For those who wear glasses...

[Alice25]

... do you ride in them? I usually ride in contact lenses, just because I find them comfier with my hat, but sometimes I just can't be bothered and ride in my glasses - today for example. Back at home I was reading one of my horsey books and it said that you should never ride in glasses, which suprised me. I'm presuming this is because it could cause an injury if you fall, but also because if they slip off you're in trouble!

Now it's never even occured to me that I shouldn't ride in glasses. But now I think about it, I can only ever recall seeing one other person riding in them. Have I been missing something? Or is this just being ridiculously over-careful, as lots of people can't wear contacts?

[pedilia]

I wear contacts to ride in most of the time, but I do occasionaly ride in glasses. I know several people who ride and compete in glasses.
I suppose the advice comes from the risk of falling off, lesser of two evils if you can't see when your on;)

[horseygal90]

Nope - They're really uncomfy, and sit at a random angle if I put a hat on them! 'Cos I can't see the letters very well without them (I know where they are, but I get a little confused!) I've learnt the 'rhyme' so I just find the nearest one and go through it.

Plus I'm paranoid they'll slip off/shatter in my eye if I fall. I'm very sensitive about my eyes!

[raggydoll]

Im the same, i normally ride in contact lenses but sometimes i do ride in glasses. The only time i find any problems with riding wearing my glasses is when it rains! I think if you manage to fall flat on your face so that your glasses cause an injury you will be particularly unlucky!!!

[DITZ]

i wear glasses all the time (or at least I did until I had my eyes lasered 2 weeks ago now I am spec free yipee!!!). I have never had them fall off but they are useless when I have a lesson as they steam up.

or did... ...whoo hoo!

[pedilia]

i wear glasses all the time (or at least I did until I had my eyes lasered 2 weeks ago now I am spec free yipee!!!). I have never had them fall off but they are useless when I have a lesson as they steam up.

or did... ...whoo hoo!

Would you PM me with some details on who you used as I am considering having mine done.

[Kanuma]

i normaly ride in contacts, but have ridden in my glasses, however i do have the flexi metal (metal with memory) glasses with plastic lenses! so my glasses are more inclined to bend then brake

[BeachRiding]

I ride in glasses all the time, they never bother me! I have also fallen off in them 4 times and have had no problems they never fall off.... Even when I hit my head!

[LMS]

I can't stand my glasses, so nope, don't ride in them.
I only wear them when I'm driving my vehicle.
I have a stigmatism so my glasses, of course have prism in both lenses. When I walk around with them on, the depth perception is weird. I can't seem to adjust.

Besides the optometrist said not to wear glasses when doing sports unless they're glasses for that purpose (sport glasses) & I can't really afford those.

I wasn't too sure about contact lenses for riding as I thought the sand would be an irritant (arena or trail). After reading all your posts so far, it sounds like contacts are pretty good.

[Kanuma]

are you going to be rolling in the sand on a regular basis??
I wear my contacts most of the time, never had a problem at all, sand and dust doesnt seem to affect them, mainly because if the sand is enough to irritate your contacts it would be enough to irritate your eyes anyway. i use softcontacts, i dont like the hard contacts

[Belle1]

I always ride in glasses, I am far too short sighted to consider riding without. I used to wear contacts but found them terribly uncomfortable in hayfever season so gave up on them. I have fallen off while wearing glasses lots of times, including a couple of quite nasty falls at speed, but my glasses have never come off.

Mine are not special sports glasses and they are not flexible frames, just bog standard glasses.

[NZhorserider]

I had a fall a while ago that was just a normal tumble, but since I was wearing my glasses, they pushed into my face and fractured this little bone between my nose and eye and let in air behind my eye!

It was nothing serious, but my eye got soooo huge! It looked like someone had bashed me! When I got to the after hour's doctor I was like ooh ooh look at my eyeball, it bulges when I blow my nose! Hehehe, poor doctor :D

They were my old glasses though, I have flexi glasses now that are lighter and bendier. Haha, not sure if I want to test them to see how fall-proof they are though! :rolleyes:

I haven't ridden for a while, so it hasn't been an issue since.

Grace :)

[MelanieD]

I wear glasses and ride in them, can't be bothered putting my contacts in unless I'm going for a long ride or jumping, then half the time I still can't be bothered. I've never managed to break my glasses falling off so far, but then I am very good at landing on my well padded a*se :D, if I did break my glasses they are plastic lenses so unlikely to do me too much damage.

