You pay for care of your horse.
Right now to properly care for it, only staff can be on premises for the sake of everyone, but especially those workers who likely make pittance and don’t have any insurance.
If your horse was unrideable for any other reason,w your own injury or your horses’, would you cut and run?
How do you move to a new barn though?
Trailering, loading, unloading… Not essential.
Just wondering.
Apparently Struzzeri is planning to open Hits Saugerties.
Yes virus has peaked in NYC.
No it has not even gotten started north of there.
This is a really bad idea.
Transportation of livestock is considered essential. As long as the new barn will allow you in, you won’t be stopped from moving your horse from point A to point B.
A few ideas for when it comes time to reopen:
Require masks to be worn from the moment they open their vehicle door up arrival to the moment they close that door. upon departure. Non N95 masks protect the people around the person wearing the mask as it severely limits any moisture droplets escaping into the air. Anyone not wearing a mask or removing their mask should be banned from the barn for a period of time (more thoughts on bans below).
I think your staff would be safer if they propped doors open and the boarder was the only one handling grooming equipment and tack. Perhaps require the boarder to use a separate halter and lead.
Stall latches and crossties are easy to spray. Require boarders to stay out of the horse’s stall. except for taking the horse out and putting them back as staff must spend time in that enclosed space mucking, etc. If you can provide spray bottles of disinfectant the boarder can even spray the latch when they’re done.
Have a schedule and limit the number of boarders based on your facility. If you have a larger facility you can have more while keeping space between them. If you have multiple boarder tack rooms you can have one boarder from each tack. room at a time (yes it adds to scheduling complexity, but the earlier you can open the more necessary it will be). Consult your boarders as to how long a time slot is appropriate (an hour might be too short, two hours too long - longer slots mean fewer visits). Let everyone know the numbers may have to be adjusted as you see how well people are able to keep their distance.
If you have a boarder staying past their time ban that individual from the barn for ten days or two weeks. Do not allow any other boarder to take any of the banned boarder’s pre booked time slots during that time (perception will be favoritism if you do - and the other boarders in that slot will notice the banned boarder’s absence). Use your judgement - five minutes over might warrant a warning the first time it happens. Ban them the second time. If you require boarders to be driving off the property by the end of their time slot it will be easy to see who’s pushing the boundaries.
Boarders may not like the idea of being banned, but if you make it crystal clear up front exactly what will result in a ban, and emphasize that boarders have full control over the actions that will result in the ban there won’t be much sympathy for anyone who gets banned. Make the ban long enough to be felt by that boarder. If most boarders are coming out twice a week then a one week ban might not be long enough. Consider having progressively longer bans - one week for the first offense, two for the second, etc.
Whatever you choose to do have a plan, have a clear set of rules, have defined consequences for those who can’t abide by the rules, clearly communicate those rules and consequences to each boarder UP FRONT before they arrive for their first visit, and ENFORCE the rules. Yes, that means someone will have to check at the beginning/end of each time slot to see who is there, but if you aren’t willing to enforce the rules then don’t bother having any. Depending on how you have parking set up you could simply take a picture of the parking lot a couple of minutes into each time slot and have a record of any offenders.
One last thought - no cellphone use on the property except in emergency. People texting or whatever have a tendency to become oblivious obstacles - in the aisle, in the tack room, etc.
I guess I go back to, what happens if you are injured either loading, unloading or driving to the new place?
You put yourself and all emergency responders in danger.
I stand by my statement. Why is you riding your horse more important than the lives of the people who care for them? If you can’t afford it, I get it. We already told people that they could move, no hard feelings, and they would be welcomed back with open arms (so to speak) when it is safe. Meantime, no nobody comes in. We are working on arrangements that will allow them to ride, but not come in
It’s all about risk management. Everything comes with a risk, including going for a walk, which is not life critical.
Would I move my unrideable horse out of my current boarding situation, if it were a long term thing? In a second. I live in an area where it’s frequently required that you be in full training to board most places, and board alone (before training, grooming — which is usually mandatory also, etc) is $1000-$1500 a month, and turnout is minimal at best. If my horse were injured in some long term way, I would move her to a rehab facility where she could be in a field and be a horse and save myself literally thousands of dollars a month in a heartbeat, and no one at my current barn would think I was “cutting and running” or “being disloyal.”
I should add that I am the trainer, not the owner. I am very much NOT independently wealthy. I work very, very hard. Most of my clients are not in the top .5%. They are well off, but for the most part, not mega wealthy.
We have reduced rates for rides. Why should I have to work for free? I have a job too, it’s riding horses, teaching lessons, and going to horse shows with clients. Sorry if you don’t think what I do is real work, and should be paid for. Your nasty snark about bleeding customers is really telling about who you are.
BTW, we had planned on raising our board in April, because (and I’m sure this will shock you) boarding horses doesn’t make money. We have held off on that for the time being. But we need to make enough money to pay the hay, grain,shaving, care of the school horses, electricity, propane, taxes, insurance, pay the staff, fuel and maintenance for the farm vehicles, keep the buildings up, on and on it goes. Your attitude is thoughtless
Thank you . Virtual XOXOX
You asked how people are doing it. They are doing it because they are still allowed to leave their house and drive their horse around without someone stopping them. There are many, many grey areas where people decide for themselves what counts as essential. Around my neck of the woods, the only difference in traffic is the lack of rush hour. Otherwise the roads are quite busy. I don’t know what these people are all doing that’s considered essential, but no one is stopping them.
I have a BS from an Ivy League school, taken graduate level courses in Immunology, worked as a surgical technician and most recently work at a Biotech firm. I know how to take care of myself and those around me during this crisis. I can read through the media hype from both the Left and Right. The scientists will get a handle on this, I know a lot of good people working to combat this on so many fronts.
