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
Hello, my daughter is also a barrel racer and is 15. Last 2 years she has qualified for the NBHA worlds. This year our state law stated we have to make our children wear helmets if they are gonna show in any 4-h event. I am one of the parents that have said this is stupid she does not need a helmet she knows how to ride well. Today is Aug 31 and we are still in the hospital. Yes she was wearing a helmet that I borrowed for the week of fair because I was not wasting my money. We all teased her all week for looking like a dork with it on. Well on Friday Aug 14 she was doing a race and her horse spooked. He took her for a rough ride and ended up throwing her into a Gator. She went head first into it and it destroyed the helmet. She now has moderate brain damage and 9 broken vertebrae but without the helmet she would be dead without a question. I thank God, and anyone else, that they passed that law in Ohio. It saved my daughters life! She will walk again and she will ride again thanks to a helmet I was too cheap to buy. If you get a chance go to sanduskyregister.com and look up the stories of Kristen Wells and look at the helmet.
im starting barrel racing soon and i argued with my mom and i am so going to ware a helmet now.thank you