non-horsey family taking H/J lessons in suburbia, so I was one of the lucky ones that had someone who understood my love of horses in my family.  For more on that, read If You're Wondering Where I Got It...

I didn't ride much as a kid, but my mom made it clear from the very beginning that I was never to even so much as sit on a horse without a helmet, ever.  If she caught me without a helmet, the threat was always vague, but the implication is that I'd be "done".  Riding, living, whatever.  As I got older, I joked with people that if my mom caught me without a helmet on a horse, I wouldn't be allowed to ride again til I turned 18 and moved out.

She grew up in the era during which most people wore helmets, but they were just hunt caps without harnesses or any kind of restraining system, and knowing what she knows now, if you bring up those hunt caps she'll shake her head and remark that it's amazing they're still alive since the helmet would often fly off in a fall.  After she got her heart horse, she just did backyard riding and wore her white Troxel religiously, even though she didn't do anything more than W/T/C, being both a role model and setting my own boundaries.

As a result of this indoctrination from the very beginning, I never questioned the fact that you did not get on a horse without a helmet, ever.  Parents, that's how it should be done.  Though there were a few times in my childhood that I'd sit on Festus (the donkey) bareback and bridleless while he was grazing, I can definitely say that I'm now 24 years old and I've never so much as sat on a horse without a helmet.  Even when the redneck southern Italians made fun of me for it on the terrifying yet beautiful Mediterranean ride and I was the only one wearing the helmet at the ride out at the very reputable central Italian S/J stable, (hmmm, seeing a pattern here?) I wore my helmet, and I was glad for it.  I replaced my previous helmet while riding a green horse as a green rider over fences my senior year, and it just made me feel better to know that my head was really protected.

In conclusion, there's no better time to buy a helmet, or remember why we wear them, or to start wearing them, than right now.  My Charles Owen has never taken a fall and has another couple of years before it expires, but I will definitely keep June 9 in mind when I go to replace it.  The bit may be the most important piece of tack, but the helmet is unquestionably the most important piece of apparel.