I Wear One. Do You?

(This blog was originally posted on July 13, 2014)

Photo by Rick Hustead

When I posed for this photo on my first horse, Geeves, we weren’t planning

to move or go anywhere, but I insisted on putting on the helmet just in case.

                Tomorrow, August 1, 2015 will be International Helmet Awareness Day 2015. For the past couple of weeks, my local tack shops and favorite equestrian catalogs offered promotional discounts on riding helmets to encourage riders to invest in and use this important safety equipment.

         Helmets are probably the most important equipment that equestrians use when they ride and work around horses. You don’t absolutely need a saddle to ride a horse. Many people, including Gaia Horsemanship founder and instructor Ellen Cochrane, can and do forgo a bridle and reins when they ride. I would love to do that one day, too. But ride without protective headgear? No. Way.

When I was about 10 years old, someone I know went temporarily blind after falling off of a pony. She wasn’t wearing a helmet. That was my wake-up call, as well as that of everyone else where I rode at that time. From that day on, I (and everyone else at the stable) wore protective headgear. For me, putting on a hard hat before I get on a horse is as automatic as fastening my seat-belt when I got into a car. Much of the professional and amateur equestrian community received their big wake-up call about helmet awareness when former Olympian Courtney King-Dye sustained a traumatic brain injury after she came off a young horse during a schooling session in 2010. As I recall, she wasn’t even working on particularly advanced dressage movements at the time; the youngster stumbled, she fell off and landed beneath him. King-Dye wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time and fractured her skull and suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the accident. If an experienced and talented Olympic rider could get hurt like that, so could any of us.

Like so many things in life, it is very difficult to change a known behavior that we have been doing for most of our lives. After all, there is something very romantic and liberating about the image of galloping a horse with your hair billowing out behind you. I just can’t imagine doing that anymore. After witnessing a fall that temporarily blinded someone very close to me, and hearing my dad (a retired neurologist) constantly telling me how dangerous horses and riding are (yes, they can be), I err on the side of caution. In fact, caution is an early and very well-established known in my subconscious mental script.

       In light of Ms. King-Dye’s accident, in 2013 the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) decreed that all dressage competitors from introductory to Grand Prix must wear approved GPA titanium helmets at local and national competitions. (There went my fantasy about wearing the coat and top hat.) As far as I know, the international show organization, Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI), does not currently have a similar mandate, riders are seen sporting helmets more and more frequently at the international competitions. Charlotte Dujardin, the dressage champion at the 2012 Olympics, won team (United Kingdom) and individual gold medals, and she wore a helmet instead of the traditional top hat. In fact, she was the only competitor I saw who made this choice, although she certainly didn’t have to. I think that must have been another game-changing moment for the Riders4Helmets campaign: If an Olympic champion chooses to wear a certified helmet in competition, so can you and I.

         I confess that I was really looking forward to the day when I would be be eligible to compete in the Prix St. George (and above) dressage classes. Not just because I wanted to ride canter pirouettes, tempi changes, passage and piaffe, but also because I wanted to be able to wear the top-hat-and-tails that dressage fashion riders sport in these upper-level competitions. (By the way, that is the only “fashion” or look that really interests me.) However, I am not prepared to sacrifice my health and well-being and (hopefully) many more years of enjoyment working with and riding my horse to wear a garment that would not protect me if the worst ever happened.

Following are links for more information about Courtney King-Dye, the Riders4Helmets program and the role of protective headgear in preventing riding-related TBI:

Courtney King-Dye’s Accident Causes Shock and Sorrow, Leads to Drive for Helmets,  

Dr. David Geier: MUSC Surgeon Promotes Equestrian Helmet Safety and

“Debbie McDonald Credits Helmet with Saving Her From Serious Injury In Horse Accident”

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2015

 

Hypno Aids

(This blog was originally posted on July 23, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Contrary to popular belief, swinging a pocket-watch in front of someone

is not used to induce the hypnotic state anymore.

      Contrary to popular myth, swinging a pocket-watch in front of someone to induce the hypnotic state is rarely if ever used in the Twenty-first Century. One of the most effective ways to induce hypnosis is the arm raise. According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., this powerful technique is designed to help people reach a very deep level of hypnosis at the first consultation. However, it is not generally used at subsequent hypnotherapy appointments and it is not practical or even possible to use this induction with some clients. The arm-raising technique is also not used with young children, people who have a very short attention span or those who have a physical injury that prevents or limits arm movement.

    Following is a list of hypnotic aids (hypno-aids) that may be used to induce hypnosis for these clients and people who have preconceived beliefs about hypnosis by attracting their attention and lengthening their attention span to enter hypnosis.

• Air machine. This device produces the lulling sound of an ocean breeze or white noise to lull a client and can facilitate a progressive relaxation.
• Crystal ball or crystal pendant for eye-fascination. This is a secondary-induction technique for adults or a primary-induction technique for young children.
• Penlight. This is an eye-fascination tool.
• Hypno-disk. This eye-fascination tool is composed of a rotating disc designed to relax you and deepen the hypnotic state.
• Metronome set at 60 beats per minute. This tool is especially effective to use with people who have a primarily auditory representational system (i.e., learn and express themselves most effectively through listening and speech).
• Strobe light. I do not use this device because the flashing light can induce seizures in people who have epilepsy.

 Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2015