Pretty sure Kirbydog was speaking strictly about her barn and it’s understood that they were letting clients know it’s okay to leave if they thought it was necessary.
Actually being able to move is another matter.
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Yes, but you are writing as though getting hurt while doing something risky and option is a risk limited to the person who took the option. It is not. So your breezy argument (which doesn’t work anyway) really doesn’t work now that every person coming into an ER is increasing risk for everyone else there.
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Regardless of when closed barns re-open, they will re-open with covid/corona still circulating. It is with us from now on. We have to learn how to live with it safely.
Some people want to operate in a very rules-based way, maybe overly-regulated regardless of the facts of the virus. IMO, while it may be easier for people to understand hard-and-fast rules that may or may not make sense, people may not buy into them. That could make or break a board barn.
Others want to figure out what can be done to manage the risk, while allowing as much as activity as is possible. If its done intelligently and the owners, staff and others understand the reasons, and buy in, this is likely to work. While not making the barn a source of infection.
IMO, the way forward in each barn is to look for all the avenues of possible transmission, think through how they can be made safe, and go from there. What items are touched by the hands of multiple people? Where & when do people breathe on each other, while talking or standing/sitting too close? What about the bathroom? Etc.
Put up SIGNS to remind everyone, at the spot of the habit change. Never assume everyone understands or remembers.
Paint lines, squares, arrows, whatever, on the floor to put owners at a distance from farriers. Or staff dishing out feed at a space away from other staff also dishing out feed at the same time. Or wherever someone typically needs to stay spaced from someone else. Yep, be like the grocery store - because some of the things that are keeping the grocery open can help the barn as well.
No matter what solutions are adopted, very probably there will be more cost for the barn and possibly less productivity. That is what businesses in general are facing just now.
The physical points of shared contact should be identified - the tack room door; stall door and gate latches; HALTERS if staff leads the horses. And so on. How can each be made safer? Wipes don’t have to be packaged items, it can be a solution and a cloth or paper towel, placed throughout the barn. Can owners/staff/visitors can be given responsibility for wiping before & after they touch/handle such items, rather than making it a staff responsibility?
Remember a long time ago, that is, about 3-4 weeks ago, when we were told that hand-washing is essential? It still is. When people arrive at the barn, and just before they leave. The barn provides appropriate soap and a sink.
Gloves - if people choose to wear protective gloves around the barn, they need to be fresh gloves, not gloves that have already been in contact with items in the grocery store that have been through many hands. Gloves protect the wearer, not anyone else, because the virus can be on the outside of the glove. People who wish to use them can keep a supply in their own tack box.
Face masks may not have much purpose unless people are close together. Especially if people are limited as to what areas of the barn they can visit. But if the BO wants face masks worn in the tack room, or wherever, put up signs so that it will be clear to everyone.
And so on. Just some ideas. Also thinking through what the barn can provide and do, and what owners / other visitors are expected to provide and do.
Enforcing compliance … It will take people a bit of time to transition old habits. However compliance is handled, if anyone flatly refuses to cooperate, or for any reason just can’t behave safely, they need to be asked to board elsewhere. That is the only way to assure everyone else that they are safe. Personally I wouldn’t be harsh after one or two unintentional transgressions, but the usual HR-type escalation, in writing, should help.
Perfection can’t be expected, that’s a risk we all face everywhere, every day.
Personally I think the barn could be one of the safer parts of our lives, if it’s handled well. But it will be a learning process for all of us.
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Exactly. Those EMTs at shows. The ER staff.
All get put at risk when you need them.
My son was taking a Lifeguarding course, in part because we have a boat and I want him to know what not to do if someone is in trouble.
But I’d also considered lifeguarding as a potential summer job for him.
No more.
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Maybe the roads are busy in MD. In my part of NY, not do much.
Prop doors open… When it’s raining? Super windy?
Not spraying disinfectant in between visitors?
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I was on.that conference call. It was definitely NOT about bullying, but a couple people interpreted it that way. The general consensus was we need to help each other, and keep each other safe. A FB page was set up to help each other, find resources and funding if necessary. The Midwest Horsemens United Fund.
Look, we get that you own those horses, but our lives are just as important as anybody elses. The more you rail about how unfair it is that you cant see your horse, the more you show me who you are. People who work in the horse industry matter too.
There are places open if people want to leave. What did amuse me was when presented with that option, the few (3 out of 35) all declined, even though the board was a couple hundred $$ less because they told us that our facility and level of care was so much greater.
Personally, for me, if people leave us after this, well, buh by.
