Horse showing in the time of Covid ... My Experiences

[MHM]

Kindness is always a good thing.

That being said… I can only imagine the level of frustration for the officials who spent all day asking exhibitors to comply with the rules, only to be ignored. I have been to a bunch of shows in the last two months. Many if not most exhibitors have made a good effort to comply with the rules.

But. There are always some exhibitors who seem to think the rules don’t apply to them. It’s bad enough when those exhibitors ignore the amateur rule or the drug rule or what have you.

But when they ignore the Covid rules, they are jeopardizing the entire horse show. Not just from the standpoint of everyone’s health, but from the very real risk of getting that show and other shows shut down again.

The show managers these days really have to jump through endless extra hoops to hold a horse show in the first place, so it’s not surprising if they feel the need to insist on compliance with the Covid rules.

[APirateLooksAtForty]

You are completely missing my point. It was done kindly and effectively at 9 out of 10 shows. It can be done. It is far more pleasant to show when you are made aware of the rules upfront (they were changing often at the beginning of this) in a calm and even handed manner. Only once this summer has that not occurred and it will stick with me for a long time. Yes I have heard horror stories of non compliance. I never personally saw anyone purposefully flouting the rules. Truth be told, there are calm and effective ways of dealing with that too. like I said it goes both ways but from an exhibitors perspective, kind and non reactive officiating goes a long way in this pandemic.

[hairystockings]

I was just at WEC’s last summer show this past week. It was a fascinating week fresh off the KY cancellations. We were on pins and needles beforehand as there were rumors they were thinking about cancelling it which never came to fruition. Accordingly, people BADLY wanted this show to happen so everyone was really good about compliance. They also have a covid steward with her own cart labeled as such who spent all day every day driving the whole property from one end to the other and walking through barns which kept people on their toes and very compliant (she was also very friendly, I always waved and said hi). They cracked down on spectators specifically in the jumper ring because it was indoors and everyone was pretty good about it.

It also ended up being a much bigger show than anticipated as people from KY came rolling in through Friday morning looking for somewhere to show. We had more big jumpers than usual once groups like Ashland Farms showed up.

Overall, it was well managed, people were compliant with mask wearing and staying in their groups and maintaining distance from others. I find the local unrated shows are really where we see people not wearing masks nor maintaining distance.

[MHM]

@APirateLooksAtForty

Yes I have heard horror stories of non compliance. I never personally saw anyone purposefully flouting the rules.

I’ve seen it a lot. A lot, a lot.

So I can understand that if a steward has to deal with nine people in a row who refuse to follow the rules, the tenth person the steward sees breaking the same rule might not get handled with kid gloves.

Ideally, none of that should happen. The exhibitors breaking the rules, or the steward feeling the need to lay down the law. But the stewards are only human, just like the rest of us.

[APirateLooksAtForty]

But why be nasty about it? I think if you are aggressive or overly emotional the covid steward job is not the right one for you.

[Scribbler]

Our very excellent public health officer here, Dr Bonny Henry, signs off her press briefings by saying “be calm, be kind, be safe.” I think those are excellent guidelines. While COVID safety matters, at the same time no single instance especially outdoors or in well ventilated areas is of the extreme urgency to require confrontation. She also did not want to see altercations in public or lots of tattle tale 911 calls about minor things

While we were on shutdown in March and April, I realized that how people dealt with their anxiety in communities, barns, neighborhoods, could have a longer negative effect on personal relationships. Having a batshit aggressive show steward will make people think differently about that venue and is not good strategy.

We’ve made it through to “stage 3” re openings under Dr Bonny’s guidance and I think her message of mutual toleration and personal responsibility has been very positive for us.

[mvp]

@APirateLooksAtForty

But why be nasty about it? I think if you are aggressive or overly emotional the covid steward job is not the right one for you.

You missed the part in MHM’s post about the steward perhaps losing the politeness with the 10th person. I don’t think that’s the sign of an inherent character flaw in the steward. It’s really unfair to say so.

And BTW, no one coming to a horse show, however squirrelly the rules there, doesn’t know that masks are being required more and more places. IMO, there is no excuse for evading the rules at this point and I am truly sorry that the horsey set even requires this kind of policing. We should know better and need to put in some effort if we want our non-essential gatherings to continue. I will lose no sleep over a steward being short with the elite people who don’t care to or forget to do something in the interest of public health.

[monalisa]

If people can’t follow the rules, i.e., wear a mask, then they should stay home. Rules are rules. Stewards are there to enforce the rules. That is their job.

[APirateLooksAtForty]

That’s right. I’m talking about 9 of ten stewards reminding people nicely and the one off having a sweet grandmother in tears. If stewards can’t enforce the rules calmly and fairly then they shouldn’t be stewards. Before anyone gets their panties in a wad, grandma was taking care of granddaughter, not spectating.

[ghst13]

I’ve done three shows so far - trailer in only, although I did have to walk through the stabling area at one. Mask wearing in stabling was definitely hit or miss. And at one show where they were doing temp checks at the gate there was at least one BNT and a show official wandering around without masks. Maybe because I’ve only been trailering in, but I’ve yet to see anyone going around the grounds policing mask usage.

On a separate note, I’m disappointed that some of the other changes that were promised by many shows haven’t materialized. Early on many shows said they would do frequent updating of online numbers and ring status to help people “show and go” but for the most part you are lucky to get a midday update if anything. A minor inconvenience in the long run, but something I was looking forward to as I often trailer in for shows.

[trubandloki]

@APirateLooksAtForty

That’s right. I’m talking about 9 of ten stewards reminding people nicely and the one off having a sweet grandmother in tears. If stewards can’t enforce the rules calmly and fairly then they shouldn’t be stewards. Before anyone gets their panties in a wad, grandma was taking care of granddaughter, not spectating.

Because maybe Grandma should know better and Grandma was the 10th person in a very short time that had to be reminded of a very basic fact.

I do agree that being nice is the best plan. That aside, I am willing to accept that even very nice people who are excellent at their job have a breaking point that sometimes I might not have seen what caused them to go over it. Volunteering at what has become the most thankless job ever has got to be exceptionally stressful.

And really…what reason did Grandma have for not following the rules to start with?