The latest “inspirational” article about a kid and trainer from Cali making the most of the canceled show by going on a sightseeing adventure around Kentucky is one of the most tone deaf things I have ever read. Is listing all of the places these people went and spread their germs supposed to be an uplifting read? Or how the trainer forced a show canceled by covid to keep running just so her kid could qualify for PF? Sorry but selfish people endangering others is not inspiring. Who the hell thought that publishing that was a good idea?
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omg, I didn’t read it yet because I had a feeling it would aggravate me for that exact reason. I feel bad for Kentucky right now.
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Yes!
Why do people feel so entitled about these freakn horse shows? I don’t get it.
And to the publisher of the article…or anyone involved with the article: WTF.
You all (general) need to put your wants aside and act responsible. It is a GD pandemic. The quicker you get it together, the quicker it can be over! It may sound cruel, but I don’t care if the kids (or even if my kid) are disappointed. It’s a life lesson. Life can be tough, learn to cope with and adapt to reality. It’ll help you out later on life.
Think bigger than yourself.
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Spot on! I had the exact SAME reaction. Glad I wasn’t the only one!
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That article was absolutely appalling. I can understand (although I don’t support going in the first place) walking around the show grounds in your “pod” of a family and trainer, masks on hand, to tour the grounds outside, even hack about and take photos of your pony. But touring the area, going to restaurants and bakeries?
Plus, heading out to Pony Finals from the layover barn after there was a good likelihood of it being cancelled? And pressuring trainers after it was medically advisable to close down the qualifying show? What the hell?
The comments (as to be expected) on the COTH FB page were particularly revolting. Major misstep by COTH in reporting on this issue. Truth be told, I might have expected this article from one of the fluffier and less self-aware horse-related media sources, but I expected better of COTH.
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They were surprised that the Finals cancelled days before its start after having experienced a show recently cancelled while in process? Do they not know there’s a pandemic going on? How could the Finals’ cancellation have been anything but an expectation at that point?
All I could think when I read the story was badly done, adults. The kid isn’t responsible but the self-centered adults who traipsed all over the community should feel deeply ashamed of themselves. Every time I hear the word “vacation” thrown about these days it makes me sick. I cancelled multiple vacations this year. Long-planned, not inexpensive vacations from which I haven’t received full refunds. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do this year.
It’s so sad that our population has devolved from previous generations who had the strength to buckle down and get through life’s curveballs. I’m tired of seeing these types of stories.
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That article makes me embarrassed to be an equestrian. AWFUL EVERYTHING
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But hey! Let’s try it all over again with the rescheduled, then canceled, then moved Junior Hunter Finals 😵
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shake my head 😔
What are we thinking (or clearly not), horse world?!
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To be fair, while the article called it a layover barn, the barn they had trailered to was actually in Lexington. So it’s not like they went from the layover barn to Lexington. They were already there when they learned it was cancelled. I agree the “tour” of the restaurant, bakery, and “a few other spots” was ill-advised. And also agree that the surprise at it being cancelled when their qualification show had basically been cancelled seemed ridiculous.
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Mary O’Connor wrote this about the cancellation of Pony Finals:https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2020/08/02/a-postmortem-on-the-cancellation-of-pony-finals/
I particularly noticed her words, giving USEF credit for their “due diligence” in posting the Kentucky Health Department’s quarantine advisory.
Mary, they did not exercise due diligence.
That link was contained in an email that I sent to them, urging them to cancel, and they posted it on the website, as they promised me they would.
It took a random person (me) to show the quarantine advisory to USEF.
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I am not sure why I am so peeved about the situation that I feel it necessary to correct Mary O’Connor when she gives USEF credit for doing their “due diligence” It is just that they certainly did nothing of the kind. I find it shocking that in the middle of a pandemic no one from USEF seemed aware of the Kentucky health department’s quarantine advisory.
I’m sure that Mary O’Connor is a busy person. How is she to know that USEF was clueless about the Kentucky Heath authorities begging people to quarantine? Why wouldn’t she or anyone else assume that USEF was paying attention to the public health authorities in the State to which it was inviting hundreds of children to show?
The truth is, that during my banging on about the situation via email I finally reached a USEF official who listened and who thought it was important enough to notify USEF and their members who were arriving in Kentucky about the quarantine advisory, Until then I had been treated to Mr. Moroney spouting platitudes, instead of answering my questions and addressing my concerns.
I wish that I was computer literate enough to know how to post the exchanged emails here without publishing my email address. Bill Moroney sent his response in an attachment in PDF form and I am clueless as to how to transfer that to a post here as well. In any case, I’m not sure if it is acceptable to publish emails on a public forum. It strikes me as a rather sketchy thing to do…
It was thanks to Vicki Lowell, that the quarantine advisory and the link to the Kentucky health department’s plea (they actually said “please”) that people not travel to and from Kentucky without taking the recommended quarantine measures, was put up on the USEF and Pony Finals pages.
