How to Choose the Right Riding Helmet

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How do you actually choose the right riding helmet?

The right riding helmet is the one that's certified to a real safety standard, fits your specific head without shifting, suits how and where you train, and looks good while you ride. Certification comes first — ASTM/SEI in the US, PAS 015 or VG1 in Europe (all explained below) — because a helmet that hasn't passed independent impact testing is a hat, not protective equipment. Fit comes second: a helmet that's technically the right size on paper but shifts when you shake your head is doing you no good at all. After that, use-case narrows the field — a dedicated show helmet has different priorities than the one you wear five mornings a week for schooling, and dressage, jumping, and general riding each favor slightly different profiles. Style comes last, and it should. Finish, sparkle, and color are worth getting right once safety and fit are settled — and if you're choosing between two options that are otherwise equal, black is the one that never needs replacing for looking dated. Everything below walks through each of those in order, plus exactly when a helmet you already own needs to be retired.

How does a riding helmet protect you — and what does it protect against?

A riding helmet's entire job is absorbing energy fast enough that your skull and brain don't have to. Inside the hard outer shell sits a liner of expanded polystyrene, or EPS foam — the same basic material used in packaging, chosen because it crushes in a predictable, one-time way. On impact, that foam compresses and deforms, converting the force of the blow into structural damage to the foam instead of your head. That crush only works once. A helmet that's absorbed a real impact has already spent the protection it was built to offer, whether or not you can see the damage from outside.

What it protects against specifically: skull fracture, and traumatic brain injury caused by linear acceleration — the straight-line jolt of a direct hit. What it doesn't fully solve is rotational force, the twisting motion your brain experiences on an angled impact, which is a major driver of concussion on its own. It offers no protection for your neck or spine either — a helmet's job stops at the skull. Worth knowing plainly: this is safety equipment with real limits, not a guarantee.

Is a good helmet enough to call yourself prepared? No — it's one piece of a much bigger foundation, and the gaps in the rest of it cost you more than any helmet ever will. See the complete guide to find where else you're exposed.

What actually makes a riding helmet certified safe?

Certification is the letters and numbers stamped inside the shell, and they're not interchangeable. ASTM F1163 — ASTM stands for the American Society for Testing and Materials, the body that writes the standard — tested and certified by SEI, the Safety Equipment Institute, the independent lab that verifies a given helmet actually meets it, is the standard required in USEF-sanctioned dressage, eventing, hunter, jumper, and driving divisions in the US. It requires impacts at multiple sites on the shell, a penetration test, and a retention system — the harness — strong enough to keep the helmet on your head through a fall, not just sitting on it beforehand.

Outside the US, PAS 015 — Product Approval Specification — is the UK's BSI Kitemark standard, and it's the toughest of the three in one specific way: it batch-tests helmets pulled from actual production runs, not just a design prototype, so a helmet on a shelf has been checked against the same standard it was originally certified to. VG1 — Voluntary Group 1 — is the newer EU-wide standard, built on similar methodology to PAS 015 but with a lower performance threshold — a helmet can pass VG1 without clearing PAS 015's bar.

None of those three standards test for one thing that turns out to matter enormously: rotational force. That gap is exactly what Virginia Tech's Helmet Lab built its STAR rating system to address. After analyzing more than a hundred real rider-fall videos, their biomedical engineers built impact tests that measure both linear and rotational head acceleration, then score each helmet one to five stars for how well it reduces concussion risk under those real-world conditions. Two helmets can both carry the same ASTM certification and land in very different places on the STAR scale, which makes it the closest thing to an independent comparison shoppers actually have.

The price of the helmet doesn't matter — it's the safety certifications you can't go without.

Is MIPS worth paying more for?

MIPS stands for Multi-directional Impact Protection System, and mechanically it's simple: a low-friction layer sits between the foam liner and your head, letting the shell rotate a few millimeters independently on an angled impact instead of transferring that twist directly to your skull. Since rotational force is exactly the kind of injury standard certification testing doesn't fully capture, and exactly what Virginia Tech's STAR ratings reward, MIPS is addressing a real, measurable gap rather than a marketing checkbox.

