Coolest Gadget Ever - The Helmet Helper!

Sometimes you get your giggles in the strangest places, you know?

If you've been following AWIP for a while, you may have seen this post where I consideredintimidating the younger competitors in the jumper ranks by wearing a spiked helmet like this:



Scary spiked helmet designed to intimidate pre-fetal jumper types.



This little beauty came across my desktop today and I was instantly in love with the concept. 

I mean, think about how many ways you could use the "Gooseneck" alone! No more transferring the reins to one hand and then reaching back with the crop.  Nope!  One quick twist of the neck and you're all set.

Can you envision jumping a course with this thing?  That oxer look a bit high to you?  Just use the old "Gooseneck" to pluck that nasty top rail off and over you go!

Barn chores would be done in a jiffy.  Imagine - you could clean stalls while filling water buckets.  Eat lunch and clean tack at the same time -- just put a slice of pizza in the "Gooseneck" and hang your bridle from the "Spike."

I am sooooo getting myself one of these babies!

(With thanks to Lexicon Technologies, IT maintenance solutions providers and makers of the Helmet Helper.)

Protect Your Melon!

This morning I was reading the "Letters to the Editor" page in the June 25th issue of The Chronicle of the Horse and two letters from readers dicussing Irish show jumper Denis Lynch's recent fall really resonated with me. (If you weren't aware, Lynch fell off while riding helmetless during his victory lap after a recent win and was knocked unconscious. While being knocked unconscious is not a visible injury like a broken arm or leg, the fact is it still means you've done some damage to your brain.)

I experienced my own really nast fall late last summer. Thnkfully, I was wearing a helmet, which no doubt saved my life, or at least my quality of life. Thing is, I gave myself quite the conusion even though I was wearing a helmet and was never unconscious, and I'm still feeling the effects of that concussion today, almost a year later.

I'm on a business trip, and I can tell you the effects of my concussion are still obvious in my client interactions. While speaking I often find it difficult to access the right words, or finish a sentence. My memory is not what it used to be. My ability to do math, never great to begin with, is now downright abysmal. In short, it takes me much longer to process things that I used to process in the blink of an eye, which, as you can imagine, is a bit frustrating and a challenge professionally.

The doctor says all of this is normal. Things have improved tremendously since the fall, but today's normal isn't the normal of 10 months ago. I can't even imagine what my life would be had I not been wearing a helmet.

Enough preaching. I recognize we all have a right to make decisions regarding our own personal health. However, reading those letters just prompted me to share some of the things I'm dealing with, just in case it resonates with someone and ultimately helps.

Today's Horse Hero (Or...Holy Crap! Can You Believe This Story?)

Saw this come across my laptop and had to read the headline several times over before it sunk in:
"Blind 'Superman' Saves Colorado Teenager After Fall From Horse"

Uhhh, come again??  I needed to know more about this.  Seems a teen aged Colorado ranch hand was thrown from her horse and as a result fractured her skull and bruising her brain.  She was unable to walk, and lay where she fell, screaming for help.

Enter Superman.  In this tale, Superman is not Clark Kent, but rather the owner of the ranch the accident occurred on, Keith Day.  Mr. Day has been legally blind since birth.  He can distinguish between dark and light, and some vague large shapes (think of a very blurry, vaguely horse or truck shaped object).  Somehow, he was able to follow the sound of her screams to reach her.  He was able to check her for noticeable breaks, and then somehow managed to carry her hundreds of yards, at one point crossing over a barbed wire fence, to where emergency personnel could reach her.

Pretty jaw-dropping stuff, huh?  Talk about having a guardian angel.

(Not to put a damper on a heartwarming story, but it does kinda makes a good argument that one should always wear a helmet. Just saying.)