Christopher Reeves & Helmets

irideazip · 03-22-2006, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commanderkins

It did for me, He didn't Smash into a jump, he flew over it, which is a very common mistake that green riders or unproperly trained riders make, I see it all the time at shows and stables.

No where does it say he was not an experienced rider, or even a green rider! If he was he probably would not have been doing XC in the first place. It was an accident, plain and simple. The horse refused the jump, for whatever reason, and he came off. He hit his NECK on the jump. This is not an argument about his abilities as a rider, it is about how it happened and how helmets play a role in such events.

*Psylocke* · 03-22-2006, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commanderkins

I know he was in a hunter class.
I know Ian Miller did not like to wear helmuts and wore one of those old hunter caps, you know the ones, with the elastic chin strap, but not under the chin, placed on top of the helmut. And he had a really bad fall one time, and now he is a big supporter and advocate for helmut wearing.

Like other ppl said it was a CC course..... as for Ian Miller, he may be an advocate but he still often warms up his horses over GP sized jumps with no helmet at all....at least he still did that last time I saw him ride which would be yrs ago now....lol

But yeah this is no reason to condemn helmets of course, it was a freak accident and accidents happen. Helmets protect your head not your neck...as everyone here knows.

Psy

Commanderkins · 03-22-2006, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irideazip

He hit his NECK on the jump. This is not an argument about his abilities as a rider, it is about how it happened and how helmets play a role in such events.

quote from the press:
causing Reeve to "roll up the horse's neck and fall on his head on the other side of the jump," according to Monk Reynolds, the equestrian center's owner.

Who said anything about an arguement over his abilities? I said that green or inexperienced riders do this, and it is so common it isn't even funny. I see it all the time.

He didn't hit his neck on the jump. Please let this go.

Commanderkins · 03-22-2006, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Psylocke*

Like other ppl said it was a CC course..... as for Ian Miller, he may be an advocate but he still often warms up his horses over GP sized jumps with no helmet at all....at least he still did that last time I saw him ride which would be yrs ago now....lol

Psy

hahaha psy, I have seen that too, but most people don't see that! They just see him ride the courses in the feild.

honeydoozy · 03-22-2006, 02:28 PM

Okay, okay... let's set the record completely straight... straight from the "horse's" mouth (or at least the rider in question):

This is part of a transcript from the Larry King show - you won't find a more first-hand account out there, I'm thinking.

KING: That's a great question. We've got about 45 seconds, Chris, what advice would you give to the horsemen and horseladies?

C. REEVE: OK. Wear a helmet. Don't exceed your abilities. But as a parent, don't make your child afraid. Because if she does it with fear then she might be injured. But my daughter Alexandra, who I taught to ride, she gave it up for a while. And I said, no, continue, you love it. And now she's playing polo for Yale. So you have got to let people go ahead and do their thing and do it safely.

KING: Thank you both so much. You're an inspiration to everybody. And I always love seeing you.

D. REEVE: Thanks, Larry.

REEVE: Larry, thank you so much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Christopher Reeve has clearly come a long way. How far? Here's a look back at our first interview with him after he was paralyzed. I wanted to know how much he remembered about the day that completely changed his life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, DECEMBER 25, 1996)

C. REEVE: I remember warming up. I remember getting my horse ready to warm up for the cross country. See this is a three day event. There are three phases. I had already done dressage and then we do cross country and then later the next day will be show jumping. Its all three phases. So and this was down in Culpepper, Virginia, a beautiful place.

KING: In the cross country.

C. REEVE: Love it down there. But anyway...

KING: ...your passport.

C. REEVE: I remember getting my horse ready for cross country and you put on all your stuff including a serious crash helmet, including a chest protector and mind you this is something I've been doing for years. In fact, I was third in the New England championships last year. Not to brag; but this is not something you do for a wimp on a Sunday afternoon. I was prepared and ready and I had a wonderful horse. I still love him and his name's Eastern Express.

KING: Do you see him?

C. REEVE: He's gone to one of the best trainers in New England, Jim Stamidts (ph) and unfortunately, he's for sale because I won't be riding anytime right away, but he's under the best of care.

Anyway I hopped on and the next thing remember is about four or five days after the accident coming to in the hospital.

KING: This is a key to -- help me with this. When you open your eyes, you're in a hospital. What's your first thought?

C. REEVE: It can't be me.

KING: Do you think you fell off a horse?

C. REEVE: No recollection. Guys gotten very lucky is the first thing I remember is my wife, Dana coming to my side and then I opened my eyes and there Dana was. And ...

KING: No feelings?

