Riders4helmets website aims to encourage more equestrians to wear helmets
Leading equine digestive health product Succeed® has teamed up with helmet advocate Jeri Bryant to launch an online helmet awareness campaign—www.riders4helmets.com. The campaign is designed to educate equestrians on the benefits of wearing helmets.
The Equestrian Medical Safety Association (EMSA) states that head injuries account for approximately 60% of deaths resulting from equestrian accidents. Approximately 12,000 equestrians visited emergency departments for head injuries in the U.S. in 2007 (Source: NEISS data). Succeed® and Bryant aim to help reduce that figure by raising awareness of how wearing a properly fitted ASTM/SEI-certified helmet can reduce the severity of head injuries sustained while riding and possibly prevent death.
“After donating helmet awareness t-shirts to the Succeed eBay store, I realized we could take things a step further,” said Bryant, referring to the web store established to raise funds for dressage star Courtney King-Dye, who was seriously injured in March while riding without a helmet. “I am proud of the support already being pledged to the campaign,” Bryant continued.
John Hall, President of Freedom Health, LLC, manufacturers of Succeed®, added “if we encourage more riders to wear helmets and can save others from going through what Courtney and her family have experienced, then we will have done our jobs.”
The riders4helmets campaign has already received the official endorsement of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), United States Eventing Association (USEA), United States Dressage Federation (USDF), American Riding Instructors Association (ARIA), Equestrian Aid Foundation (EAF) as well as leading equestrians such as: Olympic Silver Medalist Gina Miles; veteran eventers Allison Springer, Hawley Bennett-Awad, Cathy Weischhoff and Lucinda Green; Eclipse Award Winning Jockey Frank Lovato, Jr; and dressage rider and trainer Ilse Schwarz. In addition, Charles Owen, Troxel Helmets and GPA Helmets have also pledged their support.
“Safety is one of the fundamental aspects of everything the USEF does. This campaign is a great step forward in building awareness and will help start a cultural shift in the way people think about helmets,” said USEF CEO John Long.
“The USEA is proud to support this helmet campaign as the safety of our members whenever mounted along with their horses is our top priority,” said Jo Whitehouse, CEO, USEA.
The www.riders4helmets.com campaign website homepage is a blog that will be updated frequently with news regarding the campaign. Articles already posted on the website include features on helmet certification, a dressage riders perspective, and, questions for an equine law practitioner. The website also features statistics and other equestrian helmet-related information, a forum where site visitors can share their helmet-related stories and questions, and a photo gallery of campaign supporters.
Individuals and retailers interested in either donating items to the Succeed eBay store, or selling the helmet campaign t-shirts in their stores, should email Lyndsey White at lwhite@freedomhealthllc.com for details.
Succeed® Digestive Conditioning Program is an official product sponsor of USEF, USDF and USEA. It is produced and distributed exclusively by Freedom Health, LLC, of Aurora, OH. The company is focused on finding, perfecting and delivering superior, innovative products that address real and significant health-related issues for animals and the people who care for them. Visit www.succeed-equine.com for further information on the product.
Author: Patrick Warczak
