Upper-level Dressage and Event Riders Without Helmets

This is something that's been bothering me for a long time. It's my personal decision to wear a helmet every time, every ride. I've been on a horse without one once, for 10 minutes, because my trainer insisted I get on and feel the changes she'd made to my horse. It was almost a year ago, and I honestly think that today I would run and get my helmet before getting on. I doubt 2 minutes would really make that much of a difference. I remember the shame I felt when one of the boarders at my barn walked by and saw me; I was completely mortified and it spoiled any enjoyment I might have gotten from my horse, who did feel amazing: light, up, and forward. So, wearing a helmet is very important to me.

It doesn't bother me (much) when others around me choose not to. I feel it's irresponsible and a foolish risk, but I keep those feelings to myself, because everyone has a right to make that choice. My barn has only a few weird eventers like my trainer and I, and even she doesn't always wear a helmet.

One thing I love about eventing is that most of us are truly horse people who love having a partnership with the horse and enjoy spending the time to make sure our horses are properly cared for. For the most part, that respect and concern for our horses causes us in turn to respect and care for our bodies the best we can. Helmets are required in all three phases, except in upper-level dressage. Safety vests are required for cross country, and we have to wear our medical armband for both stadium and cross country. Helmets are actually required to be worn by anyone mounted on the event grounds.

I realize I'm making some generalizations about eventers, and I also realize that there are people who care about their horses and their own welfare just as deeply as some eventers do. My point is that, while I know it can't be said that all upper-level eventers are of the "every time, every ride" school of thought regarding helmets, I'm willing to bet there are quite a few who are. And if this is true...

Why don't they wear helmets during the dressage phase? If they care enough to ride with one every single time they're on a horse, why don't they do it during one of the competition phases? It seems incredible to me that anyone could set aside such a conviction for wearing helmets for one ride. It just seems that it sends the wrong kind of message to people who look up to them: "Once you get our level, you don't have to wear a helmet on the flat anymore." I also don't think that's the attitude that every single eventer has!

There has to be at least one upper-level rider who cares enough to wear a helmet 100% of the time. Why don't they wear a helmet during dressage? If someone like Karen O'Connor or Philip Dutton showed up wearing a helmet to a dressage test during a 4*, I'm sure people wouldn't stop talking about it for a long time, but they wouldn't be eliminated. EV114 in the 2009 rule book states that a top hat should be worn if tails are worn, but it also says that "protective headgear" may be worn without penalty. I don't know if that means they couldn't wear a shad belly, but either way, it's possible to do!

If there is one 4* eventer out their who believes helmets are to be worn every ride, why don't they wear them during the dressage phase? How could they worry so much about image or be so caught up in the status-symbol of wearing a shad belly and top hat that they put aside their beliefs a couple times a year? I just don't understand that frame of mind.

Also, no one wears helmets for Grand Prix dressage! Why? Sure, by the time you make it to the upper levels of these sports, you're probably not going to fall off if your horse spooks. Still, it's possible. What if your horse trips and falls? What if the judge's stand is blown down by a freak gust of wind and scares the bejeesus out of your horse?

I understand it will never be mandatory at that level, and I do think people at that level should have a choice about weather or not they were a helmet. They do have that choice, though, and no one does.

I would love to know why. And I would be really pleased to find out that I'm wrong and someone already does! Can anyone offer insight as to why no upper-level event or dressage riders wear helmets?