[smudge]

I have ridden wearing my glasses for over 25 yrs, only broken them once when I was much younger, fell off the horse and cracked my shoulderblade at the same time but was far more worried what my parents would say about the specks.

Liz

[Cochise]

I used to never wear my glasses while riding, not because they're uncomfortable, but because I would get bad headaches in the bright sunlight. So I'd still wear cheap sunglasses while riding. Now, I have new glasses with transition lenses, that go like sunglasses when outside. I love them! I ride in those because I usually fit my ride in on the way home in the evenings, and don't have a chance to put my contacts on.
I competed at the last show in my contact lenses on the Saturday, but didn't have my sunglasses, and got a migraine. So on the Sunday, I just competed in my normal glasses, and it was fine, they looked like sunglasses though!
I don't know, with the whole falling off thing and glasses, agreed, lesser of two evils, would rather see where I'm going first!:p

[tasha]

This comes up every so often on NR, and each time it amazes me how many people dont wear their glasses when riding for fear of accidents. I wear glasses or contact lenses and have never thought twice about it. When people question it, I point out 2 things:

1-Has anyone actually known someone who has damaged themselves due to riding in glasses? That's know them personally, rather than a friend of a friend (less chance of Chinese whispers!!).

2-If glasses were so unsafe, riding organisations such as the Pony Club and British Eventing would impose rules about wearing them.

[Greentchr]

I ride in glasses. I took a bad fall with a head bash and lost the glasses temporarily (horse stepped on them), but I was not hurt by them. I have had them fall off a few times, but ('knock-on-wood') never had them destroyed:) I do have safety glass (they cannot shatter) as it is required over here. I would be more afraid to not wear them. I ride out in the mountains for the most part and it is important that I see what is happening around me.

[LMS]

I think the discouragement from professionals for wearing glasses while doing sports stems from similar incidents like NZhorserider & probably for the fact that just because the glasses have a limited waranty on them doesn't mean they want to replace them for you when they know there's a good chance they will have to!

Anyhow, I'm not as blind as a bat and can cope without them, which is why I only wear them when I drive (that's if I don't forget where I put them) but... sometimes I would like to wear something when my eyes are strained.

Kanuma: you mean sand baths are out of the question? Oh darn!:D

Add: Cross posted with Greentchr. Must be a North American thing regarding the safety glasses (or sport glasses as I call them).

[~*sugarlump*~]

i wear contacts and the worst thing that ever happens is that my eyes can start to water sometime, but I've never ridden in glasses, wouldnt want to really:o

[Kanuma]

LMS well i must admit, sand does nothing for the complexion and is absolutely foul to taste, and is murder to get out of your bra in a dignified manor! !!
i have often landed in the sand when jumping, must admit cotacts were a god send!

[laura jeanne]

My husband always wears glasses. Anyway, what do you think people wore before contacts were invented?


Cochise, I have lenses like that too. I don't wear them too much because they are the graduated lens so if you look out of the wrong part you get dizzy. So I have a pair of pure reading and computer glasses and the other pair that I am supposed to wear all the time, I only wear when watching TV and use the distance part.

[stormy's mum]

jusut make sure your lenses are plastic then if you fall they wonr shatter i have to always ride in contacts or glasses cuz im so blind without them mine have never fallen off

[Cool Rider]

I don't wear glasses but the though of getting glass in your eye sounds really painful

[Tanyajayne]

I have worn glasses since I was 10 months old and have always ridden in them. Infact I managed to fall off and break my collor bone but guess what glasses stayed on.

[tazzle22]

Well I cant wear contacts so have always ridden in glasses ..... had a few falls ( well I am half a century old now:D ) and only once have glasses ever been even a slight influence on injury...

I fell face first onto road and grazed chin / nose ......... the peak of my hat stopped the glasses impacting too hard on the road and therefore onto my face. Slight bruise top of nose ...... Broke a finger though !!!!!

[Harleyhorse]

I can't wear contacts, the liquid that they need to say moist gives me a really bad reaction and then my eyes swell shut, that not fun, I have tryed many kind and the same thing happens with all of them. As for ridering with glasses, I do. I have had glasses for the past 3 years and i ride in them almost all the time, which is everyday. I have had a few bad falls and the glasses have come out with a few scraps, and I have had to get new lens twice because I drop then on the floor:rolleyes:

[Laura+Phantom]

I've been wearing glasses since I was 14 because in lesson my glasses would always slip down my nose so i'd always have to push them back, and my instructor got really annoyed and told me to get contact lenses!

