Do You Wear a Helmet?

It’s hard to believe that the holidays are almost over. That means I’ll be back on the road again soon, heading to Wellington, Florida next weekend for the first “Helmet Symposium.” It’s a big summit meeting of industry professionals that presumably have an influence over whether or not riders wear helmets and I’ve been invited, I guess because I am one of the few people that do what I do wearing a helmet.

It’s interesting to look at the evolution of helmet wearing in this industry and the stubborn resistance, especially when you compare it to other sports. I grew up in Florida, initially a “backyard” rider (mostly riding bareback, barefoot and often in my bathing suit—we didn’t even own a helmet back then, no one did). Later in the 60s, I started taking English riding lessons and eventually got involved in the hunter/jumper world, and we had to wear “hard hats” whenever jumping (at least when an adult was watching). I remember my favorite hard hat well, in fact, I still have it. It’s a thin plastic shell covered with black velvet—no chin strap and a very rigid visor that was notorious for slamming down and breaking your nose if you fell. There was no chin harness like we know of today, but there was a little elastic band that you could pull down if you wanted to look like a total geek (I cut the elastic off of mine). Most people preferred to leave the elastic off in the hopes that the hard hat would come off if you fell, instead of breaking your nose. Back then, helmets had almost no protective value and might actually do more harm than good.

Eventually technology and research caught up and by the 1980s they started making certified equestrian helmets that actually served a purpose and protected the head in the event something went wrong.  Dr. Richard Timms, a critical care physician and researcher, whose career ambitions included PREVENTING injury rather than just treating it, was instrumental in promoting the use of equestrian helmets, even though he was not a rider. Working with a safety product company called Troxel, which started out making infant car seats (before anyone else did), then bicycle helmets and eventually, with Dr. Timm’s insistence, Troxel became the first manufacturer of certified riding helmets. Now, riding helmets is all Troxel does and it is the leading producer of equestrian helmets and is known for their innovation and unique styles.

Today, helmets are not only safe, but they are comfortable, well-fitted and even stylish. So why then is there still such a resistance to wearing a helmet when you ride? You wouldn’t dream of getting in your car and going somewhere without fastening your seat belt, even though you are not planning to have a wreck today. Add to the  equation the fact that when you are riding your head is higher off the ground than almost any other sport and you are sitting an unpredictable, potentially volatile animal and it seems like a no-brainer (pardon the pun).

It’s been interesting to watch the evolution of helmet wearing in other sports. When we were kids, no one wore a helmet when cycling; today, a serious cyclist wouldn’t be caught dead without one—wearing a helmet is part of the accepted and cool gear in extreme sports like mountain biking. Riding is just as dangerous as motorcycling in injuries per minute of riding and most people on motorcycles wear helmets, yet only one in eight equestrians do.

Fifteen years ago skiers and snowboarders never wore helmets; but then in 1998 two tragedies occurred within one week of each other and two famous people were killed from head injuries while skiing—Michael Kennedy (son of the late Senator Robert Kennedy) and Senator Bono(of Sonny and Cher fame). Although it’s questionable whether or not a helmet would’ve actually helped in these high-speed tree collision accidents, literally overnight we started seeing more skiers wearing helmets and the ski helmet market exploded. Today, more skiers than not wear helmets and it has become an essential piece of cool equipment that serious/hardcore skiers and snowboarders always wear. Even my husband, a professional skier for more than 35 years, now wears a helmet every time he skis, although he still doesn’t wear one riding.

So what is it about us equestrians that makes us so dang stubborn about wearing protective gear? It’s definitely much more readily accepted amongst the English crowd, with persistent stubborn resistance from the Western crowd. I guess we just loathe to give up our cowboy hats. What do you think is the big reason why riders are resistant to helmet wearing? Is it ego? Do you think it makes you looks weak or afraid? Is it because there are not good role models in this sport? Is it because you don’t think you need one because your horse is so reliable? Is it because helmets are uncomfortable or ugly? What’s your reason? If you do wear a helmet, why? How did you make that decision? These are all questions that will be addressed in the upcoming helmet summit that I will be attending next month. I’d love to see your comments and take them with me to the meeting.

Happy New Year!

Julie

 

Burn Out in Therapy Horses

Recently I was a speaker at the NARHA annual convention, which conveniently for me, was in Denver this year. That means I didn’t have to get on a plane to go somewhere for the first weekend in a long time. So right off the bat, I was happy to be there. It was an enthusiastic crowd from all over north America; hundreds of physical therapists, mental health specialists, therapeutic instructors, horse handlers, side walkers and barn managers that work for therapeutic riding programs (TRPs). My presentation was on avoiding and resolving burn out in therapy horses and it was a blast.

