Dear Jessica,
Hello! First, let me thank you for your wonderful service (as almost everyone does!)! I am always impressed by the hugely diverse questions you are able to answer so competently! I know that hard hats are of special importance to you, so I am hopin g that you will be able to answer a question that has even our knowledgeable trainer stumped. My husband showed our TB gelding, Zoom, in training level dressage classes at local schooling shows last year. This year he will be showing in training lev el classes at recognized shows (he hopes to move up to first level next year). Now for the question! My husband always wears his approved safety helmet, but what is he supposed to do when he halts at x? Our instructor has never had a male student pro gress beyond intro and none of the shows we have been to have had any other men. Dressage etiquette calls for him to remove his hat to the judge. However, this would require that he halt, unbuckle his hat, remove it, replace it, and re-buckle all wit h one hand. Not only is this nearly impossible one handed, it just happens to extend the time spent in the halt, Zoom's absolutely worst movement (he is a very forward horse)! Last year he left his helmet unbuckled for the test, but was marked down f or the "untidiness" of the dangling strap. Please can you help? Our first show is April 30th and we still don't know what to do! Very sincerely yours, Erin
Dressage etiquette for the male rider does require that the hat be removed for the salute, EXCEPT in the case of
a) a military rider, in uniform, who would simply salute in the military manner, or
b) a rider wearing a safety helmet, with harness properly fastened, in which case that rider would simply salute as he did at lower levels, and as women do: by taking both reins in the left hand, inclining the head, and lowering the right arm.
There's a how-to-salute post somewhere in the HORSE-SENSE archives if he wants explicit details.
As you surmised, unfastening the harness and removing the helmet, then replacing the helmet and re-fastening the harness would be a lengthy and inconvenient process. Leaving the helmet harness unfastened is silly: it will flop about and annoy rider, horse , and judge -- and it's unsafe! Protective helmets must have properly-adjusted and properly-fastened harnesses.
The rules have changed in the years since the very first safety helmets were made available. Nowadays, it's entirely legal for men and women to wear proper safety helmets, properly fastened, all the way up from Intro level to the Grand Prix Special, as lo ng as the helmets have black covers. We're getting a little more intelligent about safety issues, you see... it takes time, but we do get there eventually. ;-)
Jessica
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