I have no doubt some will venture out when shows start back up.
Who is planning on going, and what will you do to minimize risk?
Central Fl, mid June. Large venue, bigger stalls are spread out, procedures in place per guidelines. Easy to stay separated.
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I will be showing mid-June also and with the new guidelines. The venue that I am showing at (for multiple shows) is close to home so may not overnight.
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I will show and just wear a mask around the place if it’s busy.
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Planning to show. For me, the first couple of shows in the area are very close, so I can trailer-in, ride and leave. I may do an overnight show later in the summer when flu-type viruses are less active. Will follow any guidelines required by show management regarding masks, etc. Not worried!
Mid June show- already entered for 2 classes. Non-recognized. They have limited parking anyway so always had to manage parking and encourage people to warm up, show and get the heck out when they were done showing and had picked up their score sheet. Scoring is Danish system so they can group people by who they trailer with or train with rather than by level. You are truly showing against yourself.
I will wear a mask if I am vaguely near anyone. I will drop it below my nose if I am outside and not within sight of anyone. I can only tolerate the mask so long.
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I entered a local Starter CT/HT in early June - it will be held over 3 days (M, T, W), and they have set it up to distance everyone by having times spread out so that a bunch of people won’t be there at the same time; their parking area is a bit limited. You will provide your own number if possible, so no trip to the secretary’s office will be necessary.
Riders will bring a videographer to record their dressage test (in a set up ring, on grass), and download it to be judged, then do the jumping courses and “self report” any faults (you can also record the jumping rounds but they won’t be requiring it), and there are people at the facility at all times (it’s a lesson and boarding barn) so no worries about the safety aspect. Not alone out in the middle of a field, IOW.
They are giving out ribbons but will mail them. I find the idea of “remote dressage judging” rather novel, and wonder how much different my score will be when the judge isn’t assessing the test in person! :ambivalence:
It will certainly be an interesting experiment! There are some Horse Trials scheduled for June, but they are waiting to get the official go-ahead to run. That will be trickier since there will be people hauling in from a distance - though not all HTs offer stabling on site. ALL of these venues are local to me, so I always haul in and work from my trailer.
It’s easy enough to avoid contact with people since they won’t be having bit checks, no one will be congregating by the scoreboard (EventEntries is available for live scoring which you can access on your phone - and most riders do that anyway at events), and it’s easy enough to get ribbons mailed to competitors. Picking up dressage tests from a bin? That may be the riskiest thing people do. That and the Porta Potties - not sure what they’ll do there. One of my local venues has set up wash stations by the Potties with water, soap, and paper towels so that you can wash your hands before and after using them. Smart!
Bring your own food! That’s what I always do anyway. If there is any reason to get within say 10 feet of anybody, wear a mask - it’s obviously not necessary when working out of the trailer, tacking up, warming up.
The UK has instituted a rule of only allowing ONE helper per rider (that’s all I ever bring but other folks come with a group - say from the same barn - so that may be problematic for them), and NO DOGS allowed.
I’m totally onboard with that last thing. Though I’m a dog lover, many dogs don’t belong at horse shows since they are largely unsupervised (but that is and has been a hot topic for other threads.)
I’ll be showing as soon as there are shows available. Currently I’m aiming toward one at the end of June, and assuming everything goes according to plan, I will be competing.
I am very fortunate to live less than a mile from the big, fancy dressage venue in our state, so I don’t have to travel at all for the big shows. They’re hosting regionals this year. I will attend whatever shows they put on, if they’re able to open for events. I have a farm and always do stuff on my own (stabling alone instead of a group, haul and groom for myself, etc.) so that won’t be different than my normal. I’ll wear a mask when on the premises and adhere to all the distancing stuff, and knowing that they will have all safety bases covered, I can feel pretty safe about attending events there. I won’t be traveling to any other shows, though.
Can’t afford it this year with loss of business…
just trying to keep from dipping into savings for everyday bills. We will be fine hopefully, but extras like shows and clinics definitely aren’t even on my radar.
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In a few weeks just one day though. I’ll follow whatever requirements are in place… needs be I’ll hang out in my trailer between classes…
In a few weeks, nearby only showing SUnday. I’ll follow whatever procedures are in place - worst case scenario Ill hang out in my trailer between classes.
Skipping this year of showing. Doing Reno’s around the farm instead and putting in my arena finally 
I’m not. The season here is already short enough and it’s a pain in the arse to get into some shows even when the early ones haven’t been cancelled. There’s no regionals. I’ll just wait until Florida 2021.
My understanding is that regionals will occur in every region… I’m hearing mixed things about this and I guess commonsense dictates that if no one hosts regionals, then they will not occur. But then I guess it would be pretty hard to prevent someone from showing at nationals if they never have a chance to qualify at regionals.
Personally, I would consider showing if rules are followed and enforced.
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I am very interested in this topic as a show manager. I have several concerns. First, too many potential entrants are screaming on FB about having to wear a mask. Why should I invite anyone like that on my property? Why should I allow anyone like that to potentially come an infect my facility and family? If the show is half full I will lose money anyway, so why bother? I know USEF has given show management permission to escort anyone who won’t follow the rules off the place, but seriously who wants to have that job? Now I am forced to put up with dimwits without a mask on yelling at me. Greeeeaaattt. I wish more people had responded to this thread.
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The shows at our local venue are all canceled this summer. There is the possibility of a show here in October, but nobody has a crystal ball to predict what will happen months from now. The will be competitions at a larger venue starting next month, but is two hours away and I won’t show there because I wanted to show locally as a tune-up before traveling. My mare is not ready for her first big away show. I’ll focus on training and lessons this summer and hope we can resume a normal show schedule next spring.
Definitely. Regionals are in my backyard this year, and they made qualifying a lot easier so I’m just going to go for it. The show venues here are pretty large and spaced out, so I’m not concerned. I’m happy to wear a mask and gloves, if it will help people feel like I’m mitigating risk. The research I’ve done shows that masks are generally useful in surgery and contained environments, but respirators are more effective. There is no evidence that surgical masks help reduce contagion in these open environments (there have been no large scale studies done), but if wearing a mask is in the rules, I’ll wear it. Same for gloves. My friend is showing in two weeks - she’s under the gun to get her gold medal scores before August (lease ends). I’ll be her groom/runner so I’ll get a sense of how everything is going to run for the rest of the season.
We are hoping to show at the end of June. If the managers and facility or state require a mask, I will absolutely wear one. I understand Tryon is requiring masks. I don’t know if you will need to wear one while riding-I hope not, bit if that is what I need to do, I will. And I will make sure to make matchy matchy face masks (so do I match the saddle pad or my coat? Where is Aunt Esther when we need her?). I have a LQ trailer that I haven’t even gotten to use since I bought it, so port a potties are Thankfully not an issue for me.
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Most of the local shows are cancelled anyway but even so, I would not be comfortable doing any overnights or using any public bathrooms so I am not going to show this year. I’ll take my lessons and have a horse ready for I1 next year and my young one will be ready for go out and show too.
I see no point in endangering my family, some of whom are high risk, just so that I can go get judged in a ring.