It does add cost over a comparable non-MIPS helmet, though how much varies by brand and line. Though for all riders, it's worth paying for. Falls happen at odd angles far more often than they happen in a straight line down, and a technology built specifically to reduce the injury type most falls actually produce is a reasonable place to spend a little more.

How to fit a riding helmet properly?

Fit is not about matching a number on a size chart to a number on a helmet box — it's about four physical checks. First, clearance: two fingers, no more, should fit flat between your eyebrows and the front edge of the helmet when it's sitting level. Second, the shake test: with the harness fastened, shake your head firmly side to side and up and down. A properly fitted helmet doesn't shift, slide, or rock — if it does, the size or shape is wrong, not you. Third, the strap: it should form a clean Y just below each ear, snug enough that one finger fits under it and no more. Fourth, check the temples and sides for gaps you can slide a finger into — a helmet that's tight at the crown but loose at the temples will still move in a fall.

The other detail most riders never get told: helmet manufacturers build around different head shapes, not just different sizes. Some brands run rounder, others longer and more oval, and a helmet that's technically your measured circumference can still feel wrong — pressure at the temples, a gap at the back — simply because your head shape and that brand's mold don't match. Knowing your own head shape, round versus long-oval, saves a lot of trial and error, and it's worth trying on more than one brand even once you know your size.

Does a well-fitted helmet make you a safer rider on its own? Not entirely — a horse that trusts you behaves differently under saddle than one that's just tolerating you, and no amount of gear fixes that gap. Five groundwork practices build that trust before you ever mount up.

Do you know the three other causes of an unsafe helmet that don't include falling?

Yes. First, age alone can compromise a helmet that's never taken a hit. The EPS foam liner that does the actual protective work degrades slowly over time from heat, UV exposure, sweat, hair products, and even the cleaning agents used to wipe it down. None of that shows up as a visible crack. A helmet can look brand new and still have lost real crush capacity.

Second, replace it after any hard drop, even an accidental one, even when no one's wearing it — a helmet that hits a concrete aisle or a hard barn floor can crush the same foam a head impact would, with zero visible sign.

Lastly, time. Replace it at the five-year mark from first wear, regardless of whether a fall or a drop has happened in the meantime. Hear us out — that guidance comes from manufacturers across the entire industry: five years from first wear is the maximum lifespan generally recommended, with most landing in the same three-to-five-year range regardless of brand. Make of that what you will, but protecting yourself as best you can should always be at the top of the list: run the math, and a $300 helmet over a five-year lifespan works out to $60 a year — a low price to pay for proper protection.

One more version of the same problem: never buy or accept a used or hand-me-down helmet, no matter how good a deal it seems or how well it fits. There's no way to verify its impact history, its age, or how it's been stored, and a helmet with unknown provenance should be treated exactly like one you know has been dropped — because it might have been.

Pro tip: keep it in a helmet bag. This isn't for looks — it's to keep your investment safe no matter how much you spent on it. Let's be honest, there are days at the barn when we all try to carry everything at once like it's a grocery bag competition — saddle, pad, bridle, grooming tote, coffee, and helmet, all in one trip to the cross-ties — and then your helmet accidentally rolls right out of your grip. We've all done it. Keeping it covered keeps the dust and dust mites out, and protects you in your more ambitious — or clumsy — moments at the barn. Our favorite is the Equinavia Darby Backpack, around $60 — it has a detachable helmet holder but is also a great backpack with a laptop sleeve, so it goes from coffee shop to barn fully organized. A more classic approach is a product like the Equinavia Darby Helmet Bag, around $30, or the Equinavia Darby Boot and Detachable Helmet Bag, around $60, if you're also looking to protect your tall boots in one go.

Should your helmet change between schooling and showing?

For a lot of riders, one good helmet does both jobs, and there's no safety reason it can't. Where the split usually happens is wear, appearance, and style — not protection: a schooling helmet takes sweat, sun, and daily handling that a show helmet is spared, so it tends to show its age faster and may hit its replacement window sooner even at the same purchase date. If you show, there's a second layer worth checking before you fall in love with a particular look — some disciplines and show organizations have their own rules or strong conventions around helmet appearance, so it's worth checking, though most larger organizations have no issues. We cover that in the section below.