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This is what the scientists are trying to say. If the barns stay closed until there is a vaccine (some 1+ year in future) there will be few clients left. Staying closed and not planning how to re-open, with this statement in mind, is not a plan. That is what Roxdene was looking for help on. Barns can agree to stay closed and not accept clients from each other, but this is not a long term solution. I hope and pray the folks like Roxdene and Kirbydog have a thriving business when the dust settles.
One more thought to chew on: Upstate NY has always had an opioid problem. In March, my county had a huge spike in overdose deaths. More in that month than deaths due to Covid 19, since the start of the pandemic. Easy to see why. We’ve traded one set of lives for another.
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I am NOT in NY, I’m on the west coast…I have kept my barn open thus far.
I have a very small program, and all of my boarders are very serious about the pandemic. They are going nowhere but to the barn and home.
I have one student under 12, she stays in the truck and her mom brings the horse into the parking lot for tack up…she then rides into the arena without touching anything. I just do not think it is reasonable to expect kids under about 15 or 16 to be able to keep track of cross-contamination.
Note: The barn is VERY open. Open ended aisles, open stalls to runs, open sided arena on long side. Barn is situated to maximalists airflow, since we have HOT summers here.
here is my protocol:
Cross ties are closed. There is a breakaway tie string in each stall. Horse’s are groomed and tacked in stall only.
I suspended all my school horse lessons. Lessors can still come.
There is a spray disinfectant hanging on the front gate for entry/exit.
Everyone washes hands upon entry of the facility (there is no door to touch, and wash station is in wash stall). They wipe handles down with Bleach when done.
there is no reason for a boarder to touch any door handles.
I have let stall cleaning staff go. They were lovely teen age R’s who swapped labor for lessons…but I needed to reduce traffic in The barn. The boarders appreciate that I’m reducing potential exposure, and are helping out. Each boarder has their own labeled fork, and have agreed to clean their own stall when they come. Shared wheelbarrow handles are disinfected after use. I pick up the extras. It’s a 12 stall barn, so it’s doable.
No one touches water buckets or feed pans. I water everyone.
Tack room and bathroom are CLOSED. Go old-school in a stall.
I moved all the tack to individual free standing saddle racks at the end of the aisle. They are three feet apart, so no one has to touch any one else’s stuff. People go solo to their tack.
Grooming tools are in a closed bin across from the horse’s stall.
Feed room is closed to anyone but me. Boarders bag supplements ahead of time and I let them sit for three days in a bag before touching them to transfer to bin in feed room.
I use my own grooming halter and lead for turnout, unless I know the owner hasn’t touched them in 24 hours.
I use my own tack for training rides.
I wipe down stall handles daily in am and mid day
I really have no idea when beginner lessons could resume. You HAVE to be hands-on with them, and grooming/tacking alone requires close proximity. And if there is a problem where you must step In to alleviate danger, you are going to breach social distancing.
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This is really well thought out, Arlomine. Props for doing what you can in your situation.
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@ET’s Home I’m in Albany Cty and local reports (covering greater capital region) have reported increase in fatal and near fatal OD’s.
I’m hoping that as riding (at this time of year-today notwithstanding) is mainly an outdoor activity and doesn’t involve close personal contact, that barns will be allowed to re-open soon. The fact is that clients who are more vulnerable or risk averse will probably stay home, or choose to come to the barn at off hours. In the final weeks before the shutdown most barns were seeing minimal activity as the more concerned or at risk were already opting to isolate. I work in a store and business was way down before the stay at home order because of people making choices for themselves.
Using careful protocols, trainers/barns will, I hope be able to start to earn a bit of money in lessons. I want barns to survive this. One trainer friend of mine has a couple of clients who are “sponsoring” schoolies during this. Others have clients pre-paying now for lessons/services to be rendered in the future. I could go to my barn, take a lesson (using my own tack, brushes etc) and never get closer to anyone than I do in my weekly supermarket run. Limiting # of people, propping open tack room doors, requesting that clients not touch things like brooms or mucktubs and tack up in stalls rather than common areas could help.
There will have to be a way to get businesses going and it will have to be done with the virus still circulating. The protocols in place were designed to flatten the spike of cases to prevent overwhelming the health system, It has worked. The problem is that flattening the curve just lengthens the time that this thing circulates. It’s not going to lessen the number of cases. People are still going to be getting this but there are ways it can be mitigated.
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One thing that would help a great many barns would be a general exchange of ideas, suggestions, and what people are actually doing. Even sharing photos and videos.