Now, this is a very popular subject because every TRP out there shares this problem. While only the best tempered and most qualified horses are used in such a program, their job is stressful (both physically and mentally), tiring, boring, repetitive and sometimes downright obnoxious. Sometimes as many as five adults are hovering over the client and micromanaging the horse’s every step. With a high dependency on volunteerism in TRPs, the horse has to get used to a revolving door of handlers. Sometimes the client is off balance, moving spasmodically or unpredictably, laughing or screaming loudly. Most therapy horses work hard for a living and many of them also have to make ends meet by working extra hours packing around able-bodied riders in lessons—a novice rider that thinks she knows what she is doing is often harder on the horse than a therapeutic client. As you can imagine, burnout is an occupational hazard in these horses.

Every TRP I’ve worked with has problems with horses biting, horses that learn bad habits or avoidance techniques (particularly around the mounting block), horses that develop bad manners, and worst of all, the horses that learn that they can get away with stuff like biting the handler when there is a client on its back because they know the handler won’t take the risk of disciplining the horse with the client on its back . Maybe you’ve had some personal experience with this, if not in a therapy horse how about in a show horse? I consulted with Disney World a few years ago and they had this problem with some of Cinderella’s ponies (you know, the little white ponies that pull the pumpkin carriage). Disney horse handlers are strictly forbidden from taking any disciplinary action at all when the horses are in the park in front of guests and unfortunately sometimes clever little devil ponies learn they can get away with stuff like biting the handler in the park, but they never do it outside where the handler could take disciplinary action. This is a very bad deal because once they learn that there is a certain place that they can get away with stuff, you cannot unlearn it. So we must do our best to prevent the horse from learning this to begin with by being diligent to the horse’s behavior and obedience and taking corrective action before the horse figures it out. Fortunately, most horses are not that smart.

Have you ever had a horse that learned he can get away with things in certain settings? It reminds me of when my sisters and I were little and my parents dressed us up and took us to a very fancy restaurant where we promptly staged a revolt and crawled under the white-linen table and refused to come out (it was my sister’s idea; I was just a pawn in her scheme). We just knew they wouldn’t do anything to us there and that there would be no spanking in the fancy restaurant. Little did we know that later, at home, we would come to regret our actions. Unfortunately, with horses, punishing them after-the fact will serve no purpose other than to confuse the horse and teach him not to trust you. Regret is not a train of thought your horse will follow. As I am fond of saying—once three seconds goes by, it’s a whole ‘nother day to the horse and there is no connection whatsoever.

Although a lot of these behavior problems in therapy horses have to do with the difficult and stressful job they do, much of this it has to do with poor handling and the ever-revolving door of handlers with varying degrees of competence. Many larger and well-funded programs employ a full-time trainer whose job it is to maintain the therapy horse’s training, avoid bad habits and take care of the horse’s mental and physical needs. But the smaller programs are scrapping for every labor dollar they have and usually can’t afford this luxury, so they have to do the best they can, with the people they have.

I wish I had had more time for the presentation because we had about 8-10 therapy horses from several different programs here in Colorado, with a variety of interesting issues. It was way too many horses to work with in the 90 minutes allotted to me. There were a many points that I wanted to stress in training the volunteers and in the day-to-day handling of the horses, but I found myself focusing again and again on a few key points: don’t micro-manage the horse, don’t crowd and grab the horse and be sure to maintain a level of authority with the horse.

Biting horses is probably the most common problem TRPs deal with, a problem that many horse people encounter, but the therapy horses are way more prone to it than any other population I know of. I’ve spent some time pondering this problem and have observed many different operations and to me, the cause is quite clear—the horses are sick and tired of everyone being in their space! These horses get so over-handled with so many well-intentioned people that don’t always do the right thing. The horse handler crowds the horse’s face, often choked up on the lead rope and micro-managing every movement the horse makes (if he’s being used in a TRP, he knows what he is doing; he does it every day and usually knows it better than the handler). Worse, the handler sometimes leads with the reins or clamps down on the reins just behind the bit; both of these actions are VERY hard on a horse’s mouth. Is it any surprise so many therapy horses bite?

