WEC Ohio - Not Concerned with EHV-1 Quarantine

[Peggy]

I suspect this falls under the same heading as having theater tickets or a vacation planned and getting a positive Covid test or having to quarantine because someone else did, thereby missing the event.

Or getting rear ended and spending hours arranging to get car repaired, dealing with rental cars, and not getting reimbursed for all of it for months. Still better than getting rear ended and badly hurt or killed.

Years ago I had to scratch a show bc of lameness. I got most of my deposit back, but not my stall, which was in a permanent barn. Their logic was that they had to pay the facility up front for X number of stalls before the event. So no refunds despite the fact that the facility wasn’t sold out and they didn’t have to pay to temporary stalls.

Definitely sucks though.

[Victorious]

This has always been the policy and it has always sucked. But that’s part of the price we pay to show at such a nice facility, with great footing, stabling, wash stalls etc. You don’t like it, but it was very clear in their prize list and anyone who has shown there in the last 15 years can tell you-you are not getting that stall money back.
I can’t imagine the blowback that would have happened if someone did not do the right thing and brought an exposed horse knowingly to WEC just because they didn’t want to lose the $175. I can’t think of anyone I know personally that would do that! Everyone I know would be home frantically worried about their horse.
I hope your horse and barn mates horses stay healthy-scary stuff!

[DMK]

@Victorious

This has always been the policy and it has always sucked. But that’s part of the price we pay to show at such a nice facility,

Or the price you pay to show at a crappy facility! Same thing happened to me at HITS Ocala (circuit stall) and Culpeper. Was I bitter? Hell yes!!! Did I make juvenile threats about bringing a contagious horse to a venue? Of course not, because … adulting. And I didn’t need additional USEF regulations to enforce adulting, but I’m not gonna lie, I told the trainer to use the stall as a storage stall or just put some lawn chairs and a beer cooler in it so it wasn’t sold to another competitor. I’m fine with paying for it, but I’ll be damned if show management is getting paid TWICE for it!

[Halternatively]

I read WEC’c actions differently - I read them as adhering to their stated refund policy, and not as encouraging owners or trainers to lie in an effort to avoid losing stall fees, but as allowing owners and trainers to be truthful, moral participants who would not wish to spread disease.

The burden is on us, as owners or trainers, to do the right thing, even when we are not rewarded for it or recognized. Would you risk exposing hundreds of horses to EHV just to avoid losing your stall fees? WEC is relying on us to do the right thing and say no.

[horsegurl]

I dunno–I think USEF’s response was too sided to the Horse Show Manager Mafia. I think the association needs to adjust the rules, and quickly. When you reserve a hotel room, you still have a certain timeline where you can cancel and not be held accountable for the money. In this case the state is telling the OP to stay put. It’s not like the OP is scared of risking an EHV1 exposure and decided to not go. She lawfully does not have a choice-state mandate! I feel like show management has to get on board with yhe EHV situation, and the association needs to be a lot more exhibitor friendly–been having this argument for a few years now.

Why not a rule that says if you cancel your horses stalls because of a state mandate, at least one week prior to the date of the show, then in that case stall fees would be refunded. I think the OP makes good points.

[DMK]

That would be great, but of course hotels don’t just offer those last minute cancellations for free, costs are increased accordingly - either across the board or for rooms with cancellation fees. It also varies depending on the location and competition, but there are plenty of hotels that do not offer last minute cancellations, but you can buy travel insurance.

That’s actually a better plan given EHV-1. It would be interesting to see how much it would cost to insure the entire usef membership for certain types of late-minute cancellations such as EHV1 or strangles quarantine, etc. Something not quite as common as lameness cancellations, but still could represent a financial loss to the horse showing membership. It would be an even better marketing idea if USEF just added it as baseline coverage as part of membership, assuming it was inexpensive enough to be absorbed financially.

[GoodTimes]

It sucks, but horse shows are a business after all.
SO and I were supposed to go to the aquarium today with BIL, SIL and the kids. Because of capacity restrictions due to COVID we purchased our tickets ahead of time. We did this knowing that they have a no refund policy. The other family picked up a stomach bug and we didn’t feel like going by ourselves so our group is out a few hundred dollars.

Did we complain to management or threaten to show up with sick people? No of course not, it’s a clearly stated policy and we’re mature adults.

You take a risk when you book something ahead of time. Sometimes it doesn’t work out.

If there’s that much concern about people ignoring quarantines than maybe the answer is harsher penalties for those people. That would deter the points chasers and unethical trainers and owners more than a stall refund.

[TooManyBays]

@GoodTimes

It sucks, but horse shows are a business after all.
SO and I were supposed to go to the aquarium today with BIL, SIL and the kids. Because of capacity restrictions due to COVID we purchased our tickets ahead of time. We did this knowing that they have a no refund policy. The other family picked up a stomach bug and we didn’t feel like going by ourselves so our group is out a few hundred dollars.

Did we complain to management or threaten to show up with sick people? No of course not, it’s a clearly stated policy and we’re mature adults.

You take a risk when you book something ahead of time. Sometimes it doesn’t work out.

If there’s that much concern about people ignoring quarantines than maybe the answer is harsher penalties for those people. That would deter the points chasers and unethical trainers and owners more than a stall refund.

There’s a big difference between a law telling OP that she cannot take her horse and deciding you don’t feel like going/getting a cold.

Did COVID teach the world nothing? If given two options between doing the right thing or doing the easy thing people almost never choose the right thing.

Same goes here. Do we really expect every person who has had a horse exposed to EHV1 or is coming from a locked down state will just throw their hands in the air and say oh well, guess I’ll loose money and not show? I doubt it.

[NaturallyHappy]

Agreed… I think the thread about EHV in California supports your thoughts.

[vxf111]

The difference between many of the hypos here and the OP’s situation is that a legal mandate prevents her from taking her horse to the show. This is not her choice (though staying home would be the right one even without the mandate). This makes this more of a force majeure situation than many of the hypos being compared.

[vagabondrider]

Galway Downs is giving full refunds if your facility is placed under mandatory quarantine for EHV/EHM.

http://galwaydowns.net/6880-2/