A young rider whose head was trodden on by her horse in a fall walked away unscathed thanks to her riding hat – as the caved-in helmet serves as a reminder of the importance of wearing the correct safety equipment.
Minna D’Ath, 14, was taking part in the Berks & Bucks Draghounds fun day on 9 November with her mare Kiki when she became unseated after jumping a hedge.
“Minna was riding with a couple of others and didn’t realise they had gone to the side to miss out the jump. Her horse clocked this and wanted to follow, but couldn’t because there was a bigger hedge at the side, and as she never stops at a fence, she jumped it,” said Katie, Minna’s mum.
“I could see from a distance Minna was clinging on, but she slipped round the front, came off and went underneath Kiki and then was just lying on the ground.”
Minna and Kiki.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
Minna, who was wearing a Charles Owen hat, was attended to by medics and taken to hospital.
“She had been knocked out but had come round. The side of her hat was totally crushed in and had a split, either from being trodden on or kicked, so the worry was that she had a serious head injury,” said Katie.
“She had a CT scan and it turned out she was completely fine, but what’s extraordinary is that she doesn’t even have a bruise. The hat saved her life without a doubt. She is incredibly lucky. Obviously she wouldn’t have been not wearing a hat on a hunt, but had it not been a good hat or it had somehow come off, she’d have been toast.”
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Amy Lambert, an off-duty doctor who was riding on the day, was called to help.
“I was told someone had fallen off and wasn’t moving. When I got there I was hugely relieved that Minna was awake and talking, and when I saw the helmet there was no doubt that she had been trodden on,” said Dr Lambert.
“I do work for some eventing fixtures and racecourses and I haven’t seen a hat quite that dramatic before. She was incredibly lucky, and thank God it was the hat and not her head. It just emphasises the importance of wearing appropriate safety equipment of the correct standard, no matter what the discipline.”
A Charles Owen spokesperson told H&H the company is “incredibly grateful to hear that the rider is safe and recovering well”.
“Stories like this are a powerful reminder of why we do what we do. Every Charles Owen and EQx helmet is engineered to far surpass the requirements of the safety standards they are tested to, and we invest a tremendous amount of work and funding into ensuring they protect riders in exactly these unpredictable, high-impact situations,” she said.
“We never want accidents like this to happen, but the messages we receive from riders every day – telling us their helmet made a difference – continue to drive us forward in our commitment to improving and advancing safety for all disciplines and all levels of equestrian sport.”
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.