It’s just like with riding a horse—at some point you need to quit micro-managing him and just trust the horse to do his job, especially when it is something he knows how to do. Step back, put some slack in the lead (or reins) and let him do his job. You cannot prevent a horse from moving by holding him still (who are you kidding if you think you can hold a 1,00# horse still?) but you can train him that it is an expectations of yours that he not move his feet without a cue, then step back, loosen the lead and expect him to stand; correct him if he doesn’t. Don’t try to prevent him from making a mistake, just correct him when he does.

This will only work if you have authority over your horse and he respects your leadership; otherwise, when you step back or loosen up, he just does whatever he wants. I have written a lot about this subject—it’s all over my Training Library—and I spent a lot of time in my NARHA presentation just teaching simple ground manners to the horses (and teaching the handlers what to do and what not to do). A horse doesn’t automatically respect you, trust you or accept your authority over all things unless you earn it. And if everyone knew how to do that, I’d be out of a job!

It was a great workshop and I really enjoyed it. The session ended too soon and as usual, I could think of about a thousand things I wish I had time to cover. If you were there, let me know what you enjoyed the most and what you wished we could’ve covered. If you’re involved in a TRP—good for you! It is a valuable and satisfying field and TRPs are always in need of more volunteers, so check it out. If you cannot afford the time, maybe you can make a donation to your local TRP (cash is king for these low-budget non-profits). If you are not involved in a TRP, perhaps you can still find some useful information here to help you avoid problems with your horse.

Enjoy the ride!

Julie

 

 

Shooting a TV Show

Lately I’ve had to turn my attention away from the sheer pleasure of being home for a long break and not having to pack a suitcase every week. I’ve really enjoyed being at home, nesting, riding and working on new products. Right now, four weeks into my seven-week break, I am starting to fret over the short time left and how little I have gotten done compared to what I aspired to a month ago, when I was looking ahead to the extensive time I had at home. Am I the only one that over-estimates what I will get done? I am sure it’s related to the reason why I am always late when I get up early. But t I have gotten some projects moving forward and also managed to find time to relax, have quality time with my husband, family and friends and even ride my horse.

Lots of people have asked me about how we make the TV show and since right now we are in the midst of it, I thought I’d write about what’s on my mind. We’ve long been planning the upcoming Horse Master shoot at the end of January—the dates were set a year ago, the facility scouted and secured six months ago, the accommodations and travel arrangements for the crew have been made and now, for the tricky part, we have to select cast members. Anyone near a shoot location can apply to be on the show and we advertise it far in advance, so we have lots of people that apply. Sorting through the applications and choosing the right horse/rider combo for each of the eight episodes that we tape at each shoot is the tricky part and I confess, we tend to procrastinate on doing this.

We tape 24 episodes of Horse Master each year, at three locations around the country—one of which is always here at my place in Colorado in the middle of the summer (the only time the weather is even remotely reliable). Since the other two shoots have to occur during the winter to accommodate the production and airing schedule, we are limited to finding shoot locations in the sunbelt somewhere. Although we shoot at sites that have an indoor or covered arena for a backup, we always plan to tape outdoors (preferably someplace with a beautiful background) . We have found that few locations have reliably good weather in the middle of winter. We have frozen our tails off at a Florida shoot in February; we have slopped around in the rain and mud in Texas in March; and we have endured record breaking cold in South Carolina in the spring.

This January, we return to the Phoenix area, in Queen Creek, where last year we had glorious weather in January. It takes about six months from taping to the time an episode airs for the first time on RFD-TV, so we are always working pretty far ahead. The shows have to be completed and to the network 30 days before airing; for instance, in July we filmed the first eight episodes for 2011, and we are finalizing and sending off those episodes to the network now. The eight original episodes will begin January 4^th IN OUR NEW TIME SLOT MONDAYS AT 12:30p and 10:30p EST (also airs on Saturday at 10:30p PST). Those episodes will air again for eight weeks and the next set of new shows begins at the end of April. Clear as mud, right?

So now comes the hard work of choosing the cast members for the AZ shoot. We start with 40-50 applicants and go through each one considering the issue and the discipline, and how excited we are about the potential story line. Some applicants are ruled out right away because it is a crazy situation or the person is in so far over their head that we can’t sort it out in a half hour TV show. The remaining ones are scored on how excited we are about the story line and whether or not the topic is on our list of episodes we’d like to do, based on our input from our viewers. We try to stay balanced between English, Western and ground work and that balance has become one of the trademarks of our show. We also try to get at least one youth rider in each shoot and if a man actually applies, he usually gets accepted (interestingly, at the last shoot we discovered that one man’s wife had actually applied for him without his knowledge and then persuaded him to come once he was accepted). We actually had two men in that shoot, which was a record we were happy about and may have something to do with our 60% male audience. Does that figure surprise you?