Does your discipline change the helmet you need?

Discipline shapes helmet shape more than most riders assume going in. Dressage tends toward a rounder, closer-cut profile with moderate ventilation, since the work is sustained but rarely high-speed. Hunter, jumper, and equitation riders generally favor a lower-profile shell with more airflow, since pace and jump efforts run hotter. General and trail riding lean toward whatever balances comfort and coverage best for hours in the saddle outdoors, since there's no judged appearance standard pushing the choice one way or another.

• Dressage — rounder, close-cut shell; moderate ventilation; crystal and contrast accents explicitly permitted
• Hunter / Jumper / Equitation — lower profile, closer to the head; higher ventilation; solid black and minimal embellishment strongly favored
• General / Trail Riding — balanced coverage and airflow; highest ventilation; no convention, comfort leads

None of this is a hard rule the way certification is. It's a starting point for narrowing the field, not a reason to rule out a helmet that fits you well and meets your certification requirements just because it's not the typical shape for your discipline.

Wonder whether your discipline should shape more than your helmet? It should — how you ride matters just as much as what you're wearing on top of it. Fundamentals are what actually keep you safe out there, gear or no gear. We broke down the six pillars that make every ride steadier, worth a read alongside the choices you're making here.

What finish, sparkle, and color to go for?

Once certification and fit are settled, finish is genuinely your call — with one exception worth knowing before you buy. Rules and norms vary sharply by discipline. USEF/USDF dressage rules explicitly permit contrast coloring, accents, and crystal decoration on protective headgear, so sparkle is not a violation in the dressage ring. Hunter, jumper, and equitation rings have no codified appearance rule against it, but there's a strong traditional convention to keep in mind when it comes to the show ring. If you care about impressing judges, know your crowd: old-school panels tend to reward the traditional, understated black look, while newer or younger judging pools tend to care a good deal less about it. If setting yourself up for the highest possible success in the ring is your goal, the traditional route is the safer route. Though at the end of the day, your style is your own, and you should express yourself whatever way you want.

A helmet like the Equinavia Crown MIPS® Riding Helmet, around $190, in a Black/Gunmetal colorway, is a classic go-to for riders — an elegant look with a touch of modern style, MIPS-equipped throughout. If a little more shine is what you're after instead, the Equinavia Crown Glossy MIPS® Riding Helmet, around $240, in a Black/Black Diamond Crystal finish, carries the same MIPS technology but brings the fun — glossy black with subtle diamonds that catch beautifully in the sunlight.

What's the best way to mount a camera to record rides?

In today's growing age of social media and video, it's worth reminding riders about the impact of helmet cameras and mounts. Clipping a GoPro or a mount onto a certified helmet changes how it performs on impact — the added weight, the altered surface, and the mount itself can affect the way force transfers through the shell in a fall, in ways the helmet was never tested for. Manufacturers generally don't warranty or certify a helmet with an aftermarket mount attached, which means a helmet that would otherwise meet ASTM or PAS 015 standards may not perform the way that certification promised once something's been drilled, glued, or clipped onto it. If recording rides matters to you, look for a pair of glasses you can put on instead — camera glasses that don't affect the structural integrity of the helmet you've already invested in. The Meta Ray-Ban Wayfarer smart glasses are one option worth a look — they shoot sharp video in most lighting conditions, and none of it touches your helmet at all, making it land high on our recommendation list.

You know more than you did an hour ago

Most riders choose a helmet by trying on whatever's in front of them and picking the one that looks best in the mirror. You now know the difference between ASTM and PAS 015, why MIPS is worth the extra cost, and exactly which triggers mean the helmet already sitting in your tack trunk needs to be retired — quietly, invisibly, maybe already. That's not a small thing to walk away with. It changes how you shop, and it changes how you ride.

Walk into a tack shop with that, and you'll ask better questions than the person helping you. Check the date on the helmet you already own. When it's time to buy, mark the date you started wearing it and tape that to the inside lid or door of your tack box for easy keeping. Now you never have to guess or go on gut feeling — you'll have a real answer to the only question that actually matters: will this keep you safe the next time you need it to.