ALMOST all traditional riding hats fail to give proper protection against brain damage, according to an independent inquiry.

The findings, which have caused uproar in the riding community, are the first to reveal vast disparities in the safety of riding hats. The traditional black-domed design favoured by the majority of Britain’s three million regular riders failed the basic tests.

The inauguration of what will become a regular consumer report has been delayed for months because of disputes with the manufacturers.

Jane Davies, who set up the Mark Davies Injured Riders’ Fund after her son died at the Burghley Horse Trials, said that it had until now been impossible to know which hats were the best on the market.

The charity commissioned the tests from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), one of the most respected safety inspectors, when it became clear that better helmets could have prevented brain damage in hundreds of riders.

The tests were devised by the British Equestrian Federation, chaired by the Marquess of Hartington, to try to reflect riding accidents accurately. Most riders fall on to the side of their head, where traditional hats offer little protection.

They rejected 40 out of 55 hats after the first round of testing as not being safe enough; only one traditional hat out of twenty got through. More than 20,000 leaflets containing the star rating are now being sent to riding shops.

“An awful lot of people in the riding world care about looking pretty on a horse, and that’s their problem,” Mrs Davies said. “But millions of parents will have bought a shoddy hat thinking they were doing the best thing for their child.

“Now they know that if they wear one of these hats, they’ll look prettier, but have a greater risk of brain damage. Die if you want, but now you won’t have to die of ignorance.”

Horse riding is one of the most dangerous sports, with about one death a month and 50,000 people going to hospital every year with a riding-related injury. It is considered the most lethal form of transport per mile travelled. However, the British riding community has been reluctant to replace the traditional black velvet hat favoured by huntsmen and riding schools. Traditional hats from the three most established and respected British manufacturers, Gatehouse, Charles Owen and Champion, failed the test.

The only traditional hat rated well in the test comes from an American firm, Troxel. Hats from America or New Zealand, where safety standards are more rigorous, won nearly all the categories.

Charles Owen, Champion and Gatehouse said that the star rating was either too confusing or not as relevant as industry standards. The British Horse Society, a riders’ association, backed their complaints.

John Ayers, chairman of Champion, whose hats came bottom of the traditional category, said: “This is a simple one-off test with a standard dreamt up by the TRL, rather than established tests proven in the field.”

Bill Vero, technical director of Gatehouse, said: “We are concerned that some of the tests used were really experimental. We thought it would confuse the market.”

Roy Burek, managing director of Charles Owen, said: “It’s great to be challenged, but one of my concerns is that we have not been informed what scientific basis the tests have.”

David Stuart-Monteith, for Pikeur, a German manufacturer, said: “Our hats have certain strengths; the test probably hasn’t inquired about those strengths. The star-system is not all-encompassing.”

The British Equestrian Trade Association said: “We all support safer hats. Our members are obsessed by safety. We don’t mind the results coming out, but we are concerned that these are the right kind of tests to increase safety for the rider.”

The Equestrian New Helmet Assessment Programme has taken two years to develop and is based on the most rigorous aspects of the four existing industry standards.

• The test results can be found on the Mark Davies Injured Riders site: www.mdirf.co.uk

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