Wearing Spectacles

[ddgpony]

Does anyone here wear spectacles when riding their horses? If so, have you encountered any problems?

I usually wear contact lenses, but I'm going to need to get a new pair of specs with varifocal lenses. I only hack and school my pony, but he can be quite sharp and I do occasionally end up on the deck! Will wearing specs be dangerous?

[Holly B]

If I wore glasses, I think I'd feel much safer wearing contacts than glasses... with glasses they could easily smash up and get you in the eyes *winces* But I suppose it's up to you and it depends how much of a risk you think there is! :)

[KarinUS]

I worked in an ophthalmology office for quite some time (before I went back to college and got a different degree) and from observation I can say this:
On metal frames the little feet/pads tend to push in and possibly cause injury to your nose/eye. You can get 'saddle pads' wich are connected across the bridge of your nose that provide a wider bearing surface.
Pleastic frames of course don't have the little feet/nose pads and could be safer -BUT they can't be adjusted as easily and a lot of people find that they sit too close to their eye lashes.

When I wore glasses I especially hated the 'rain drop factor'. I am happy to say one perk of being the assistant/ coordinator to an eye surgeon was that I got my vision corrected surgically for FREE so I no longer wear glasses...

Oh and as for lenses be sure to get something that won't shatter- like Polycarbon!!!

[horseygal90]

I wear glasses for everything excpet swimming and riding- and for some reason, when I'm on a horse, my eyesight seems fine! However, if I don't wear them any other time, I'm pratically blind. :p

I don't like wearing them for riding, have never done. I'm too scared they'll fall off!

[Rarah]

I would never allow my daughter to rider in her glasses. But, having said that I guess it would depend on how bad you eyesight is. :cool:

[Katharine]

I wear glasses when I'm riding. Have had no troubles with them so far (touch wood). The only problem I find is when its raining you need windscreen wipers!! ;)
Obviously there is a risk of them possibly smashing when you fall off but I really can't afford contacts (student loan doesn't stretch that far!).

[Stella2]

I wear my glasses quite a lot but I ride in contact lenses. Aside from the risk of injury and the cost of repeatedly having them repaired or replaced (I have come off far too many times!), I really wouldn't like the idea of not being able to see properly if a spook or something caused them to fly of whether I was still on the horse or not (I probabaly like the idea less if I was still on!).

Surely you wouldn't need the variafocal lense when only needing 'long vision' so maybe you could get single vision distance disposables and use them just for riding to be on the safe side.

[Colorado Sunset]

I used to ride in glasses, but hated it! Every 5 seconds I would have to prop them up as theyd fall off my face! When I did dressage tests, the judges always commented on it!! :cool: I would also not recomend it for safety reasons, if you fall of the pads can push into your nose or your eyes, or if you fall off on the roads they could smash.

Jo

[ruthncallie]

Iv alway ridden in my specs and never thought twice about it. *Touch Wood* Iv never had a prob and have fallen off in them. But to be honest iv never really thought about the risks. The only prob I have is that if my instructor works me particularly hard then they steam up and im more blind with them than without, on these occasions i take them off. :D

[H & Bailey]

I wear glasses and have done since i was 7.I havent had any problems wearing them around horses or riding in them.Only the rain factor,but im a fairer weather rider anyway and if i do get caught out i the rain as long as i have my silk pulled low it tends to keep the rain off them.
I have metal frames with flexi hinges and plastic lenses.So no chance of shattering.mine are quite tight on my head and dont move much but have seen sports bands that you can attatch to them-like a rubber band thing that holds them tight onto your face,like the rubber band on swimming goggles
I cannot wear contacts as my eyes react, and have been told my vision would still be blurry.
I would love laser treatment but havent the money and have been told that I probably would still have to wear glasses anyway as i have astigmatisms.

[Hana915]

I always wear my glasses for riding now, i used to wear my contacts but the school gets really dusty and it gets stuck under my contact lenses and then i have to get off and take them out, i end up loosing some of my lesson. I haven't had any problems with wearing my glasses whilst riding, they dont slide down my nose or dig in or anything i don't even notice them. The only thing that may happen is if i fall off and land flat on my face they may dig into my face or break. My friend feel off a pole once (dont ask) and landed flat on her and her glasses dug into her eyebrow and she had to go to hospital and have part of her glasses removed from her face and get it sewn up :eek: but she survived, and i think out of all the placed you could fall on it's quite unlikely to fall on your face (touch wood :p )

[Hana915]

also they do tend to stem up after ive finished jumping, or during :eek:
that wasn't an experience which i'd like to occur again!

[Grace O'Malley]

I only wear glasses for reading, but I almost always wear sunglasses when riding. I'm very sensitive to glare and they also keep the dust out of my eyes. I have a stretchy band which is made to go around my head and slips over the ear pieces--to help hold them in place. I've never had any problems.

Don't they make glasses with shatter-proof lenses and plastic frames that are designed for sports? I'd think something like that would work well. Might be worth investing in an additional, special pair if you need them to see distance.

Good luck!

