And the flip side of this is, don’t stay at barns with standards less than yours unless you can lower your standards.
Cause after multiple attempts to fix this problem, it’s still a problem - you aren’t getting a fix cause they don’t see it as a problem. So you need to ask yourself can you lower your standards about your own health & safety or is it time to start barn hunting?
I totally agree, 100%.
Be prepared to be fired as a lesson client if you go forward with any of your planned actions.
I would have no issues wearing a mask in common areas of the barn as required, but while riding?
OverandOnward, I absolutely realize more than you know since I work in a hospital where our materials folks are having a difficult type securing N95 masks - Please purchase other masks and leave the N95 for those who are in direct patient (many COVID) care so these healthcare providers and first responders have the protection they need. In their business it’s impossible to remain socially distant when they need to treat a patient. Thank you
Back to OP’s issues - masks do a couple of things, help protect the wearer from contract, or help the wearer prevent spread. The OP wear their mask appropriately (not under their chin ever- you’re safer taking it off completely and replacing) and keep a distance from the offending mother and child. As I mentioned earlier if their paths cross the OP can simply say “oh you go ahead I’ll come in the tack room when you’re through since you’re not wearing a mask”.
I don’t think you need to wear a mask outside (or in an indoor) when you’re riding. Mask up again when you’re in the barn or around other people within 10 feet
I can’t figure out how to quote you, @enjoytheride! Masks are now required in the indoor, but we’re all riding there because it’s cold/windy.
I don’t know if, scientifically, one unmasked rider with asymptomatic covid could infect another in a 90x200 indoor in the span of an hour, even if that indoor is not well ventilated. Honestly - probably not. But we have 3 trainers on property who spend all day in that ring, and 40 horses, so maybe the aerosols could accumulate over the course of the day if multiple clients (or trainers, or staff) were sick. It is stuffy enough in there that the mirrors will fog up on busy days.
In truth, the science of it doesn’t really matter to me. What matters to me is that the trainers have agreed this is their preference and what makes them feel safe at work, so I am happy to oblige them. It’s not that big a deal for me to wear a mask for my 40 min hack, and it’s worth it for my trainer’s peace of mind and sense of safety.
Oh, horrors! She could be “fired” by the person she is paying for lessons and who apparently doesn’t care about health department directives during a pandemic. 
I’m sure the OP can find someone to teach her and take her money, whom will also care if their students live or die, or spread the virus as an asymptomatic carrier.
[/Quote]Right, whatever works.
Locally Kn95’s are not hard to come by. Not sure why the shortage elsewhere. But the others are fine for the general public, of course.
[/quote]
You’re “not sure why the shortage elsewhere”. Really? 
As someone who has actually been reading along, I noticed she is with a coach, who is not the BO and who does apparently care for the regs. It’s the BO and staff and a boarder who apparently don’t. My assumption is she can be told to not come back to the property if she narcs, effectively firing her from the lesson program. Yes fire, this board has repeatedly used the term “fire” for what a professional can do to a client.
And you used “whom” incorrectly. 
I’m sure I did.Sorry that I offended you with my lousy grammar. 
The point was, why would she care if she was “fired” by anyone when they don’t care about her health or life? By someone who doesn’t give a damn? Not a very big deal really. I’m sure she will be welcomed elsewhere 
.
To quote you have options, all of which you can find in the FAQ thread on the technical help forum.
Here is the thread.
The easiest way to quote is to just highlight the text you want to quote and a grey box will show above it that says quote. Pick that box and the text you highlighted will appear in the reply box as a quote. Here is a screen shot of me quoting your post so you know what it looks like.
Um… you are making quite a few assumptions about the OP. I think telling the OP that they might be asked to not come back if they report the barn is a good thing in case the OP had not thought of that consequence.
Only the OP can weigh the positives of this barn versus the negatives of this barn.
The OP seems intelligent enough to understand this. She is concerned about unmasked people in a pandemic, when there is a mask rule in her state. More of a life and death matter than a concern that if she insists that her health is taken seriously she may be “fired” by her instructor.
I am having difficulty with the quote function as well. I think it’s just a matter of getting used to the new system. 
I think this is an overall good policy. But the OP said there is an existing barn rule about mask wearing. So her request is really more about enforcement of an existing policy than asking for a policy change. If she doesn’t feel safe, and it is a rule, I see no downside in politely asking for some help. The alternative is leaving anyway.
Regardless of what your personal views are of various rules, it is so frustrating to see people who think the rules just don’t apply to them and try to get away with stuff. If the barn rule is that customers should wear masks, then customers should wear masks. They can go maskless during their other outdoor activities where such rules are not in place.
I realize this does not mean the BO is going to enforce the rule, especially since the noncompliant customers are probably the kind fo people who are difficult to deal with and don’t listen to instructions on any number of issues. But I don’t think it’s inappropriate to point out that you have observed this behavior and express a view that it makes you a little uncomfortable.
I’m sorry, but if someone said to me, essentially “ I’m a non symptomatic COVID carrier and I’m proudly out in public doing this very non essential task and infecting the world!” I would straight up lose my shit on you. Don’t say things like that. That’s incredibly stupid.
I know you were trying to make a point - but without knowing you and whether your daughter lived with you - had you said that around me at a show (which is a completely unnecessary luxury, especially during a pandemic), I’d likely complain to you and show management that you were potentially exposing everyone else at the competition grounds when you had a known, substantial, daily risk of exposure.
I feel a bit like this is crying wolf, and it is things like this that wear down people’s diligence when it comes to following safety protocols.
OP - you’re going to have to decide what your level of comfort is for the lack of mask enforcement among the staff. I’m assuming that the staff has a say in whether they wear a mask or not.
@JustTheTicket --my post was poorly worded. The competitions I attended last spring and summer were held in extremely rural areas as they involve contestants shooting targets off horses. The states where I competed, at that time, had minimal COVID restrictions on masks, gatherings, and numbers. Due to the remote location, everyone camped who attended over the four day competition --and clearly, everything was outside.
I did not want to be in proximity of anyone. There is excellent distance between competitors, as we all carry our gear and weapons on our horses --no one can or does get too close to anyone else. Therefore, social distance is followed during the competition hours. My concern was camping --people tend to migrate to other’s camps, pull up a chair, and share horse stories. All good in normal times —but not what I wanted to do.
So I spread the word that DD was a COVID front line worker. It worked for me --I didn’t have to ask people to put on masks around me, or to keep their distance. I wore my mask always, and kept my distance. Others did too --around me --but I did see other competitors at group campfires that were way too close for my comfort.
As to the choice to attend a competition when one might have been exposed --as soon as one goes out of ones house, one might be exposed. I had the shoer here yesterday --I wore a mask, and kept my distance. He’d been to eight barns before me. He doesn’t wear a mask. Am I now to quarantine for 14 days?
Much of the decisions we make as individuals about how we proceed during these difficult times are subject to other’s opinions. My doctor is going home for Thanksgiving. Her choice, but not the one our family has made --we are doing ZOOM.
Oh, one other thought --again, sorry I didn’t explain better —
@rothmpp: see reply above yours for clarification. Again the OP asked what “I” would do --I wouldn’t try to control the world --I don’t confront people who are not distancing or using masks. I am protecting my own health, I hope. Some might choose to not leave home or go to stables --that’s a choice —I am continuing to fox hunt (again, a choice) and in the summer, I shoot. I can see on social media that some are, some are not. Wondering if you think everyone who has a child, spouse, family member who is a front line COVID worker should be isolating . . . I suppose some do --and had show management spoken to me, I would have told them the kid doesn’t live with me —and then I’d ask why there wasn’t a box for me to check on the entry form that said, “Do you have a close relative who works in a field where he/she might be exposed to COVID?” I have heard of no one asking anyone that.
After reading all this – especially the reminder that BO’s don’t usually adjust to the wishes of lesson customers, and the risk that OP could be asked to leave, or maybe just no longer given those extra rides …
OP, I think your decision is fairly simple at this point. Either stay with the barn as is, or go to another barn with more enforcement. Or take a break from riding for about 6 months, as suggested. Once you can get a vaccine it won’t be an issue for you.
Depending on the situation, how many common touch points, and if you are riding outside or in an indoor, you may be able to practice sufficient barn safety to protect yourself. And also avoid infecting anyone else (hopefully that doesn’t come up). Of course that may be a bit harder if, as a lesson student, you are using barn stuff handled by other people.
You could follow some of the ideas posting in this thread for initiating a conversation with the BO. The question is if you want to do that. I’m guessing the answer is “no”, or you wouldn’t be posting the question here on COTH. You would have already done it instead.
If you are not interested in taking a chance on a contest of wills with the BO (that’s what it comes down to if you aren’t willing to accept a negative answer), and you don’t want to cut ties with the barn, just wait it out until the day after Inauguration Day. The expectation is that at that moment these decisions are likely to be made for us. You can duck the conversation and let the incoming POTUS have that conversation instead. 
Hysterical people are going to do hysterical things.
It’s just what it is.
I’m in a “mask mandate” state (strictest in the country) and if you actually READ the mask mandate, you don’t have to wear masks outside if you can avoid being within 6’ of them.
Probably not the strictest in the country then since Massachusetts just turned on the “whenever you are out in public wear a mask, even if you’re alone in a field” because people apparently couldn’t tell what 6’ was and therefore just ignored the original “mask or distance” mandate.
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