[TravelingGirl]

There's a thread going on another board about why helmets are important for any kind of riding, not just jumping and eventing, and consistently Christopher Reeves's accident is being brought up and the fact that he WAS wearing a helmet.

I've heard that the horse was too small for him, but I'm new to horses and I'm not sure what that means. Exactly what was the cause of his accident?

[CarolinaFilly]

I don't really know... I think it was just an accident. People have them sometimes. Lol. He just was unlucky that day... People get hurt. It just happens...

[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.

[Lindsayanne]

Man, when you're at an all out gallop jumping huge solid wood jumps there is nothing that's going to totally protect you!

It's equivalent to saying "Dale Earnhardt was wearing a seatbelt when he died in the Daytona 500, therefore, wearing a seatbelt won't make me any safer on my commute to work"

Sounds pretty stupid when you say it like that, doesn't it?


I fell Saturday and hit my head HARD. Even wearing a helmet it hurt. ouch. I KNOW I would have spent the day at the hospital instead of a horse show if I hadn't been wearing my helment.

[StormChaser]

Great analogy Lindsayanne!

[shell]

A helmet will not prevent you from breaking your neck.

[TravelingGirl]

The thread on the other board has taken on a life of it's own. Just a bunch of old cowboys hemming and hawing over helmets..."John Wayne didn't wear one" garbage.

I've walked into my lessons once or twice without a helmet and felt absolutely naked (well, you know what I mean) without it.

I make a point to wear one always, but was absolutely amazed this weekend when I offered the use of my mounting block and helmet to a woman who is an "equestrian" who was going to ride my 5 yr old horse for his 2nd day ever of field trialing when she knew he was less than stellar the day before.

She REFUSED the helmet but used the mounting block...go figure.

[kashmirjumper]

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.

I think he was doing cross country, right?


From what i've seen and heard, the whole thing on Chris Reeves was that he was going too fast and got too far ahead of his horse, therfore eveyone lost their balance. An accident.

But like said before, a helmet won't stop your neck from breaking, but it will help not get your head crushed in.

[littlemoney08]

he was doing show jumping i thought...and yes helments dont totally protect you...they are there for help...theres NO gaurntee they will totalllly save ur life..but they have SOMETIMES~

[Sandra-A1]

I looked and looked for a photo of CR's jumping and could not find one.
If my memory serves me correct....it does seem to me that he did have a tendency to jump ahead of his mount.
I did find the following information and photo of him riding the horse in question...and while the horse was a TB.....I saw Christopher Reeve in person and he WAS a BIG man.
This is a phot of him riding the horse he fell off of...the TB...'Eastern Express'.

Christopher Reeve's accident happened during a three day equestrian competition, in Culpeper County, Virginia. His accident occurred on Saturday, May 27th, 1995. Dressed in protective vest and helmet, he was riding his trained thoroughbred horse, Eastern Express. He trained long and hard for good horsemanship. As his horse went over the third jump, it suddenly stopped, and Reeve went flying over the horse and landed on his head. Reeve's hands were tangled in the horse's bridle, and he struck first the jump and then the turf with his head; breaking his neck at the first and second vertebrae. He was knocked unconscious and when he woke up, he was completely paralyzed from the neck down.

Reeve was injured while riding in the Commonwealth Dressage and Combined Training Association finals at the Commonwealth Park equestrian center in Culpeper. He is considered an able rider and a proponent of equestrian safety and was about to pose for a safety poster sponsored by the U.S. Combined Training Association.
While serious injuries among competitive riders are rare, USCTA statistics show that cross-country events like this one generate 72 percent of all riding injuries because they involve jumping over fixed obstacles with speed. "The sport takes a lot of balance and training, but everybody who's ridden has fallen. And people who were watching him felt that he was a good rider," says Anne Mercer, executive director of the association, a 10,000-member national equestrian group based in Leesburg.

Reeve had been approaching the third of 18 jumps -- a triple-bar about 3 1/2 feet high -- on the course when his horse, Eastern Express, apparently could not find the right spot to make the jump. The horse abruptly stopped, 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.