Grace

[nirikina]

I don't wear my glasses for riding in, because if I fell off and broke them I wouldn't be able to drive home. I used to keep an old pair from an old prescription in the car to wear while riding but I lost them somewhere. As long as I memorise the letters in the arena I can see well enough without them to ride, but driving home in the dark when you need good vision and fast reactions... for me that's more important.

[Pink's lady]

I used to wear glasses all the time, but changed to contact cos I hated them.

Bad points of glasses -

they steam up and get all rainy
they kept getting pushed off by my hat
YOU HAVE TO TURN RIGHT ROUND WHEN HACKING TO ABLE TO SEE (this was my biggest problem)

contacts -
they're a nightmare if your horse is dusty or muddy
if you go fast, your eyes get dry and contacts go sticky

You can quite easily get non-shatter glasses and a band to keep them on. I just really hated them cos I caould see out of the edge and under then, which meant parts where blurry. It made me really frustrated and irratible.

[Zimbah]

I wear glasses all the time and don't find them to be a problem riding, although the rain factor is very irritating, and they do occasionally steam up if I'm too hot. I got a very minor cut on my nose once when the horse I was riding spooked and I tipped forwards and got smacked in the face by it's neck, but nothing serious. I don't worry about it, then again I have no other option as I don't get on with contacts and I can't see much at all without glasses. Good point from Nirikina though, I should probably bring a spare pair out with me for the car so I could still get home if they broke.

[galadriel]

Riding in glasses, I had problems with peripheral vision and with water on the lenses (sometimes rain...sometimes my own sweat). I also had problems with them sliding down the nose when in the rain or when my face was sweaty.

The only time I ever lost the glasses was due to a ground accident. I was probably lucky.

There's no comparison to riding in contacts. And soft/disposable contacts cost me, per year, about as much as glasses would. My prescription *still* has to change every year.

[MelanieD]

I ride with glasses and despite having ended up on the floor many times have never manage to damage or loose them. The only annoyance is rain, I need some little wipers :)

[shaka]

My eyesight is very bad, I'm practically clinically blind in one eye and closely following with the other. If I take my glasses off all I can see is colour, no lines, no shape, nothing.

Because of this I have to wear glasses. Now, I have tried contacts but I jsut don't get on with them, at all. So we invested in a pair of 'Flexon' glasses. They ae more expensive then the average pair of specs, but they are made of a lightweight material that means you can crush them in your hand and they will spring back to shape. The lenses are made of a similar materical. So when I fall off I am safe ion the knowledge the lenses will not shatter like glass would, I also know the frames won't snap, simply bend to the shape they are forced.

My glasses will steam up and they wil get wet in the rain, but that's just part of life and I trust my horses to carry me safely and it's not like I'm totally blinded when it happens. I can usually fix it very quickly.

In my riding hat I have a foam block fitted inside so that the hat doesn't hit my glasses and it sits on my head better. My glasses have nose pads that make it harder for them to slide down my nose.

The steaming and wet is something that jsut has to be tolderated, but most of the other problems can be fixed or eased.

[SwiftwindSpirit]

I started wearing glasses when I was 15 (nearly 16) so in total I've been wearing glasses for a bit more than 2 years. I always wear my glasses in my riding lessons and it's been 100% fine, I forget that I'm even wearing them! When I first got my glasses there was an 'adjustment period' where I was just getting used to the whole idea of wearing glasses, and it did get a bit annoying because I could see the frame of my glasses when I wore them, but wearing glasses hasn't affected my ability to ride properly at all! :) I even had my worst riding accident when I was wearing glasses (I have metal frame glasses) and they didn't come off, they only got a little bit bent out of line, but I could easily fix that. I've had 4 falls and 3 of them have been when I've been wearing glasses and I still wear the same pair today, and they never hurt my nose when I fell off.

My glasses don't slip down, and my helmet doesn't interfere either. I've tried wearing contact lenses (not for riding purposes though) but I just couldn't get them in because my eyes are so over sensitive. I can get along without glasses (I'm only slightly short-sighted) but when I go into big open spaces with lots of trees and detail my eyes start to water because I can't focus properly.

Anyway, just to let you know you can get shatter-proof lenses and non-reflective lenses (my stepdad used to be an optometrist and he now works for an optical lenses company so he tells me all the latest info). The only trouble I have with my glasses is that if I go from a hot condition to a cold (or viseversa) my glasses steam up (but they get unsteamed a few mins later), or when it rains and it gets on my glasses I get marks left on there from the rain.

[Casey76]

Heh, I'd be a hazard if I tried riding without my glasses lol. I'm so myopic that I can't see to read if it's more than a foot from my nose, plus I have an astigmatism on both sides, so it makes getting contacts difficult and expensive.

