Top riders support International Helmet Awareness Day
Charlotte Dujardin, Piggy French and Paul Tapner are among the top names showing their support for the third annual International Helmet Awareness Day taking place this Saturday, 22 June.
Campaign group Riders4Helmets is teaming up with leading helmet manufacturers to host the initiative, which aims to highlight the importance of correctly fitted, up-to-standard safety headwear for riders.
On the day, 52 retailers in the UK will be selling helmets at discounted prices. View all retrailers taking part. Riders4Helmets will also be live-streaming educational webinars on fields such as traumatic brain injury and concussion, psychology (why riders choose not to wear a helmet) and helmet testing. Riders will be able to ask a variety of experts real-time questions.
Helmet brands that have pledged involvement are Samshield, Champion, Gatehouse, Uvex, Charles Owen, GPA, Antares-Sellier, Tipperary, Leslie Sutcliffe, One K, Ovation, KEP Italia, Troxel, International Riding Helmets, Dubli and Aegis (Devon-Aire).
The British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA) has announced its support for the awareness day.
“The aims and objectives of International Helmet Awareness Day are very much in line with those of BETA,” said BETA’s Claire Williams. “Rider safety is something that BETA regards as crucial and has promoted tirelessly. Education is crucial and events such as [this] play an important role in getting the message across to riders.”
The Riders4helmets campaign group was set up in 2010 by Lyndsey White and Jeri Bryant, after US dressage rider Courtney King-Dye suffered a head injury and coma following a fall when she wasn’t wearing a helmet. The campaign’s aim is to get more riders to wear helmets by raising awareness.
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Retailers who wish to participate in the event can register on www.riders4helmets.com/ihad/retailer-information by Thursday 20 June.
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.