I would be concerned if the arena got really stuffy. If there is good air exchange (IOW, let it stay cold…), then I would feel better about it.
Thanks everyone.
What are we talking about when we say tiny? Like small dressage arena size?
I’m not concerned about the actual riding in the arena part, but the getting ready to ride part. I can stay away from people while I ride but it is almost impossible in the crossties. Obviously I wear a mask when I’m not riding but it’s hard not to be a bit concerned when I know it is impossible to stay 6 ft away in certain areas that I can’t avoid.
1 Like
I am because we have tightened up a lot of the drafts in our dressage court sized indoor to keep the footing from freezing, and the barn is busy. I think the current plan is to also allow more riders at a time in there than we did in March-April last year, and there’s new information about spread through the air. When riding you may not be passing closely but you are breathing harder in an enclosed area. Not that much different than singing indoors. Our barn in comparison is much, much more ventilated.
I’m planning on heading south for several months to avoid this, dealing with scheduling, and also to just avoid winter in general since I have the flexibility now of working from “home”. Home will just be an airbnb type rental for a little while, and riding outside.
1 Like
In the minority but yes if it’s more than a couple of people. Hard exertion = heavy breathing = the risk is greater than being outside in open air. I’m from WA and the choir super-spreader event brought home the risk of indoor activity when people aren’t masked. This chart provides a useful sense of risk.
https://twitter.com/trishgreenhalgh/status/1300086990709362693
4 Likes
Yes, I would be worried, and much depends on the use and construction of your indoor. Much more is known about the transmission of COVID. Fomote transmission is not the major area of concern, it is aeresol transmission. And there is some research that shows the virus can hang in the air for a long period of time, remaining even after people leave, and then could be potentially inhaled to cause infection. If your indoor is more of a covered arena that has a great deal of ventilation, perhaps a better situation than a fully enclosed indoor.
2 Likes
It’s a valid concern in any enclosed space, especially one where people are breathing heavily and exerting themselves.
I’m not worried in the barn where I board because even with the windows and doors closed, our arena is pretty drafty, and we rarely have more than 2 riders at a time in there. Would I do a group lesson with 4 or 5 riders at a time? No, not now that we know transmission is airborne.
1 Like
Sounds like you have a busy barn - can you go at a less popular time if you are worried? Or tack up in your stall?
I wouldn’t be too concerned about having to pass someone in the aisle, or going in and out of the tack room with someone in there, especially if others are wearing masks too. But if people are hanging around in your space for more than a minute, I’d be moving myself or asking them to move
I do try go at less busy times but working the regular business hours only leaves me with so many options. The way things are set up makes it hard some times. There are crossties right outside my stall so it creates some space but sometimes feels like not enough. Tack lockers are also set up facing the arena so if people are going to hang out for no reason it’s going to be there. It’s amazing the number of people who don’t understand what “can you please move? We need to be 6 ft apart” means. I generally just leave it looks too busy, which is unfortunate because I am showing up at times that barn owner has approved me to come ride (scheduled times for everyone)
I’ve been following this thread and another with a similar conversation; our numbers in my area are starting to jump again. My boarding barn requires masks in the barns. No indoor…just an outdoor and 800 acres with upwards of 50 miles of trails so ventilation is on our side haha. The part I have been on the fence about is hauling into my trainers barn for lessons over the winter. She will travel to my barn to do lessons, but once the real garbage weather hits I don’t think we’re going to have a lot of options to continue that. Her barn has a large indoor full size dressage arena so there is definitely space, but they aren’t as strict with masks in the barn/tack/viewing rooms and no masks riding in the indoor (at the moment anyways).
As a scientist myself with friends who are practicing medicine…and as someone who has chronic health issues already, I may be more risk averse than others. Im far less concerned about dying if I get it in the short term and more about the known/unknown long term affects. I also live on my own and I really don’t want to have to be out for the count and under the weather for a couple weeks either quite honestly. As someone who had to go on beta blockers in their early 30’s (and it should have been far earlier than that but I wasn’t diagnosed with EDS until then), I don’t know anyone who would voluntarily sign up for chronic health issues. Trust me, you don’t want them.
Since the numbers are starting to go on an upswing, my comfort level riding in a closed up indoor, even at that size is dwindling. Risk = exposure*hazard. Thinking about it in that terms, even in a larger indoor space, when you have multiple people breathing in an exercising capacity without masks I don’t think it’s worth the risk for me. If it were with people I knew were more careful, that might different, but it also might not be.
3 Likes
I would be worried about a buttoned-up, crowded indoor. I spent a few winters at a barn with a heated indoor, which was obviously sealed tight, and that would worry me.
At my current trainers, there are usually only three people there at any given time - groom, trainer, and rider. It is very rare that two horses are in the ring at once. If we’re riding two at the same time, it’s because we’re hacking and we’re outside.
The issue with indoor spaces is if they’re not well ventilated - most indoor arenas are pretty well ventilated, even a “stuffy” one is probably better than an office space - tall open roofing, large windows/doors etc. I think so much depends on the size of your barn - # of boarders, is it a large lesson and boarding barn etc. I’m not concerned as I board at a smaller facility. There are only about 3-4 of us that normally ride around the same time and we’re all in the medical /research field. Now if I was at a few of the other barns in my area where there are lots of lessons and boarders and a couple of these places rely solely on their indoor rings to ride.
