My Daughter's Barrel Racing Accident

I have always made my daughter wear a helmet while barrel racing even though she has fought me about this for years. "It's not cool to wear it." "None of my other friends have to wear one." Or even the best argument is "Look at how small that little kid is and his parents don't make them wear one."

After her accident on August 15, 2009, she agreed that wearing her helmet saved her from having much more serious of an accident and she won't ever hesitate or argue about wearing one again.

She was taken away from the arena after her barrel race by ambulance.

I can't express how much I think the Troxel helmet saved her head. She wears the Dakota model. We have watched the video on our TV and in slow motion. You can see how her head bounced off of the ground extremely hard. She had dirt burns on her cheek and her face was swollen on that side, so I can't imagine how bad it would have been without the helmet. She is still on crutches because her knee got twisted on the seat of the saddle as she was coming off, but that is a small price to pay when you play a dangerous sport. She will always wear a helmet while barrel racing as long as she lives in my house......and she's planning on going to college to be a psychiatrist so that will be for many years to follow. ha ha