I've had 3 falls recently (within the last 2 years) whilst I was wearing my glasses, and I've had no problems with them - because they are the first thing i put on on a morning, and the last thing I take off at night I bearly remember they're there for the most part... unless I steam up - but I'm also used to that too, and can work around it until they've calmed down :D

[Jinete789]

I'm in the "glasses most of the time, disposable lenses for riding camp". I don't like to wear my glasses for riding, partly because I'm afraid they will hurt me if I fall on them, partly because they cost a flippin' fortune, and partly because the one time I tried it my hat made them sit all funny and they moved up and down like Eric Morecambe's when I was cantering and the whole lesson was wetting themselves laughing at me!

I can also slip a spare pair of disposable lenses into my pocket - and did manage to replace a lost one out on a hack without a mirror (once).

Having said all that I see lots of riders who seem to wear them with no bother, so I guess it's down to which causes the greatest hassle factor for you.

Jin

[tasha]

I was really surprised to hear how many people leave their glasses off for riding. Ive worn them since I was 4.5 (although I was most likely born short sighted) and never thought twice about wearing them. I'd be registered disabled if there was no such thing as glasses/contacts as Im really quite bad.

Has anyone actually heard of someone injuring themselves from their glasses whilst riding? It would be interesting to see if people's fears were just that rather than a high possibility. I dont think anyone has mentioned injuries as yet in the thread, correct me if Im wrong though.

Personally I think braces are more dangerous, Ive ripped the inside of my mouth several times when I had my fixed brace.

[eventerbabe]

i have recently started wearing my glasses for riding as i'm as blind as a bat without them and i feel its safer for both of us if i have them on! i can't wear contact lenses and can't really afford them at the moment. i know several people who have fallen off wearing glasses, one in a high speed fall, and neither were injured by their glasses. i do think tasha has a point. i'm more likely to be injured by my earrings getting caught in my horses mane (very long, floaty mane!) than my glasses. and i don't wear fancy ones, just studs, but his hair manages to get wrapped round them when he's being daft!

[Bozzy]

I always wear my glasses when riding, even wear them round a xc course. I've never had any problems and at least I can see what I'm doing otherwise I'd be constantly squinting!

[Kalypso]

I've ridden in my glasses quite a few times, but I usually wear my contacts ALL the time - I hate my glasses! I've never had any trouble with them while riding, except for the whole helmet pushing them out of place thing. Mine are metal rimmed but very lightweight and the lenses aren't made of glass, they're made of this stuff that isn't supposed to break easily, I think :rolleyes:

My eyesight is terrible, so I've always got to have either my glasses on or my contacts in - I hate the dust and the stingy, sticky eyes with contacts, but I've found it's much easier than having glasses on, especially when in the stall or grooming a horse...I've had my glasses knocked off a few times, and nearly stepped on by the horse that knocked them off. My contacts are MUCH cheaper than my glasses are, so i'd rather not take the chance with 'em! :eek:

I, too, am quite surprised at the number of people who actually leave their glasses off, and no contacts, to ride!! I wouldn't even be able to see the horse's ears in front of me, and I'd also get a terrible headache within about the first five minutes!! Wish my eyes were good enough for that! :D (someday, i'm going to have laser surgery, then no more glasses or contacts...)

[cvb]

been wearing, and riding with, glasses for many years. Had a phase in the middle when I had contacts but ended up allergic to the cleaning fluid or something :rolleyes: and now find my eyes are much more sensitive to the environment I am in (office, planes etc) even tho I haven't worn contacts for some time.

I think I have only fallen off and lost my glasses once - by which I mean I have fallen off more times than that and kept my glasses !

The problem was that without my glasses, I couldn't see where my glasses were on the floor :rolleyes:

Make sure you keep them clean - they steam up less then ;)

[^_^pEpPeRpOt^_^]

I used to not wear mine while riding because i thought they would fall off but saw other people riding with them on and have rode in them ever since, have fallen off loads of times in them (mostly jumping) and they have never come off except maybe once. They dont move around or anything either.

I think earings are probly more dangerous but i still wear all of mine and havent had a problem apart from them sometimes getting caught on my hat.

[martini55]

I usually wear contact lenses for riding. But I have worn my glasses, it's not uncomfortable at all. My lenses are plastic not glass. The only problem is when it rains.

Contacts have their problems too. When I first started wearing them, I kind of sometimes forgot, and I rubbed my eyes once when out riding and the damn thing fell out. Now with one in and one out I seriously feel drunk :D :p Also riding without either glasses or contacts is just not possible for me, unless I want to be smacked in the face by branches out hacking or get lost or something :rolleyes:

[Alle]

In my prior horsey life (way before my laser surgery!) I tried wearing contacts, but the dust would irritate my eyes like crazy, so I always wore glasses to the barn. I never had a fall there, so I had no problems.

Now I am contacts and glasses free, but I usually wear sunglasses. I need to get the right pair though...many kinds slip down my nose.

The YO has glasses, and when she rides, she'll use sports goggles. These are comfortable (so she says!) and safe (so the manufacturer says!) but I have no personal experience with them to share.

[Stella2]

Now I generally disregard the idea that I may look foolish to others by doing something. I like the make my own decisions and go with what I believe is right for me, but I simply couldn't ride in sports goggles - I'd never live it down :eek: