helmet story by ShelleyI had brought my horse Vinnie home from the trainer in April and a few days later decided the ground had firmed up enough to ride after all the rain we had been having. I was riding him at a walk warming up when he suddenly took a giant leap forward and started bucking like crazy. I landed on my back with the back of my head smacking the still damp, fairly soft, grass pasture. At this point I realized that the dog must have run up behind Vinnie from the tall grass just outside the fence and startled him, as I almost landed on her. As I jumped up, trying to decide whether to catch Vinnie or strangle the dog I noticed my helmet felt a bit loose. I took it off to reposition it and found it split open all the way up the center of the back! It's really amazing, the helmet was ruined and I didn't even get a headache. Needless to say, I have not been on a horse without a helmet since then. Before this incident I probably wore my helmet at least 90% of the time. Now I'm a born-again 100% of the time helmet wearer.