How about putting safety first in 2007? If you own a helmet, wear one on your trail rides. If you are the parent of a minor child, insist that they wear one. One family has learned that lesson through tragedy.
On Thursday, Dec. 21, Julia Myers, 12, was riding her horse along the trails of her hometown of Norco, Calif. The horsekeeping community maintains bridle paths throughout the various neighborhoods. According to witnesses, Julia was cantering her horse down the trail. As she approached the street, the horse balked suddenly at the edge of the roadway and stopped abruptly. That sent Julia over the horse’s front end, where she fell in the street and landing on her head, neck and shoulders. The seventh-grader died on Christmas Eve due to severe head trauma. Although Julia had a safety helmet, she wasn’t wearing it.
“Tell your babies to wear helmets,” Myers’ father told the Press-Enterprise newspaper. “You have to be firm. Ground them for a week if you catch them without a helmet.”