There
has been an amazing amount of misinformation and confusion concerning
the lockdown rules during the Covid19 crisis and their interpretation as
it pertains to commercial horse boarding operations, especially in New
York State, where I reside.
In
my opinion the NYS Department of Ag and its various councils have
further added to the confusion by their on again/off again broadcasts
and comments, writings and musings in regard to just what a horse owner
and horse boarding farm owner can and can't do.
Compounded misinformation about insurance coverage, rules for social distancing, pop up social media pages attempting to help horse folks understand their rights and the issue at hand, abound.
I don't doubt that everyone is trying their level best to figure out a way to safely get horses and their owners back together. For the horse barn business owners the responsibility for the safety and health of their workforce and clients during Covid19 is a part of their daily lives, and management of the same for the horses in their care, custody and control is similarly of paramount importance to most. Management of health and safety is not alien to horse barn owners.
But now add the burden of how to mitigate the risk of spread of Covid19 with social distance rules and CDC hygiene guidelines in a busy (or quiet for the matter) barn setting, and you have to wonder how these rules can be adhered to and how this safety can be accomplished in a real life scenario.
For example, therapeutic riding programs necessarily involve hands on contact with the rider, three people in close proximity to the horse and rider. For lesson programs where beginners are involved, leadline for safety particularly where young children are concerned also necessitates close proximity of rider and handler.
My husband Paul and I are both Grand Prix dressage competitors/coaches/clinicians and before this crisis had enjoyed a very busy schedule giving clinics both home and abroad. I cannot fathom how either of us will be able to sustain wearing a mask and giving instructions from the center of the arena in the heat and sometimes dust ( ah, perhaps that will be a silver lining for the mask wearing!), especially in situations where the hosting barn owner has no microphone/speaker or other set up.
Auditors are an important part of the attendees of any clinic and they too will have to sit 6 feet or 2 meters apart. Although a colleague joked with me the other day on Zoom that on the plus side their distance apart would stop the second guessing/peanut gallery comments that can be off-putting to the riders. I won't even get into the events and shows. Amazingly HITS just put out a press release that they DO plan to continue the June 2020 competition schedule in Saugerties, NY and their Chicago,IL circuit. I wouldn't hold my breath, although perhaps they have been granted a 'waiver".
As for cleaning down the barn - good luck. Yes, we can clean off the cross ties, muck fork and skips, tractor steering wheels, tack room door handles and keep our tack and grooming tools to ourselves. But the cross contamination of water bucket handles, faucets, hose pipes and their long lengths, jump standards and poles etc. will be a veritable nightmare to keep sanitized. And that is only part of the list. What about stable door handles, lead ropes, feed buckets, store room and bathing supplies. This is a formidable undertaking that barn owners are going to have to deal with and horse owners are going to have to adhere to if they want to visit the barn.
Most barns also have cats, and two recent confirmed cases of Covid19 in the feline species in NYS, while there is not adequate knowledge of whether transmission from cats to humans is possible, the current thought by Cornell and others scientists is that they cannot. However, regardless, this news will sadly most likely result in many cats being given up for adoption or left to fend for themselves. As a barn owner you can say, don't touch the cat, but where has that cat been? Sitting on the bleachers? Walking on the shelf where you put down your hat or gloves? Do we need more research in the facts as to whether transmission is possible? How media disseminate accurate information so that horse barn owners with cats can take appropriate precautions meantime IF they are required? No-one wants to see pets of any species kicked to the curb.
I confess to being grateful that Paul and I recently retired from horse breeding after 30+ years and no longer require frequent vet visits for AI and foal care. Also glad that we retired from sales of youngstock as a result of that and have sold off all our mares and home produced babies. Our dressage training board business is also shut down, as we had expected to be on the road more than ever giving clinics and we have never had a lesson program per se. So we have no visitors to content with apart from those that come to buy our organically produced horse hay.
To cope with that we have had to limit our hay sales right now to small, local orders from repeat customers where we operate an honor system for pick ups involving no interaction.
The idea of loading 600-700 bales on to a dealer's tractor trailer wearing masks is not on our bucket list. Hard exercise is hard enough without trying to deal with the discomfiture and restrictions of wearing a mask. Hence our hay supplies are still in the 1000's of bales, despite the fact it is April.
We all have something with which to contend and issues to navigate during this crisis. I suspect this will not be easy and I do urge people to be kind and considerate of others. As a recipient of some cyberbullying myself in recent days, from even more amazingly another dressage person, for cross posting their publicly posted government advice on the lockdown I can attest to the fact that some people out there are operating in a negative manner to other horse folks. Don't be one of them!
I personally LOVE Governor Andrew Cuomo and the smart and measured way he has handled this pandemic in NY overall. He constantly talks about facts and truth and making decisions based on the data and science and not emotion. I'll have to have a word with him about his Dept. of Ag and their councils and how poorly written instructions have caused such confusion. As an acutely intelligent lawyer and advocate, I'm sure he'll "get it!" To use one of his favorite expressions.
