I like the Charles Owens helmets. They have a model with extra padding behind the occipital surface of your brain, where you may well land if you fall off and land back-down. My doctor recommends this model and bought one for herself, and I was very damn glad of it last weekend. I think any good helmet would have saved me from a skull fracture but perhaps only this one would have prevented a concussion.
I am so sorry to hear about your beautiful mare. She seems to be remarkably talented. Maybe the Special Olympics would be a great way for her to spend her time.
And don’t fear. We all feel that we’ll never again find that perfect, once-in-a-lifetime horse, but there are more out there, and if we stay with horses we find that there are actually several such in a lifetime. I am riding one such myself right now, another beautiful black TB mare, 17.1, 5, and sweet as a peach. It may be that another wonderful horse is waiting to love you.
Miss Gracie is a splendid girl . . . the ONLY criticism I have ever had of her is that she's always been too slow to catch cold. When we hunted we would drift back and back during the day, until we were riding with the hilltoppers and the kids on ponies. We'd catch up when the hounds checked, then the process would begin all over again . . . but in the hunter ring the judges LOVED her smooth deliberate style.
Never rode a horse that could jump out of its stride better -- until she had to drop her hocks and reach back for a big one (around 3'4 or so was where you really noticed it) her jump just felt like a lengthened stride. And a perfect lady.
She's 27, no frank injury the vet can find (without an MRI which there's no point in taking), just a faint irregularity on the right fore that's more pronounced early in the morning before she gets warmed up. We're guessing it's her knee, and 6-8 months rest had no effect on it at all. Probably just old age.
I'm sure she's not the only lovely 16hh T'bred mare in the world . . . but right now I'm feeling rather down and disappointed.