I've never had a problem wearing lenses for riding in 9 years, although once at college my eye got really sore and I had to drive 60 miles home with only 1 contact lens in! :eek: Luckily i'm not too short sighted.

I fell off wearing glasses once and they bent in half!

[oliver twist]

i have to wear my glasses, can't see without 'em and i have a stigmatism (sp?) so can't do contacts, although i hear they've made ones for people with stigmatisms. i don't seem to have any trouble with them sitting funny or anything, although they do slip down my nose a bit but i got them tightened so hopefully that's fixed. i've fallen off and i haven't been injured by them or had them fall off (knock on wood). generally if glasses fit properly they don't fall off easily and if they are under your helmet i find that holds them on even more. when i was working at a RDA over the summer i almost had them stepped on by a horse when one of the kids pulled them off :o they have rhinestones along the sides (soooo awsome!) and sparkle so were kind of screaming to be grabbed. luckily the horse missed them. anyways, sorry for that tangent.

[Keket]

I wear glasses. Have since I was six months old. Tried contacts and just couldn't manage to put the stupid things in. My glasses have never interfered with my hat or been damaged/caused damage during a fall. It's wear them, or ride with blurry vision for me. ;)

[NZhorserider]

I now have prescription sunglasses, ie normal black Bolle sunglasses with correction lenses in them. I guess they would have been better for riding in!

I don't know if the glass would shatter or not...I know mine took a bashing but the glass stayed intact.

Mine never fell off or were uncomfortable, I think if you have a properly fitting helmet and pair of glasses there aren't any problems there...just when they squish into your face hehe. I'm gutted that my party trick was so short lived!

Hehe, we could have NR consumer testing and see which glasses shatter after a degree of falling...:D

Grace :)

[de_Stille_een]

I rode in glasses for my first five years- but I found it very annoying if my glasses shifted while I trotted or cantered, and finally picked up some soft contacts.

I agree that riding in glasses isn't the best idea- It seems like it could be quite possible for glasses to break if you have a fall, and besides the cost of replacing them, you most definitely don't want shards of glass or plastic or whatever your lenses are made of, stuck in your eyeball! (And you thought the arena sand was painful)!

[jroz]

The idea of contacts/sticking a finger in my eye is not something I want to do!

[Kalypso]

I usually wear my contacts, but on days when I have bad headaches or my eyes hurt, I wear my glasses. Have never thought twice about it. My vision is so bad that I wouldn't be able to see the stirrup on the saddle if I stood at my horse's shoulder ;) There's no possible way I could ride without my glasses/contacts.

I must admit, the dust from the barn (hay, sand in arena, shavings, etc) really DOES bother my eyes A LOT when I'm wearing my contacts. I do have very sensitive eyes, though. Of course, on the other hand, the dust makes my glasses hard to see through if I'm wearing them ;) :D

I would give almost anything to have laser surgery on my eyes and never have to wear contacts or glasses again. But it is so expensive and I don't think the insurance covers it

[Dreamchaser]

I wear contacts or ride with blurry vision!

I actually have a funny glasses story.
So I bought this pair of glasses a few years back. They were the type with no frames. I was told that these often broke within a few days, but I wanted them, so I got them.
One day, about a year after I bought the glasses, I was riding and I had a nasty fall. I had quite a concussion. My glasses in the fall had flown off, quite far from me. They sat there, completely fine... unlike my head.
In the end they broke at a time while I was wearing them and hadn't touched them. I put my hair behind my ears and came to realise the arm was missing. They stood up to so much and so many falls, and somehow fell apart for no reason.

[Casey76]

I ride in my glasses all the time - basically if I didn't I coulnd't see my horses ears - let alone anyone else who was in teh arena with me! (I am so myopic it's not funny) I've had a few falls, including betting enthusiatically bucked off a 16.3, but my glasses have never been a problem/come off/damaged my face.

The only time I've had trouble was when I got new frames, and they used to slip down my nose when I was trotting, but I've had them adjusted since and since then I've had no more problems.

[Alice25]

It's good to hear that other people ride in glasses without problems. I can't see 2 feet in front of me without glasses or contacts, so would never be able to ride without them. My main issue with riding in glasses is that they annoy me - rub my eyes, slip down my nose or blur up. Seeing as lots of you don't have problems with this, maybe mine aren't fitting me properly :rolleyes:

[Briony]

[QUOTE=tasha]1-Has anyone actually known someone who has damaged themselves due to riding in glasses? That's know them personally, rather than a friend of a friend (less chance of Chinese whispers!!).