At this moment, we should all be paying close attention to how things are being done at the large national chain groceries. Today they are well ahead of everyone on the thought and techniques they are putting into this. Much of what they do is adaptable to other, very different venues.
If we could peek into the future a year from now and take a look at active boarder barns, we would probably be seeing ways of life that are rather different from what we have been doing. But they would work. Our horses will get ridden, our BO’s and trainers will have ways to make a living, and so on - maybe in different proportions and in different ways, but things will be happening. 
Another thought - One thing we will all have to get used to is one-way foot traffic through lanes created for the purpose, and timing our entrance into those lanes. That minimizes people getting close enough to breathe on each other, face to face. Another thing groceries are doing that can be helpful elsewhere as well.
And to the point of people who are more vulnerable to this virus. Many, many people who have this vulnerability will be making life changes to help keep themselves safe. Job/career, even location. We will hope that the barn is a place where they will be able to stick.
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I live where it’s cold. Tack room doors are inside the barn. And no. Each boarder must take responsibility for themselves. Spraying is to protect the barn staff. By restricting the number of people on site at any one time, having boarders wear masks, and having them touch their own stuff (no staff contact) the risk to staff and the other boarders is much lower than grocery shopping.
Don’t forget that my suggestions are for when things open up. After the numbers of active cases have gone down. After testing is high. After contact tracing is possible with the small number of cases. After, not now.
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That last paragraph is something each poster making suggestions should make clear.
Now, here, just an hour northwest of NYC, is not a good time to open up.
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Or you could just operate like the boarding and lesson barn next to us - loudly spew all over social media about the barn being closed all (the very definition of Fake News) while carrying on business as usual. The traffic coming and going up there has not changed one iota since the Stay At Home orders were issued. Lessons - even group ones - continue. Every word said in that arena rolls down the hill to our barn and you can hear the lessons going on especially once the instructor uses the headset. No one in this dead end neighborhood is fooled by any of their protestations. Our vet has a couple of clients up there and has told them that unless it is an extreme emergency, she will not set foot on that place.
It is frustrating beyond belief. They just do not care.
On the other end of the spectrum, the therapeutic riding center I teach at part-time has completely shut down. Only limited skeleton staff allowed on the property. That is strictly adhered to. The horses get lunged and lightly ridden by said staff. As you can guess, with ZERO money coming in, financial matters there have become a massive balancing act. The biggest fund-raising event of the year was scheduled for May 2 but is cancelled. Other fund raisers are also cancelled indefinitely. And yet I received emails from some parents of a few riders demanding to know when lessons would start again and how inconvenient this all was for them and that the center was overreacting. One family even showed up on the property and were strolling around petting horses before they were politely asked to leave.
Somehow, that center will manage to hold things together until it is safe for the program to start up again. I hope. But oblivious barns like our neighbors are endangering everyone and everything else…
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So long as covid is truly not prevalent in the area, they will get away with this. But over time covid will leak into every corner, nook and cranny. And then they will get sick with it. And blame someone else.
And perhaps carry on even while working sick, if they get no more than ordinary flu symptoms. All they have to do is insist that they have some other flu and not present themselves for testing.
Put together a committee to do an online fundraising event! As soon as possible, while the novelty of this situation is still somewhat fresh and people aren’t yet too worn down by it.
Locally a large fundraiser for another type of charity just yesterday pulled in 150% of what they were asking for in less than a day. They made a live online event out of it, with people watching the needle go up, and building the suspense of “will we get there?”. When the goal was surpassed, there was a lot of emotion and “how far can we go to help?” as they kept it going.
Get the parents who have been complaining well into it if you can - it will be a place to put their energies other than complaining! :yes:
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Oh, the gala event and auction is still going to happen online - but it will be hard to to surpass the usual $$$$ that is raised. Other events (like horse shows and clinics) cannot be done online but staff is working on other alternatives that may just not be as lucrative in the long term - but still manage to keep riders and their families involved. It is just going to be a very tight/tense time…
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My original post started with “When things open up” - I guess the wall of text that followed made that fall out of memory. 
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹
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What does When things open up mean?
When the Gov says things can open up?
Everyone is speaking in generalities and then getting miffed when people misunderstand them, or misinterpret them.
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Getting sued by a client because they got the virus would require a very high standard of proof in court, if the judge allows your case to proceed. Since we know so little about this virus, how can someone say they got sick at your barn. Experts are saying we can carry the virus, but without testing, how do you know you are clean. Maybe that person got infected elsewhere. Its not like you can see the virus. I would not sweat being sued because they will burn a lot of money trying to prove it happen at your barn
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