Leonard Coombe Equestrian Riding Hat and Body Armour Fitting

Your riding hat is the most crucial part of your equestrian kit, designed to be effective as possible at minimalizing potential head injuries from a fall or kick from a horse, and should be worn when riding and handling horses (we have heard of nasty head injuries when turning horses out! ) It is important to remember as with all safety equipment no riding hat can guarantee to protect every rider in every circumstance but a correctly fitting hat will provide you with the best protection in the event of an accident. measuring for riding hats trying a new riding hat A correctly fitting riding helmet is crucial for your safety To ensure the best protection for yourself it is important your riding hat is properly fitted. Every head is a different shape and manufacturers make riding helmets in slightly different shapes, that suit different heads if you fit a 1.5 in a skull hat it doesn’t mean you will be a 1.5 in all riding helmets, fit also varies within brands from style to style.

At Leonard Coombe Equestrian we believe having the correct fitted riding hat is so important, that we do not sell online for mail order. We only offer instore purchases or click-and-collect from our Newton Abbot, Devon store so the hat can be fitted and checked, YES we do lose sales of riding hats but we would rather that than someone has a serious injury or dies because they have bought an ill-fitting hat from us online.

The Leonard Coombe riding hat fitting team has all received manufacturer-specific training, with some members of the team having 20+ years of experience. Choosing and fitting your new hat can take a little time as we will need to measure and try a few hats to get the best fit, we then recommend you wear the hat around the shop for a min of 15min as the helmet must be fitted snugly but we don’t want you getting a headache and unfortunately for safety reasons, we CAN NOT ACCEPT RETURNS on riding hats and helmets after they have left the shop unless faulty.

A Small Selection Of Our Riding Hats We stock a large range of riding helmets, of all different styles including the classic velvet hats and traditional jokey skull hats, from brands including Charles Owen, Champion, Gate House, Karben by Shires Equestrian and UVEX our range can be seen here:

Designed to absorb impact from a fall or kick from a horse wearing a body protector is a wise choice whether you are eventing, show jumping, backing a young horse or even just going out for a hack body protection should always be considered. Modern Protectors are more lightweight and more flexible than their predecessors making them easier and more comfortable to wear.

While some competitions have made them compulsory more and more horse riders are wearing them in everyday situations and riding more positively with one on. lady wearing body armor on a horse Body Armor is designed to absorb impact from a fall or kick from a horse.

Body Protectors should be replaced every 3-5 years or if they become damaged, after 5 years the impact absorption properties of the foam may have started to decline, and if the garment sustains impacts through falls the foam’s ability to absorb future impacts. should you have a heavy fall the foam should expand back to its original shape in 30min but if the dent is still showing this part of the garment has lost its absorption properties and should be replaced. Garments bearing the now obsolete Level 5 or 7, Class 1, 2 or 3 labels and BETA 2000 Level 1, 2 or 3 should not be worn. You should be wearing a garment bearing the current BETA 2018 Standard Body Armour is available at Leonard Coombe, Newton Abbot, Devon A good fit is vital to protection and comfort we carry a large number of sizes to get the best fit.

Body Protector being fitted at our South Devon Store Our Team of trained fitters is happy to help at our Devon store A well-fitting Body protector is key to safety and fit, we offer a free body protector fitting service by a trained member of the team for those wanting to purchase a garment from us. ( A £10 fee is applied if you do not want to purchase from us ) When purchasing body protection it is vital you are correctly fitted as they must cover all the correct areas without restricting movement, we will go through the different styles available and try on different types and sizes as how they fit will vary from brand to brand and style to style it is important to remember if you are a Small in one you may not be in another. Our body, protectors are also available with different back lengths so we can ensure the best fit.

If you are looking for a body protector fitting in Devon we are based in Newton Abbot town centre, we are able to offer walk-in appointments but you can also book by telephoning us ob 01626 204099 to avoid a wait at busy times.