QUOTE]

My dad fell off his horse while wearing glasses. The bridge of the glasses sliced through his nose and almost cut it off.. He had to have many, many stitches to sew his nose back on. He never rode wearing glasses again and has a rather impressive scar.

[Guest]

I ride in glasses, I've only ridden a couple of times without and to be honest I found my lenses dried out.
I've only had one fall where my glasses caused me problems. One week before my wedding i fell of Grady and landed on my head, the hat got pushed forward and hit my glasses which then hit my nose and made it swell up so I looked like a cling on thankfully the black eyes never fully developed otherwise you can imagen the wedding pictures.:eek:
If I start to compete I will get some memoflex glasses.

[Kanuma]

If I start to compete I will get some memoflex glasses.

those are brilliant (i have them), but remember to get plastic lenses as well, they shatter less and if they do shatter tend to be less dangerous

on to the injuries with glasses, i fell off wearing my old pair, the arm of it broke and stabbed me. hurt but not major.

[CrisO]

laser treatment
Different person to who you asked but I had my eyes lasered in december at Optimax at Finchley road. Best thing I've done. They're a national company depending on where you are based. They also do an ebay deal which is really cheap and promise to price match any quote you get.

[*Sez*]

I wear contacts and rarely use my glasses, as I broke my nose when I was sixteen and thanks to my connective tissue disorder, it never really healed properly. Wearng glasses for long periods of time really aggrivates it and gives me a headache. I've never ridden in glasses, even before I broke my nose. The idea of them falling off and breaking terrified me!

[eventerbabe]

i ride/do yard work in my glasses. i cant wear contacts due to astigmatism but i did see that they have brought out special contacts for peeps like me (with rugby ball shaped eyes :rolleyes: ) so may give them a whirl. i've fallen off a few times with my glasses on but never broken them.

[martini55]

I ride in glasses now. I used to always wear contact lenses but started having a lot of bother with them at the yard- I'm allergic to hay/straw/dust in general and having contacts in just made me worse. I've never had a problem riding in glasses, it would either be glasses for me or not ride at all as I'd be blind without them!

[baxter]

i ride in glasses all the time, have had hairy hacks = mud splattered glasses, need window wipers in the rain and on saturday fell of my newly acquired pretend arab/rodeo horse... never a problem for me!:D

[tasha]

To those with astigmatism, I have this too (in one eye) and whilst you can get away wth normal lenses, your vision wont be as good as the special astigmatism ones. I have one special and one normal and, pardon the pun, have never looked back. I'd seriously ask your opticians about them because contacts are *the* best thing ever :D and most places do free trials. The special lenses are not that much more expensive, I think about £2 more a month.

[LMS]

Tasha: you beat me to it! I too was going to recommend people that have stigmatisms to speak with their optometrists. I just found out from mine (sometime last year) that there are contact lenses available now for us.

I haven't had the chance to persue this yet.

[DITZ]

laser treatment
Different person to who you asked but I had my eyes lasered in december at Optimax at Finchley road. Best thing I've done. They're a national company depending on where you are based. They also do an ebay deal which is really cheap and promise to price match any quote you get.
Likewise, I too went to Optimax and also got mine off ebay. Seems ridiculous but they are a national company that were featured on one of the money programmes during the daytime tv. They basically ebay off any spare appointments rather than have staff/equipment sat doing nothing.

Cost me £795 all in. Well worth it.

[Kanuma]

i cant get mine done for a while as your eyes are supposed to have remained at the same prescription for 2 years. mine keep changeing

[NZhorserider]

I'm scared that they'd stuff it up and make me blind! :eek:

Grace :p

[worldtravel]

i wear my glasses when ride i rather not butif dont wont be able see well . glasses not been to much problem when ridding for me


Lauren

[SwiftwindSpirit]

I've always ridden with my glasses on (well, I only had to start wearing glasses about 3 years ago.. I'm mildly short sighted). I've fallen off 3 times since. Once was a really bad fall, and the only thing that happened to my glasses were that they got a bit bent out of shape, but nothing I couldn't fix. I have tried multiple times to get contacts in but my eyes are just sooo super sensitive.

[Belle1]

For the first time in over 20 years around horses I almost had my glasses knocked off last night :eek:
Not by falling off, or even riding.........
I was feeding a rather boisterous horse and he shaved his nose in my face :rolleyes: