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BHS
Safety
Everyone who rides on roads knows what a nightmare
it can be.
Ignorant motorists speed by, or try to squeeze
past with inches to spare, when there is something coming the other
way. Often desperate signals to slow down are totally ignored. It
can often mean just gritting your teeth and hoping that your horse
is as traffic proof as you always boast he is!
But let's look at it from another point of view.
You have a long drive ahead, to the station to
catch a train. The phone rings as you are leaving and you are now
running very late. During the journey you get stuck behind a caravan
for several miles and are now desperate to make up time. Suddenly
you come up behind two riders, barely visible on dark horses and
wearing dark clothing. They are side by side and there is barely
room to overtake. The riders are chatting happily to each other
- oblivious to all other road users. They make no effort to help
you pass by and you feel your blood pressure rising!
Thankfully, not all riders behave in this way.
Some have taken British Horse Society Riding and Road Safety Training.
They may even have taken a test. These riders are constantly aware
of their surroundings and ready to take evasive action. The sensible
ones wear HI-VIZ gear at all times and make a point of letting cars
pass as soon as it is possible, thanking motorists for their tolerance
as they go by. Likewise, there are many motorists who will wait
patiently until it is safe to pass and then do so with care, taking
account of the fact that even well-trained horses can be unpredictable.
IT IS SIMPLY A
CASE OF CONSIDERATION AND UNDERSTANDING - ON BOTH SIDES.
One of the main aims of BHS Safety,
is to make high quality training available to as many of the riding
public as possible. Perhaps, in an ideal world, all riders and carriage
drivers would undertake training before being permitted to drive
on the public highway. There is no doubt that motorists can and
indeed do learn from and often respond well towards trained, courteous
riders.
We also aim to get the message across
to motorists that they need to watch out for horses on the road
and PASS WIDE AND SLOW when appropriate. There are approximately
3000 accidents involving horses on the road in the UK each year.
We want motorists to understand the possible fatal consequences
of not treating horses on the road with the respect they deserve.
The poster below is available free
of charge upon request. Put one up on your yard and encourage everyone
to train for safer riding on the roads!!
WEARING A HARD
HAT - Why it is SO important!!
There are still many, many riders
across the Region who either fail to wear a hard hat at all, or
wear an old, out of date helmet, which affords little or no protection.
If you're over 14, then the choice is of course, yours to make.
However, the following information
is designed to help convince everyone of the importance of wearing
the best protection available whilst sat on a horse.
The risk of a serious head injury
while riding without adequate protection on the roads, is of course,
much, much greater.
A riding hat is made from two layers
- the outer is a hard shell, generally black and either rough surfaced
or velvet covered. The inner is a thick polystyrene which is made
up of thousands of bubbles. When the hat hits the ground, the impact
is absorbed by the foam lining as some of the bubbles burst, so
dissipating and cushioning the riders head. This in turn reduces
bruising to the brain because it increases the length of time it
takes for your head to stop. The bigger the impact, the more layers
in the lining will burst. Basically it is the hat liner, which collapses,
rather than your head!!
The hard shell protects the inner
shell from puncture, except in extreme cases. If you came off your
horse and hit your head in a soft sand arena, then there would not
be the same damage to your hat as if you came off on the road and
hit your head. However, it is impossible to see with the naked eye
just how much damage has occurred to your hat. There will virtually
always be some damage.
For instance, in a sand school accident,
you may have 'used up' 45% of the impact resistance when you hit
the sand, but then it could be 55% - it would be impossible to know
the exact level of damage.
If you then have an accident on a
harder surface, such as the road (which requires at least 80% of
the resistance to be in place in order to protect your head properly),
you will certainly not have sufficient protection from the hat that
saved you in the sand school. That is because that hat has already
used up more than 20% of the protective qualities.
It is therefore essential that hats
are replaced at intervals - especially after suffering from a severe
impact. This may include being dropped in the stable yard!
When Britain went into the EC, new
standards for helmets were formulated. These new standard hats offer
differing levels of protection depending on the standard chosen.
Some offer better 'bottom edge protection' - the protective liner
extends all the way down to the rim offering optimum protection
to the head. This is part of the reason why some hats are bulkier
in appearance.
All hats acceptable as BHS Approved
Standard, have at least a 'three-point harness' (attached at both
sides and the back) and may or may not have draw laces at the back.
They WILL NOT however, possess a chin cup. A strap will pass
directly under the chin instead.
The hat should ideally be fitted
by a qualified person (preferably trained to BETA standard) and
should feel quite snug. A loose fitting hat cannot absorb impact
properly and may move on your head - it could cause you an injury
as a result.
As a prospective hat purchaser, you
have a choice of standard.
Hard hats to the specification PAS
015 or standard ASTM F1163 are considered to afford the highest
level of protection. The standard EN1384 will give you slightly
different protection. Hats should bear a quality assurance symbol
e.g. Kitemark, SEI or QAS symbol.
All have to undertake rigorous testing
from an external body, according to the standard they are being
made to. The British Horse Society currently accepts hats that are
approved to standards PAS015, ASTM F1163, BSEN1384 (1997), or EN1384
(1996) and anything of higher protective standard such as SNELL.
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