For those who do not know, Ontario Canada is in another emergency stay at home order. I am wondering about the barns being closed, how is your barn handling it? Are you fully closed?
In my area, there are barns that are still doing lessons, many are allowing boarders out to ride and care for their horses, yet the barn i board at is completely closed even to boarders, including for essential care, as in blankets, grooming, and exercise.
Mine is open. I rode my mare yesterday.
I know it varies barn to barn, but my understanding is that if you are a horse owner, you are able to go and care for your horse.
Ours isn’t a public lesson barn - the only riders at our place are owners, so yes we are open with the same restrictions we’ve had in place since the lockdown last spring ended: booking time slots to ensure no more than 5 people on property, no family members or guests, social distancing at all times, doors and windows all open for ventilation, riding outside as much as possible, etc.
The wording even in this new stay home order and restrictions is very clear that owners (and their representatives which seems to include leasers and part boarders) are allowed to visit, care for, and ride their horses. And people whose job is training horses are allowed to continue working.
That being said, it is entirely up to the individual barn owner what they are comfortable with. I know a couple that, for their own health and safety are not allowing boarders in the property at all, and an another one that is only allowing boarders one day a week. I don’t think there’s any point in trying to convince a barn owner to change their rules if this is the direction they have decided to take. Your choices may be to simply accept it and wait it out, or move your horse.
The grey area is group lessons on school horses. For that it seems to depend entirely who you speak to at your regional health authority. Some barns are being told it’s allowed, because it falls under animal training. Others are being told it’s not allowed because it’s a group recreational class. In the first lockdown last year there were so many people reporting barns not following the rules. Now I think most people have adopted a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy.
We have horses at two different locations. The racehorses is a no brainer, they have to be taken care of, exercised, turned out, etc.
The farm I have my boy at is still open, but times are scheduled, no showing up without notice. If I’m not on schedule to be out, and need to drop something off (feed etc.), I’ll text the owner and let him know to clear it in advance. Personally I find 5 is almost too many to have in this small barn, but they have put ties outside of the barn, so you can avoid traffic inside.
Agree that 5 can be a crowd depending on your set up. Our general rule is 5 on the property, not just in the barn. There are two trainers and one staff person doing stalls etc, so generally that limits us to two boarders at a time, which is perfect. But in other barns where they don’t have grooming stalls, or the tack room is small, 5 can make it hard to keep your distance indoors.
I’m glad everyone at our place is (a) an adult and (b) using their common sense. I’ve seen some barns continue to have social events, friends and family members up visiting, and even clinics with spectators. It’s a little mind-blowing that people who are on high alert for EVH1 are so blasé about Covid.
My barn is still open to boarders, there is no lesson programme. We schedule in 1 hour blocks on line, max 2 people at the barn. No visitors, family members or friends. Masks and social distancing in the barn.
Open. Scheduled times - we are scheduling time in the barn with a maximum block of 1 1/2 hours. So “Redhorses tacking up 8:30-9” and then “RedHorses untacking 10-10:30” sort of thing. We are limited to one household in the very small barn at a time and this in-barn schedule allows more people to see their horses in a day. No visitors.
The boarding barn that I was at is also open - no lessons and all horses are owned (so no lesson horses etc). It is a larger barn (20 stalls in one barn) and there are 5 sets of cross ties, which is the max amount of people allowed there at a time. There are not a lot of riders there, so 5 has always been ok for me and I’ve never really seen more than 4 at a time, so no schedule was needed.
Of course masks on all the time, sprays for cross ties and broom/shovel to be sanitized after use and hand sanitizer everywhere. Boot wash for EHV as soon as you enter.
No in and out privilege’s - so only able to go 1 x max a day and no guests/visitors. But we are allowed up to ride and see our horses 
Our barn is open to boarders, but you have to book a time slot. And we can only ride outside now. Lessons stopped because the insurance company told our BO that he wouldn’t be covered under the current stay at home order.
Everyone has been asked to stay home as much as possible.
The BO and live in staff were recently able to get their first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Myself and many of the other boarders have also been vaccinated.
Not that it changes the policies. We all mask up. Hand sanitizer at all the doors and gates. Physical distancing. But there’s some peace of mind that comes with it.
My barn is open. The owners are doctors and their daughter works in infectious diseases, so there’s been lots of input and advice for keeping everyone safe. A couple boarders are also nurses. The barn is large, open and airy, as is the indoor, though riding outside is still encouraged. 10 people is the max indoors ( 7 boarders, 3 staff members), and 3 people max is in tack room. There are scheduled times for weekends, since those are busier days, though there usually isn’t more then 3 boarders in the barn any time of the week.
There are three cross tie spots in the centre of the barn and the middle set is closed, though you can also use the wash stall to tack up as well, or your stall. There’s also hand sanitizer everywhere, as well as a boot wash station at the front doors for EHV.
Open, pretty strict 2 hour slots, no more than three boarders on property at the same time (it’s ~30 stalls, big indoor and lots of space to ride outside once the weather is more consistent). No lessons.
Some boarders (and staff to be honest…) are better than others at the mask wearing, sanitizing, and “don’t socialize, get in get out” rules so the BO took the crossties away to cut down on gathering in the crosstie area. There are a lot of younger folk (20-30 years old) and the barn isn’t in an area where the caseload has been particularly high so I think there’s a bit of a lackadaisical attitude with some of them that requires regular reminders of the rules. The folks in the smaller barn on the property where my horse lives are all pretty respectful/anal about the rules so I’m relatively comfortable with things in my horse’s world and only visit the other barn to walk through it to get to the arena.
I do have to admit, even after over a year of this, it’s hard to kick off well over half a lifetime of farm habbits. Every now and then I find myself kicking back into reality and realizing I’m way to close to someone. Kudos to the farm owners and managers who are thinking ahead to keeping everyone separated.
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