What scares the SHIT out of me is the financial outcome of all this. The horse industry, along with restaurants, sports, movie theaters and others, are ALL non-essential. There are a lot of these businesses that will cease to exist, unless they get creative. There will only be so many horse owners with $ to go around in the end. Contrary to Kirbydog’s first post here which struck some as rather harsh, she is trying to work with folks by offering reduced training rides and holding off board increases. Only time will tell if these measures are enough.
Thank you
I don’t apologize for it sounding harsh. As a barn manager, I have learned that if you don’t spell things out very clearly, people feel they are entitled to run over you because, of the “it’s my horse, I can do what I want with it”. I am trying to protect myself, my family, my staff, their families, and even the owners. Why people can’t see this, is beyond me.
The horse industry in Illinois is a multi-billion dollar a year industry. And now hundreds of thousands of us are out of business, or working at a greatly reduced rate. So while you cry about how you aren’t earning an income and poor you, you can’t come ride your horse even though you A) chose to buy and own a horse, and B) chose to board it at a nice facility that is giving your horse the best possible care, you talk out of the other side of your mouth and accuse us of ripping you off. Nice. Apparently some of you think that horse people don’t matter.
BTW, a popular young vet from around here contracted COVID, along with his assistant. They were in my facility in late March. Thank God they both were masked and gloved when they were in my barn. He had told me how grateful he was that we were closed. He said several small barns that he visited were not. That’s probably where they got sick.
I had 2 farriers that I use tell me they were also grateful People like to stand around and watch farriers. Both of them got irritated enough that they left those facilities without finishing all of their horses. Said they wouldn’t go back until this was addressed. One guy (younger) said that he told people that if they didn’t back off, he would spit at them. Crude? Yes, but I get it. The other guy (older) said it just spooked him too much, and he didn’t feel he could work that way.
Trust me I am not a 1%er and certainly not a .5%er. My horse was on partial training prior to shut down and I rode a few days a week. I chose to move him up to full board in part to support my trainer. In part mentally he needs more work that 3 days a week and physically he needs it to keep him sound. My trainer never even hinted at changing my training arrangement.
I don’t expect my trainer to give me a break on the board portion of my monthly bill. He still eats as much, still needs blanket changes, turn-in/turn-out and stall cleaning are the same as prior to shut down. Boarding in my area is a break even. It does not cost my trainer any less to care for him now than it did before the shut-down.
I think every barn has different circumstances that need to dictate what works best for them. It also depends on that barn owner particular state’s current rules. In my state since my horse is on full care I am not allowed to go ride/see him as I am not essential to his care.
In my state (PA) I am anticipating that over the next month or so we will start to see loosening of restrictions but I don’t anticipate going back to pre-Covid-19 normal anytime soon.
Keeping the trainers, BO and barn staff is more important to me that riding my horse.
Unless I move my horse to a self care barn or partial self care barn then the farm would need to be breaking my stay at home rules of my state. I am not good with that. Beyond the fact that any self-care farms in my area do not have an indoor and most do not have a lighted outdoor. Since I work for a living I need those if I want to ride at all in the winter other than weekends. No my horse will not do well as a weekend warrior.
Yes, I am lucky. I am able to continue my salaried job and work from home. Same for my husband. Horses are an expensive hobby but I also consider my horses to be my responsibility. For one horse he is retired. The other needs to stay in work to be sound (stifle issues). Stifle horse is not a candidate for going to a lower level care facility. Eventually I will go back to work and I travel for work so he needs to be ridden when I am gone. While I am lucky I am not independently wealthy either.
I think you are being harsh on kirbydog. She is doing what is the best fit for her circumstances.
And to do it this way, between having a ton of disinfectant and someone to spray everything down, board prices should go up substantially. You cannot have it both ways!
I agree I was a bit harsh, but the too bad, so sad attitude rubbed me the wrong way in the first post. It read like anyone that was struggling financially should be kicked to the curb.
She has since revised her comments to reflect that they understand if clients need to leave because they can’t financially afford their program and that they would be welcomed back in happier financial times. It was also pointed out that they will be working with clients to get creative so they are able to ride if this goes on.
I’m not sure what I missed in my description. 
What I proposed creates very little work for the barn - I’m thinking prop doors open before the first time slot and close them after the last. Spray stall latches and door handles prior to beginning evening chores to protect staff. Neither would require much time or vast amounts of disinfectant. Even checking on who’s at the facility when could be done by setting up a camera to take pictures at set times (or using a motion activated game camera).
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Actually, kirbydog’s comment about people being able to leave is not quite accurate and a huge source of frustration for owners in the northern IL area. When the shelter in place order came into effect, some barns stayed open, and some barns didn’t. The story circulating is that those with closed barns were worried about losing clients, and a couple of the more outspoken ones got a bunch of the h/j show barns in the area on a conference call and bullied everyone into agreeing that no barn will accept any new clients during this time. Which effectively means that anyone in this area who wants to find new boarding arrangements for financial reasons, or otherwise, is unable to do so unless it’s a small private facility or backyard situation that escaped the conference call.
For what it’s worth, I adore my trainer and feel bad because she is losing lesson income like crazy right now. I am currently paying her extra in training rides, in fact, because I am currently employed and I want my horse and her both kept in work. It’s not a sustainable situation for either of us long-term, though, which was the point of my (and others) earlier posts.
You speak as though the ability to “justify” the expense of your horses’ board is a constraint that comes from above rather than a choice. And also, the criteria you choose are a choice.
I’m paying the bills that I can because I can. Many, many cannot. Those of us who can afford to keep businesses afloat need to do that. We can’t expect them to be there for us when we want them back if we don’t kick in now.
I wish Americans had more of a sense of noblesse oblige. That would help all of our local economies right now.
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