Helmets now required by young riders of horses

Joy Lambert still remembers the horror she felt a few years ago when she watched one of her riding students trip over her own feet and fall while walking beside her pony.

"The pony stepped on her head," Lambert said.

Luckily, the child was wearing a safety helmet and was unhurt. But the incident helped affirm Lambert's longstanding rule that children and adults who ride at her Windswept Farm in Tarpon Springs must wear safety helmets.

"I don't have anybody on the farm that even questions it," Lambert said. "I myself don't get on unless I have a helmet on."

Now the state of Florida has joined Lambert and other riding instructors in requiring helmets. Unlike Lambert's all-encompassing rule, the new law only applies in certain circumstances to kids younger than 16. It will take effect Oct. 1.

The law basically applies to kids while they're riding on public roadways or rights of way, in public parks and on any other publicly owned or controlled property. The protective helmet must meet the standards set by the American Society of Testing and Materials.

The statute, which Gov. Charlie Crist signed earlier this month, is known as "Nicole's Law" after a 12-year-old Palm Beach County girl. Nicole was not wearing a helmet the day in 2006 when she fell off a horse and hit her head on a paved area of ground. Nicole was in a coma for 20 days before she died.

It's unclear how many people in the United States ride, but a 2005 study for the American Horse Council indicated that there were an estimated 9.2 million horses in the country (500,000 of those were in Florida) and there were 2 million owners and 2 million volunteers.

Some of those, like Nicole, are sometimes injured. Researchers who studied the feasibility of the law before found that, from 2001 to 2003, there were about 11,502 people across the country who suffered traumatic brain injuries from horse-related accidents. The 10- to 14-year-old age group had the most accidents. About 23,000 youths are treated for horse-related injuries each year. The most frequent injuries are to the head and neck. An approved safety helmet can prevent many of those.

Mary Ann O'Keeffe, owner of the Whip N' Spur tack shop in Tampa, says approved safety helmets start at about $37.95 and go up to about $500. The more expensive helmet is no safer, she said, but might appeal to some buyers much the way certain designers or manufacturers appeal to others.

It's not the manufacturer or designer that parents (or others) should look for when buying an approved helmet, it's the fit, O'Keeffe said. The second most important thing is comfort, she said. People's heads come in different shapes and some helmets are more comfortable than others.

O'Keeffe said she occasionally has parents come in who want to buy helmets for their children, but neglect to bring the child with them. That's not good, she said.

"They're not that difficult to fit, but it's still advisable to have the head there to have it fitted properly," O'Keeffe said.

Nor should parents buy a helmet for a child to "grow into." If it's too loose, it will slide around and may not offer any protection in a fall. Besides, a child's head doesn't grow very fast. And, once a child reaches a certain age, it stops growing. O'Keeffe said her 30-something daughter still wears the same size helmet as when she was 10.

"Not the same helmet, the same size," she said. A helmet, she said, should be replaced if it is damaged or sustains a fall even if it doesn't don't look damaged because it could have microscopic flaws that could render it useless in another fall. Helmets should be replaced about every five years to account for possible deterioration of materials and upgrading of technology.

O'Keeffe said concerns about safety, especially for child riders, has been growing in recent years. The U.S. Pony Club was one of the first to require kids to wear helmets while riding in their shows. And hunter-jumper associations also require helmets during shows.

And many local instructors, like Lambert and Georgann Powers of Foxwood Farm in Pinellas Park, already require them. It's silly not to wear one, Powers said.