Equipment
Helmets and vests

I wanted to touch base on some of the equipment that has more or less become the norm in today’s version of rodeo, some of it is considered controversial, a lot of riders will say I am not riding in that but I will ride with that. What we are talking about is the vest and the helmet.

Let’s look at the vest first. This piece of equipment came about thru the work of Cody Lambert in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. If I remember correctly, he looked at what Jockey’s wore under there silks to get a basic idea of what needed to be accomplished. It was in the early 1990’s that Cody first wore a protective vest in the arena. Now, Lets get into the meat and potatoes of the protective vest.

The first vest were constructed of Kevlar, a bullet proof light weight material, a covering of some type, usually leather, and some type of closure, Velcro, zippers, or a combination. One of the things that was a concern was what if a horn or hoof gets between the cowboy and the animal, how would the cowboy get away. Those of us who have been around rodeo and these vest know that most vest come with several pieces of Velcro to hold it together, these also act as a rip cord if something other than a cowboy gets inside it. The Velcro will rip open allowing the cowboy to fall free and the animal to continue on its path. A lot of vests today have zippers up the front to make for a more secure fastener as most people want to make sure that the front stays closed.

The helmet has gained some popularity over the last few years, but mainly by the younger generation, a lot of this is because the Junior Associations are making it mandatory to ride with a helmet. Now, I am not saying this to start a firestorm, but until a helmet is manufactured solely for bull riding, I cannot see any of the professional associations even considering making it mandatory. The helmet is used to deflect and pad any blows that may hit the head. As of now, there is no helmet that will meet the standards that NOCSAE has set for bull riding.

I am going to go back a little bit here and talk a little more on the protective vest. One of the drawbacks to the vest is the Velcro straps and the zipper. The reason I say this is because any where you have a mechanical fastener, there is the possibility of failure. I am going to compare this to football, there are four fasteners that hold the face mask to the helmet itself. These are made of a hard plastic and held in place with a metal screw. Over time, the plastic clip will break and has to be replaced, or the screw may corrode from the athletes sweat and dirt and it will break. We have to inspect the helmets on a regular basis and if we see something that is in the process of failing, we replace it. Now, how do you know if a vest has the potential to fail, we really don’t. If you have a vest that has a zipper in it, keep an eye on it for corrosion from sweat and dirt. If the vest has the Velcro strips on it, those should remain in good condition because you are not always ripping it open once you get the adjustment to fit you. Remember, safety equipment was put together for a reason, to protect you. How ever there are times that the equipment will fail, but we know that the equipment has worked as designed more times than it has failed. I am sure all of you have a story to tell that some piece of equipment saved you from a serious injury.

A lot of questions pop up anytime a cowboy becomes hurt using a piece of equipment, and that is understandable. Let’s look at a couple questions though. Would the injury have been worse with out that piece of equipment? If they had not been wearing the equipment, would the equipment have prevented the injury? Cowboys are a very resourceful group, I have seen several pieces of safety equipment from other sports cross over into rodeo, and they make perfect sense.