helmets, thank heaven for them! by ruthI had been asked to ride a friends' lovely, young Anglo-Arab. He had been walk, trot, canter and I knew him and the owners and had ridden him several times before. All the jumps in the arena at the stable that day had been put into a group in the center of the arena to allow space for the lessons and for plenty of room to ride figures. I was almost done with my ride, on a sunny, warm, summer day and we were doing a lovely trot 20m circle and preparing to come down to a walk to finish. The "Arabian" side of this fellow suddenly "saw" a wild and crazy monster somewhere and began to run. I went into emergency mode to pull a quick & tight circle, when he hit the brakes and ducked his head & neck to launch me into one of the standards neatly standing in the arena! I heard the Crack of the helmet on the wood! square on the top portion of my head! I arrose, dusted myself off, remounted, trotted a quiet circle, walked, dismounted and returned the horse to the barn. I took the helmet off, and although I could not see any damage, I bought a new helmet that day, knowing that without my helmet, I would have surely been admitted to a hospital that day, not happily riding another horse later in the afternoon!