1 Like
Statistically you are equally likely to get injured driving in a car wreck as being sickened ( seriously ill ) from Covid. Get out and enjoy your horse, keep your immune system healthy and live your life. Something will get us all sooner or later 
3 Likes
I would take a bet that statistically, equestrians are at a higher risk for injury than driving a car. I feel like there is a comparison here with mask wearing and social distancing that has to be comparable to wearing a seatbelt in a car or a helmet when riding. Is there risk? Yes. Are you being proactive and mitigating the risk? Yes. If you don’t wear a seatbelt or wear a helmet you tend to get the 3rd degree from someone about it and rightfully so. I just had a friend who got in a high speed car accident and now will be dealing with bulging discs the rest of her life and the financial pain of probably life long physical therapy and potential injections. Again, something I wouldn’t want to live with the rest of my life. Crap happens even when you do take proper precautions and you may not be at fault, I don’t want to add to that anymore than I have to personally.
With COVID, I see it two-fold. The long term stuff is going to be the bigger issue for the larger population that gets it and lives. I also don’t want to expose myself and be an asymptomatic carrier and give it to someone else like my my parents or grandparents who I do see, socially distanced and masked every now and then. If I ride without a helmet and get tossed and hurt, my 86 year old grandmas own health isn’t potentially going to be impacted by that.
I can enjoy riding outdoors this winter as much as inside so that’s what intend to do. Thankfully I have that option so no loss for me there. I wish more people wouldn’t look at this as we do what we’ve always done and darn it all, or hide in the house. There is a lot of space to play in-between and sometimes its good to get creative.
4 Likes
Yes I am concerned. Our indoor is a coverall so while chilly, doesn’t have quite the same air exchange. While the kids are all homeschooling and folks have been good about being checked out if they feel off, I know people are getting a little too comfortable. I do however wear a mask regardless because I am at an elevated risk (and try not to share equipment, regardless of stats on hard surface transmission).
2 Likes
Here’s the thing: we don’t know the rate of long-term health impacts from COVID-19, but we do know that a growing number of “long-haulers” are out there attesting to the weeks and months it can take to feel better. Ask the students at the university where I work who are in hospital, or the ones who are still recovering several months after being infected. Ed Yong has an excellent article from about a month ago in The Atlantic that I’d be glad to share if anyone’s interested. The seat belt analogy is good; we know much more now than we did last winter about measures that can increase or decrease the risk of infection, and we should all be taking them. Outdoors is safest. Indoors and well-ventilated can be ok, but it is still less safe than outdoors and that is worth at least considering.
Apologies if I’m coming off a bit snippy here — please know that this isn’t directed at you, per se, but at the sentiment that we should all just carry on as if we weren’t in a pandemic. I deal with a weird immune system but don’t “look” unwell. I’m relatively young, fit and healthy despite the MS (and the drugs that make me at risk of a more severe case of coronavirus). And I’m tired of hearing that the higher-risk folks need to take care of themselves while other folks go about their lives. Some of us were born with faulty immune systems. Some folks are trying to live their lives while taking all the right precautions, only to be sickened by people who think all this mask-wearing is silly. You want to live your life, but I bet you want to protect the lives of others, too. We live in a society, and to me that means we take care of each other.
7 Likes
Pet peeve of mine: this is such a dismissive tack to take and it’s a false equivalency. Driving a car is risky, so you take precautions. You wear a seatbelt, follow the speed limits, drive a car that has structural safety features built in, etc.
Covid adds a layer of risk to riding so you take precautions: sanitize shared surfaces, keep your distance from others and wear a mask when you can’t, avoid busy times, and avoid riding indoors with large groups.
Nobody here is proposing anyone stop enjoying their lives. Some are looking for guidance in enjoying it safely.
11 Likes
I think the hard thing is that some people are reacting to is that there is no end in sight. In fact, many news stories are saying that covid will likely become endemic in the population. We may just have no choice other than to live with the risk of catching it.
Yes I do worry about transmission in the indoor. I don’t worry about as much as I do about transmission at work, in stores, etc., but I think it’s possible. If I knew that a really effective vaccine or treatment would be available soon, I would probably change my schedule and ride when there isn’t anyone in the indoor. This would be possible for me to do for a while. At this point, it doesn’t look like I would be able to maintain something like that on the hope and prayer that one of these things will work and be available.
1 Like
Yes we will eventually reach herd immunity - hopefully via a vaccine and not through the infection of 80-90% of the population that would be required to achieve it naturally. Even with a fatality rate around just 1% of cases, that would be a lot of deaths!
Realistically, we are stuck with changing our habits, social distancing, mask wearing, etc. for at least another year, especially those of us forced indoors by weather for a good chunk of the year.
A year or two is not forever, and won’t seem like it in hindsight, but it sure can feel like it right now.
1 Like
I think we are all hoping one of the vaccines works.
I also think it’s about balancing what risks you’re willing to take for the next year or two. For example, I don’t think I’m willing to quit riding for the next year or two. It also is not feasible for me to change my schedule to ride when no one is around for that long. It would be really difficult for me to do that. Frankly, it also seems a bit pointless to me as I do work in a building with about 100 people. It it’s aerosolized, then I’m much more likely to contract it there - where I spend more time and am around more people - than I am at the barn.
Likewise, there are other things that I do that I wouldn’t have to do, but I’m not willing to quit for a year or two. I do some classes with my dog in a big garage type building, and I still go there. I think the benefits of interacting with the people and my dog getting out and doing something amongst others outweighs the risks.
There are certainly some precautions I am willing to take for the next year or two. I think everyone has to make their own determination of what is and is not worth it. There are a lot of people that are now going to church or to the gym or to a bar. Who am I to tell them not to do that if I myself am at the barn tonight riding with two other people or going to a dog class with several other ladies tomorrow night?
The precautions that I’m willing to take definitely differ as research comes in and with timelines. If I knew that a better treatment would be available in 2 months, than it’s a totally different scenario than 2 years. 2 years is not forever, and I know that, but those are two totally different risk assessments in terms of what is and isn’t worth it.
1 Like