We’ve been putting off sorting through the applicants which means that as of this day, you still have time to submit an application for either the AZ shoot in January or the San Diego shoot March 18-21. http://www.horsemaster.juliegoodnight.com/apply.html By the end of the week we will have about a dozen prospects chosen for the AZ shoot and Heidi, my producer, will start contacting people to ask questions and/or confirm their acceptance on the show. At this time we also secure our volunteer crew members that are integral to the shoot—3 or 4 people that will help us with everything from hors snot to lighting to craft services (a term I didn’t know before I got the TV show). If you are interested in being behind the scenes, you can apply online at the same link above.

Next it’s time to organize the wardrobe and the equipment needed, get helmet sizes for all the riders and all the other odds and ends that are sent to the shoot location ahead of time. You’d be surprised at the complicated logistics of all of this. We arrive at the shoot location a day or two ahead of time to make sure all our equipment is there, everything is in order and to scout where we can tape in relationship to the direction of the sun and the backgrounds. We tape eight episodes in four days; it’s pretty much a sun-up to sun-down operation and at night it is all we can do to eat dinner and fall into bed. But, oddly enough, we have a lot of fun. As I’ve written before, I am blessed with an awesome Horse Master crew—all talented, hard working and fun loving.

Maybe tomorrow we’ll get the applications sorted.

Enjoy the ride,

Julie

 

Why are riders so nervous about clinics?

Horsemanship clinics are a way of life for me. I’ve taught hundreds of them and I like to take them whenever I can. I enjoy taking clinics and it helps keep my teaching fresh and rejuvenates my spirit and I almost always learn something about my horse. Knowing I have a clinic coming up where I’ll take my horse—whether teaching or student, helps motivate me to ride more. I like having a goal to work toward with my horse—whether it’s personal, competitive or physical; it helps me stay focused and productive in our training sessions. Does that work for you?  What are your current riding goals?

I’ve been very focused lately on planning my 2011 Clinic Tour—where I’ll go to teach clinics, which facilities will host us and getting together all the information we need to start promoting the tour.  It’s been a particularly challenging process this year since I cut my travel schedule back for 2011, determined to only travel three weekends out of every month, which meant I had to eliminate about five clinics from my 2010 schedule. But alas, we finally got the entire 2011 Clinic Tour finalized http://juliegoodnight.com/clinicschedule.php and if you are on my mail list, FB or Titter, you’ve probably already received a shout-out about this in the last week. Several of my clinics are already full or nearly full to riders, so if riding in one of my clinics is high on your list of goals for next year, you might want to reserve a spot sooner rather than later (register before Dec 31 for early bird specials).

Along with my focus on clinics, I’ve been reviewing and updating all our information on clinics, what to expect, what to bring and how to get the most from the experience. I know from what people tell me—either before or after the clinic—that they were very nervous to ride with me. This always surprises me, although I’ve heard it enough to know it is a common theme—not just in my clinics but for everyone. It surprises me because I know how hard I work to make sure all the riders are safe and satisfied during one of my clinics and I think that most people who have ridden with me would agree that there’s no point in being apprehensive about riding with me. I’m actually a pretty nice person.

I always tell the riders at the beginning of every clinic that nervousness is a wasted emotion, because I’m here to make sure they have fun and learn something and no one is under any pressure. But still, I know people are reticent and I know there are some that will never sign up to begin with because of it and I wish I knew how to alleviate those fears. So what is it about taking a horsemanship clinic that is so frightening? Maybe if I can understand it better, I can get people to relax quicker. Is it fear of the unknown? Fear of riding around other people? Fear you’ll lose control of your horse? Fear of riding in an unknown place? Based on a previous bad experience? Horror stories heard from others?

On one level, I totally get it—riding in front of a group with a bunch of strangers can be nerve wracking. Riding and horses is such a voluminous amount of information to master that it can be overwhelming at times. The unknown quantity of how your horse will respond in an unknown situation is a little frightening. On the other hand, the opportunity to learn, grow, explore new concepts and master new skills is quite compelling.

What about you? Do you like to ride in clinics? What do you get out of it? Does it make you nervous? Why? How many clinics have  you taken and what did you like the most? What advice would you offer to someone who has never taken a clinic and how would  you choose what clinic to attend? I’ll be interested to hear.
Enjoy the ride,
Julie