Accidents Happen

One argument people use for not wearing helmets or putting them on their kids is that good riders don't fall off.

Exhibit.

This little girl did nothing wrong. It wasn't a great run...she went way wide around the second barrel, but hey, she's a kid. She was out of the horse's face and when the horse started to go down, she did what she could to try and rebalance the animal.

According to the videographer, apparently her father, the going around the third barrel was very wet. It's not uncommon for barrel horses to slip like this and it seldom results in significant injury to the horse. (I also had this happen to me when I was a teenager in the jumper ring...with the same result - neither I nor the horse was hurt and we got back up and carried on).

But, this does demonstrate that even a good rider on a well trained horse can and will come off, especially if you're doing something more dangerous like barrels or jumping (I put the two about even in the danger rating of equestrian sports). If you ride, you will fall off. It's inevitable. Adults can do as they choose, but it's irresponsible, in my opinion, not to put a helmet on your child.