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What precautions are being taken by your barn to prevent COVID-19 spread?

Oof. It’s pretty frustrating that the role models aren’t wearing masks at your barn, but nearly everyone else is stepping up. :frowning:

Still zero reaction to the existence of COVID-19 at my barn. Barns are closed up thanks to the weather and they’re hosting gatherings in the shut up, dusty indoor. Searching for a new barn during a pandemic is lots of fun!

Small private boarding barn, no lessons. We book barn times (up to 2 hours) and max 2 people in the barn. Hand sanitiser available, bathroom for washing, masks to be worn if anyone else is in the barn, sanitising wipes to clean surfaces before leaving. Prominent reminder signs about this as well as request to stay home if ill.

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I’m jealous. I started the pandemic at a small, private boarding barn that was doing time slots, 3 people max, hand washing (no masks, but I was gently pushing), no lessons. It was nice to feel the barn was a sort of safe indulgence.

I think my time at a small, private facility has ruined me for large facilities and that’s contributing to my current misery. Although if my 60 person facility started using masks tomorrow, my feel-good would increase about 400 fold. :sweat_smile:

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In the barn where I have two horses in full training, no one (trainer, staff or students) wears masks. An effort is made to space out lessons and practice social distancing, but the complete absence of masks on the ground scares me now that it’s winter and the cases numbers are way up. As a consequence, I haven’t been to the barn since November and won’t go back until I’m vaccinated.

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This may be a digression, but I’m curious if those of you whose barns have a “masks except when riding” policy know why the “except when riding” exception was made. I know that that is USEF’s policy. To me, it makes sense to keep masks on when riding (indoors) because the pronounced exhalation made by a person doing aerobic exercise can spread droplets further. Outside is a different ballgame since you can add both air flow and distance to the equation.

My barn’s policy is “masks on when riding” for the same reason my gym’s policy is “masks on in the gym.” (A place I am not going right now because of our community positivity rate, sigh… but when we were under control, it was double layer cloth or medical mask at all times in the building.)

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@Renn_aissance my barn has a Masks on when in the barn policy but not while riding, although most riders still wear it when riding.

Our indoor is huge and open, and usually not too crowded, but it gets very dusty in winter. I ride outside as long as the footing remains good, and am mostly on own, everyone being in the dusty indoor (why oh why, lol, but better for us!) so I don’t wear my mask.

I won’t go to gyms or other indoor exercise places (yoga, pilates, barre…) . IMO it’s very easy to contract the virus there, even if people are masked up.

I was going to my very small gym, where most of the members live in a close radius, while our county community spread was low. The owner installed hospital air filters, added distance between exercise stations, and kept the windows and doors open, and those of us in the small classes agreed with each other on what we were doing in our personal lives to prioritize exercising together safely. With community spread having escalated in the last few weeks I did decide not to go back until our county’s numbers were below the threshold where I felt comfortable. I wouldn’t have been back at all if I went to a Planet Fitness or another larger facility… too peopley. I feel lucky to be a member of a small community that was willing to work together on this front.