The health department can’t force anyone to do the right thing, but they are begging people to cooperate. I hope that Mr. Moroney has learned a lesson from this Pony Finals debacle. However, having looked at the news, it appears to me that he has not.
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It’s ok to be annoyed. We have a pretty awful national governing body for horse sport.
This is just another glaring example of how willfully ignorant and tone deaf the leadership is as they cater to approximately 50 people across the country.
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This^^^^
USEF has really outdated ideas. They still think it’s ok to show/ride with top hats and not helmets for saddleseat competitions. Children over 15 are no longer required to wear helmets. Do they think Saddlebreds are impervious to bucking, rearing or tripping? I witnessed a few falls this summer & think it’s ridiculous not to have everyone wear helmets. One example of an old fashion mindset that doesn’t benefit anyone’s safety.
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I so appreciate my doctor’s office. I got a test a week ago while I was at the office for a different reason, and even though they didn’t think it was likely at all I had it, they still asked me to quarantine until the results came back (negative). Granted, I had some shortness of breath, its from something not covid-related but is still a symptom so I asked for a test just to be safe, but even if I didn’t have symptoms I don’t think it hurts to stay home like two days until the results come back.
I am kind of hoping we could get to a point where we have enough resources that everyone could get a test once a month, or maybe even every two weeks. Maybe if a reliable at-home test gets developed, though I doubt it’s likely.
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I wonder why it is that you and other people who disregard the advice of public health authorities or defend those that do, consider that you are being “attacked” when people disagree with your choices.
I have never accused you, or people who flaunt public health recommendations of “attacking” me or other people that are disappointed in your collective disregard for the health and lives of others. It seems that you are an awfully sensitive bunch, but only when your feelings are involved. Not so sensitive to realize that many of us know people that have died of this illness and that politics are preventing closures and basic precautions in many states, against the advice of their own public health officials.
If you have been depending on politicians to set boundaries for you and to advise you what to do to keep yourself and others safe during a pandemic you should, by now, have realized your error.
Expert opinion from epidemiologists regarding the procedures needed to prevent the spread of the COVID is easily found online if you bother to look. I think perhaps some people choose not to educate themselves and prefer to follow whichever political “mandate” happens to be current in their state, and suits them, the more lax the better.
It is apparent by the increase in the death toll and case numbers that politicians do not have a grip on the situation. Someone has to do the right thing and it’s not going to be the government. Perhaps they’ll step up, somehow I doubt it. In the meantime we as citizens have to be responsible.
It really comes down to being more educated about infectious disease than your elected officials. Not a difficult task, and we don’t have to deal with political considerations.
Anyway, no one here is being “attacked” so you can hop off that drama llama and put it in the barn. We disagree, that’s all.
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I think it’s important to note here that there’s a fair amount of disagreement even between epidemiologists and/or public health authorities… For example, there’s a great deal of variance in whether children should go back to school. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/upshot/epidemiologists-decisions-children-school-coronavirus.html. In Montgomery County MD, the County Health Officer wanted all schools closed, while the CDC has recommended that schools reopen.
So…it’s not like there is a universal public health stance on these issues. There is diversity in the public health community (as one would expect) and then diversity in governments balancing those public health opinions against other concerns.
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I don’t think there’s ANY divergence about whether herds of children from all over the country should converge on Kentucky with their parents for a horse show.
I’m tired of people using some disagreements on the margins or the fact that our knowledge base is incomplete as an excuse to do whatever they want. Reasonable minds can differ (based on the current science) about whether covid can transmit by HVAC but that’s not an excuse to throw up your hands and do whatever you want and act like we know nothing. We know travel and large scale gathering transmit it. We know you can transmit it before you’re symptomatic. We know there can be false negatives on the testing. We know large gatherings, even those outdoors, have spread it.
We know plenty even if we don’t know everything. And the fact that there are unanswered questions or that the knowledge is evolving is not justification to ignore what we currently know as best practices.
we don’t know everything about lung cancer but that’s not a reason to throw up your hands and smoke a pack a day because “scientists disagree” about the exact doubling rate.
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I agree with your point but I just want to clarify something, not everyone gets their results in two days.
Some places are not offering rapid result tests.
I know someone who just got their results after 13 days in quarantine. (So one day prior to their quarantine would be over anyway.)
I also know someone who had direct contact with a person who two days later was tested positive. That someone was told by their doctor to just quarantine because only two days after exposure is too early to get a reliable test result.
Again, I do not disagree with your point. I just want it known that it is not two days of quarantine for everyone.
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The school issue is entirely different from leisure, or if you want, “sport” activities like the Pony Finals. As a resident of DC, it is clear that much of whether schools will open has to do with equity and politics: the physical/emotional well-being of children in some states and the fact that people do not comprehend the value of science in others. It is very literally a crisis that children are not in school. Some children depend on school to receive adequate food. Supervision. Emotional support. Parents cannot adequately work or work at all if children are at home. To compare this to choosing to attend a horse show is simply ridiculous.
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