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The death of young Brielle Boisvert at the Tucson Rodeo Parade has sparked several reviews of safety here and elsewhere, with a similar event in Scottsdale already moving to mandate helmets for children riding horses.

The change at today's Parada del Sol parade will affect children 12 and younger. The parade will be scrutinized closely to determine whether additional measures are necessary, said Kendra Cea, Parada del Sol parade adviser and past president.

"At this stage in the parade, it's very difficult to change the overall format, because we don't know if there's anything wrong with it," Cea said.

The Tucson Rodeo Committee will review its safety measures, and the Tucson Police Department is also conducting an investigation into the death of Brielle, 5.

Mayor Bob Walkup and the City Council will look at recommendations on how to make the parade safer, said Walkup's chief of staff, Andrew Greenhill.

"Does the wearing of helmets work and help increase the safety of the young riders?" Greenhill said. "Knowing that Scottsdale is doing it this year, we will watch them and see how that change works."

Overall, the safety requirements for the local La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Rodeo Parade appear to be in line with protocol at similar parades, according to interviews with event organizers and reviews of procedures.

Like the Tucson parade, the Parada del Sol has an age limit, prohibiting children under 6 from riding horseback in the parade. Tucson's parade prohibits children under 8 riding horseback, but organizers have admitted participants aren't checked.

In Cheyenne, Wyo., no age limits exist for participants, but marshals assigned to the events have training similar to Tucson's marshals. The Calgary Stampede parade in Alberta, Canada, focuses on ability rather than age, and assigns a similar number of trained marshals to monitor the event.

Jaye Winkel, a Portland, Maine, horse-drawn carriage driver and manager of an online carriage-driving discussion group, said the standards for carriage drivers are left up to parade organizers.

"Parades are incredibly stressful events for horses. It only takes one to be out of control for just a couple of minutes for something bad to happen," said Winkel, who has written a guide for horse-drawn-carriage drivers.

In Scottsdale, there haven't been any injuries in the 20 years Cea has been involved with the parade. Still, changes to the age restriction aren't expected.

Few riders are under 12 and most of the younger groups have already started wearing helmets, but organizers wanted the same rules for all kids, Cea said.

Parada del Sol, in its 54th year and billed as the world's largest horse-drawn parade, has about 110 entries, with roughly 700 horses and between 1,500 and 2,000 participants, Cea said. Parade organizers call for about 50 feet of space between entries and have about 50 volunteer marshals spaced throughout the parade route, which is just under 2 miles. There is no specific training for the volunteers.

There are no age limits for the four parades during Cheyenne Frontier Days because children historically haven't been involved in the parades, said Eric Nordberg, parade chairman.

The parades each have between 120 and 150 street marshals along the 1.5-mile parade route. Organizers recommend a 75- to 100-foot gap between entries, Nordberg said. There are also about 30 mounted marshals during each parade. All marshals are trained.

"We've trained them to watch out for riders who can't ride or horses going haywire or something, and we pull them out of the parade," Nordberg said.

Nordberg said there have been accidents but no serious injuries during the 25 years he's been a member of the parade committee.

The Cheyenne committee meets regularly to examine procedures. A Friday meeting was certain to include close attention to safety in light of the Tucson death, Nordberg said.

Nancy Spratt, who chairs the Calgary Stampede parade committee, attended Tucson's parade.

Because of the fatal accident here, Calgary organizers will review their policies, which include a stringent safety checklist for all entries. The parade, which includes mechanized entries, has about 800 horses, slightly fewer than Tucson, Spratt said. Eight inspectors are assigned to the equestrian entries and another team inspects motorized entries.

There is no age requirement for horseback riders, but organizers suggest children under 8 shouldn't be riding. Other measures include putting children in the middle of a parade entry, flanked by adult riders, and having adults holding the reins of a horse. "We think it goes beyond the age issue," Spratt said. "For us, the requirement is one of ability, whether a rider is capable and skilled enough to handle the horse, whether they're a child or an adult."