C. REEVE: My situation -- no, are you kidding. I was snowed. I was on every drug they've every concocted plus a few more.

KING: Did she tell you what happened?

C. REEVE: They had to keep me in traction. So the main thing about the spine you want to prevent swelling. And then swelling is ennapus (ph), swelling makes it worse and if you move -- if you move at all you'll in big, big trouble that's why getting somebody off the field like that is pretty critical. And I'm very lucky to -- you would have lost me there. But fortunately as I went over the horse, the reason entered into myself, is that my hands got caught in the horse's bridle and it came off with me.

So he suddenly refused to jump, unfortunately, and I went down with my hands tangled. So all I -- normally this would have been a sprained wrist and me being mad and that's it. This was very, very odd and very unusual, but anyway I woke up in a hospital about Wednesday and I injured myself on a Saturday.

KING: No anger toward the horse?

REEVE: No anger towards the horse. No, I was surprised. I mean he'd never done that before. He was my new horse and he's been doing cross-country since 12. Very experienced horse and there is conflicting reports as to what happened. Some people say that a rabbit suddenly ran out from the under brush and that spooked him for a second.

And you know, we're going fairly fast, too. This is cross- country, you're not hanging about, you're galloping the jumps not cantering them. So we were cruising right along and he just suddenly put on the brakes and this is what I'm told. And I did a field goal through ears, but I took the bridle with me.

KING: When you wife told you what happened and the condition you were in; were they directly honest with you? Did they tell you what had happened to the spine?

REEVE: Well, oh yes. And the thing was they didn't -- were working out at that time what to do. Because there's a lot of different disagreements about what you do to someone. The first thing they had to do is they had to stabilize my spine so I was there in traction with screws in my head and a big heavy sort of ball kind of holding me down. So I couldn't move and I couldn't eat anything. They washed my mouth out occasionally with a little orange and raspberry swabs.

I thought I was done for and the thing is the doctors, I had one of the greatest surgeons in the world, Dr. John James, and I'm very lucky that I ended up there instead of like East Elbow someplace and he performed really a miraculous operation that allows me to be recovering the way I am today. But they weren't sure. They said we can't guarantee anything. 50/50, we'll see.

KING: You call yourself a high quad?

REEVE: Yes, high quad means C-1 and C-2. You can't break it any higher than that.

KING: When you were OK...

REEVE: But when I do it I did fully, I go all out.

cowgurly02 · 03-22-2006, 02:47 PM

Thanks for the transcrip honeydozey, very interesting to read Christopher's Reeve's thoughts!

As others have said, his situation is irrelevant to the good old helmet debate. He broke his neck, that's what paralyzed him.

Commanderkins · 03-22-2006, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cowgurly02

Thanks for the transcrip honeydozey, very interesting to read Christopher's Reeve's thoughts!

As others have said, his situation is irrelevant to the good old helmet debate. He broke his neck, that's what paralyzed him.

Yes thanks honeydozey! flew over his horse. and not into a jump.

MaggieSue · 03-22-2006, 07:12 PM

Reeves accident was one of those freak accidents-his hands got tangled inthe reins, if they didn't he probably would've been ok. Helmets have been proven to prevent serious injuries. A head injury is one of the worst you can suffer, your body could be fine, but if your brain is injured, it could mean serious injury, rehab (if even possible).
So for those who want to bring up Reeves, this was a one in a million case.

03-22-2006, 02:47 PM	#46
cowgurly02 Senior Member+ Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 10,973 Images: 237 Blog Entries: 450	Thanks for the transcrip honeydozey, very interesting to read Christopher's Reeve's thoughts! As others have said, his situation is irrelevant to the good old helmet debate. He broke his neck, that's what paralyzed him. __________________ When I hear somebody talk about a horse or cow being stupid, I figure its a sure sign that the animal has outfoxed them. ~Tom Dorrance

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03-22-2006, 02:28 PM	#45
honeydoozy Senior Member+ Join Date: May 2005 Location: sunny so. california Posts: 1,777 Images: 51	Okay, okay... let's set the record completely straight... straight from the "horse's" mouth (or at least the rider in question): This is part of a transcript from the Larry King show - you won't find a more first-hand account out there, I'm thinking. KING: That's a great question. We've got about 45 seconds, Chris, what advice would you give to the horsemen and horseladies? C. REEVE: OK. Wear a helmet. Don't exceed your abilities. But as a parent, don't make your child afraid. Because if she does it with fear then she might be injured. But my daughter Alexandra, who I taught to ride, she gave it up for a while. And I said, no, continue, you love it. And now she's playing polo for Yale. So you have got to let people go ahead and do their thing and do it safely. KING: Thank you both so much. You're an inspiration to everybody. And I always love seeing you. D. REEVE: Thanks, Larry. REEVE: Larry, thank you so much. (END VIDEOTAPE) KING: Christopher Reeve has clearly come a long way. How far? Here's a look back at our first interview with him after he was paralyzed. I wanted to know how much he remembered about the day that completely changed his life. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, DECEMBER 25, 1996) C. REEVE: I remember warming up. I remember getting my horse ready to warm up for the cross country. See this is a three day event. There are three phases. I had already done dressage and then we do cross country and then later the next day will be show jumping. Its all three phases. So and this was down in Culpepper, Virginia, a beautiful place. KING: In the cross country. C. REEVE: Love it down there. But anyway... KING: ...your passport. C. REEVE: I remember getting my horse ready for cross country and you put on all your stuff including a serious crash helmet, including a chest protector and mind you this is something I've been doing for years. In fact, I was third in the New England championships last year. Not to brag; but this is not something you do for a wimp on a Sunday afternoon. I was prepared and ready and I had a wonderful horse. I still love him and his name's Eastern Express. KING: Do you see him? C. REEVE: He's gone to one of the best trainers in New England, Jim Stamidts (ph) and unfortunately, he's for sale because I won't be riding anytime right away, but he's under the best of care. Anyway I hopped on and the next thing remember is about four or five days after the accident coming to in the hospital. KING: This is a key to -- help me with this. When you open your eyes, you're in a hospital. What's your first thought? C. REEVE: It can't be me. KING: Do you think you fell off a horse? C. REEVE: No recollection. Guys gotten very lucky is the first thing I remember is my wife, Dana coming to my side and then I opened my eyes and there Dana was. And ... KING: No feelings? C. REEVE: My situation -- no, are you kidding. I was snowed. I was on every drug they've every concocted plus a few more. KING: Did she tell you what happened? C. REEVE: They had to keep me in traction. So the main thing about the spine you want to prevent swelling. And then swelling is ennapus (ph), swelling makes it worse and if you move -- if you move at all you'll in big, big trouble that's why getting somebody off the field like that is pretty critical. And I'm very lucky to -- you would have lost me there. But fortunately as I went over the horse, the reason entered into myself, is that my hands got caught in the horse's bridle and it came off with me. So he suddenly refused to jump, unfortunately, and I went down with my hands tangled. So all I -- normally this would have been a sprained wrist and me being mad and that's it. This was very, very odd and very unusual, but anyway I woke up in a hospital about Wednesday and I injured myself on a Saturday. KING: No anger toward the horse? REEVE: No anger towards the horse. No, I was surprised. I mean he'd never done that before. He was my new horse and he's been doing cross-country since 12. Very experienced horse and there is conflicting reports as to what happened. Some people say that a rabbit suddenly ran out from the under brush and that spooked him for a second. And you know, we're going fairly fast, too. This is cross- country, you're not hanging about, you're galloping the jumps not cantering them. So we were cruising right along and he just suddenly put on the brakes and this is what I'm told. And I did a field goal through ears, but I took the bridle with me. KING: When you wife told you what happened and the condition you were in; were they directly honest with you? Did they tell you what had happened to the spine? REEVE: Well, oh yes. And the thing was they didn't -- were working out at that time what to do. Because there's a lot of different disagreements about what you do to someone. The first thing they had to do is they had to stabilize my spine so I was there in traction with screws in my head and a big heavy sort of ball kind of holding me down. So I couldn't move and I couldn't eat anything. They washed my mouth out occasionally with a little orange and raspberry swabs. I thought I was done for and the thing is the doctors, I had one of the greatest surgeons in the world, Dr. John James, and I'm very lucky that I ended up there instead of like East Elbow someplace and he performed really a miraculous operation that allows me to be recovering the way I am today. But they weren't sure. They said we can't guarantee anything. 50/50, we'll see. KING: You call yourself a high quad? REEVE: Yes, high quad means C-1 and C-2. You can't break it any higher than that. KING: When you were OK... REEVE: But when I do it I did fully, I go all out.

03-22-2006, 07:12 PM	#48
MaggieSue Senior Member+ Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 2,085 Images: 2	Reeves accident was one of those freak accidents-his hands got tangled inthe reins, if they didn't he probably would've been ok. Helmets have been proven to prevent serious injuries. A head injury is one of the worst you can suffer, your body could be fine, but if your brain is injured, it could mean serious injury, rehab (if even possible). So for those who want to bring up Reeves, this was a one in a million case.