Riding helmets traditionally reflect the conservative style of dress that characterized earlier non-protective
English riding headwear. The classic riding helmet is covered in black velvet or velveteen (either via a removable cover or permanently glued on), with a small, flexible, visor-style brim. More recently, smooth finish helmets worn without a fabric cover, have become more common. A newly popular style in the hunter-jumper world features a lightly textured (less shiny) plastic shell with a decorative ventilation strip down the center. This design goes by many brand names, but, due to the ventilation strip, is informally called a "skunk helmet."
Jockeys who ride
race horses wear a helmet designed without a brim, adding a colorful cover that is part of the owners’ racing colors, with a false brim for appearance's sake. Use of racing style colored helmet covers has spread to other disciplines, especially amongst
Eventers. Casual riders often wear "training" or "schooling" helmets in a variety of colors and some even include patterns (such as stars or stripes). Cloth covers in brilliant colors and vivid designs can be purchased to provide even more variety, but are frowned upon (and are sometimes illegal) in the
horse show ring, where black, brown or gray are still the standard. There are helmet designs that resemble a
cowboy hat, or have other "western" styling, such as a tan color, or a cordura outer cover. But adoption by
western riders has been particularly slow, especially in the United States, where helmets are seen mostly in
trail riding,
competitive trail riding, and
endurance riding, and seldom at
rodeos (where use would be particularly well-advised) or in western-style
horse show classes. Some helmets retain a symbolic ribbon at the back, which dates from mounted hunting. Traditionally, black ribbon was used for
fox hunting or general
hunting, with red ribbon used when stag hunting or
arme blanche hunting. The ribbon was "sewn up" (i.e. with a bow at the base of the helmet and the tail ends of the ribbon either cut off or glued pointing upwards on the body of the helmet) for "common" riders. The ribbon was "sewn down" (i.e. with the tail ends dangling from the bow, below the edge of the helmet) for hunt masters and hunt staff. Because any rider is entitled to wear a sewn up black ribbon, this is the standard for modern helmets retaining the ribbon. The use of "sewn down" ribbons by those not entitled to them sometimes occurs in the
United States but is considered a serious transgression by traditionalists. In some nations, members of the
cavalry wear silver ribbons and national athletes wear gold ribbons. The ribbons are sewn up for troopers and common riders, and sewn down for officers and riders who have represented their countries at the
Olympics or championships such as the
World Equestrian Games. ==Standards==