Meantime, stay safe and be kind!!
 |
| My husband Paul riding ANCCE stallion ~ |
Compounded misinformation about insurance coverage, rules for social distancing, pop up social media pages attempting to help horse folks understand their rights and the issue at hand, abound.
I don't doubt that everyone is trying their level best to figure out a way to safely get horses and their owners back together. For the horse barn business owners the responsibility for the safety and health of their workforce and clients during Covid19 is a part of their daily lives, and management of the same for the horses in their care, custody and control is similarly of paramount importance to most. Management of health and safety is not alien to horse barn owners.
 |
| Paul and I in Old Montreal - our giving clinics in Canada and around the world have had to come to a halt. |
But now add the burden of how to mitigate the risk of spread of Covid19 with social distance rules and CDC hygiene guidelines in a busy (or quiet for the matter) barn setting, and you have to wonder how these rules can be adhered to and how this safety can be accomplished in a real life scenario.
For example, therapeutic riding programs necessarily involve hands on contact with the rider, three people in close proximity to the horse and rider. For lesson programs where beginners are involved, leadline for safety particularly where young children are concerned also necessitates close proximity of rider and handler.
 |
| Paul and I regularly travel to Europe. Here, Paul is trying horses at Antonio Monteiro Borba's famous Stal Andre, in Lisbon, Portugal. |
My husband Paul and I are both Grand Prix dressage competitors/coaches/clinicians and before this crisis had enjoyed a very busy schedule giving clinics both home and abroad. I cannot fathom how either of us will be able to sustain wearing a mask and giving instructions from the center of the arena in the heat and sometimes dust ( ah, perhaps that will be a silver lining for the mask wearing!), especially in situations where the hosting barn owner has no microphone/speaker or other set up.
Auditors are an important part of the attendees of any clinic and they too will have to sit 6 feet or 2 meters apart. Although a colleague joked with me the other day on Zoom that on the plus side their distance apart would stop the second guessing/peanut gallery comments that can be off-putting to the riders. I won't even get into the events and shows. Amazingly HITS just put out a press release that they DO plan to continue the June 2020 competition schedule in Saugerties, NY and their Chicago,IL circuit. I wouldn't hold my breath, although perhaps they have been granted a 'waiver".
As for cleaning down the barn - good luck. Yes, we can clean off the cross ties, muck fork and skips, tractor steering wheels, tack room door handles and keep our tack and grooming tools to ourselves. But the cross contamination of water bucket handles, faucets, hose pipes and their long lengths, jump standards and poles etc. will be a veritable nightmare to keep sanitized. And that is only part of the list. What about stable door handles, lead ropes, feed buckets, store room and bathing supplies. This is a formidable undertaking that barn owners are going to have to deal with and horse owners are going to have to adhere to if they want to visit the barn.
Most barns also have cats, and two recent confirmed cases of Covid19 in the feline species in NYS, while there is not adequate knowledge of whether transmission from cats to humans is possible, the current thought by Cornell and others scientists is that they cannot. However, regardless, this news will sadly most likely result in many cats being given up for adoption or left to fend for themselves. As a barn owner you can say, don't touch the cat, but where has that cat been? Sitting on the bleachers? Walking on the shelf where you put down your hat or gloves? Do we need more research in the facts as to whether transmission is possible? How media disseminate accurate information so that horse barn owners with cats can take appropriate precautions meantime IF they are required? No-one wants to see pets of any species kicked to the curb.
I confess to being grateful that Paul and I recently retired from horse breeding after 30+ years and no longer require frequent vet visits for AI and foal care. Also glad that we retired from sales of youngstock as a result of that and have sold off all our mares and home produced babies. Our dressage training board business is also shut down, as we had expected to be on the road more than ever giving clinics and we have never had a lesson program per se. So we have no visitors to content with apart from those that come to buy our organically produced horse hay.
 |
| WVH Organically grown horse hay - we sell across the NE and have even exported before now |
To cope with that we have had to limit our hay sales right now to small, local orders from repeat customers where we operate an honor system for pick ups involving no interaction.
The idea of loading 600-700 bales on to a dealer's tractor trailer wearing masks is not on our bucket list. Hard exercise is hard enough without trying to deal with the discomfiture and restrictions of wearing a mask. Hence our hay supplies are still in the 1000's of bales, despite the fact it is April.
We all have something with which to contend and issues to navigate during this crisis. I suspect this will not be easy and I do urge people to be kind and considerate of others. As a recipient of some cyberbullying myself in recent days, from even more amazingly another dressage person, for cross posting their publicly posted government advice on the lockdown I can attest to the fact that some people out there are operating in a negative manner to other horse folks. Don't be one of them!
I personally LOVE Governor Andrew Cuomo and the smart and measured way he has handled this pandemic in NY overall. He constantly talks about facts and truth and making decisions based on the data and science and not emotion. I'll have to have a word with him about his Dept. of Ag and their councils and how poorly written instructions have caused such confusion. As an acutely intelligent lawyer and advocate, I'm sure he'll "get it!" To use one of his favorite expressions.
Meantime, stay safe and be kind!!
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