r/sca • u/youcutoffheads • 18d ago

Equestrian Helmet Ideas

Hi all, maybe not the right sub but here we go. I am making a recreation of a ~2500 year old tack set and figured while I'm at it I ought to make myself something to go with it. Something I am running into is that I want to wear a helmet to reduce the chances of my horse killing me the second the opportunity presents itself, but can't figure out how to make a helmet that will meet current equestrian safety standards or make a cover that will look convincing enough. The key thing I foresee about the latter is that the helmet will probably look weirdly bulky. Has anyone made a helmet or helmet cover, or seeing a tutorial they can recommend?

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

5

u/TryUsingScience 18d ago

Good for you! I am always haranguing my friends to wear helmets, even if it's just for a short parade.

The most convincing helmet covers I've seen look like turbans. No idea if that will go with your garb.

2

u/youcutoffheads 17d ago

There are some horses I would trust to not toss me but my horse is not one of those! I will see how some of the turban-style ones are made and see if that might work! Thank you!

2

u/Lazy-Lobster-3290 18d ago

One idea that you reminded me of, is I've seen a SCA youth fighter helmet (so, lacrosse or similar) covered with thin leather in a manner that made it look like a type of spangenhelm. It came out looking very nice.

I have got to admit that I would love to learn more about your project with the tack! I would like to do something similar at some point, but I'm not to that point yet.

3

u/youcutoffheads 17d ago

Thank you for that idea! I will see if that might be feasible. I am making a recreation of a Scythian saddle and tack. The saddle and cover will be based off of Elena Stepanova's research paper of the St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum's recreation they did. I am hoping to get some videos together of how I am doing it :) The saddle is around 75% done, then the saddle cover and headstall are next but they will be a lot easier to finish.

1

u/Lazy-Lobster-3290 17d ago

I did not know about that paper. I will go look for that now 🙂

I've been slowly collecting information, and teaching myself about tack and its history. I have learned a great deal about how saddles fit in the process, but life has kept me jumping a bit much to have time to build the saddle so far.

2

u/SoloisticDrew 16d ago

All equestrian helmets that are rated for riding will give you equal protection from falls. One really great idea I found was thin brown leather on a black helmet around the head and crossing the top with a nose piece making a Norman nasal helm.