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| Me handling stressful situations at work by kicking ass and then drinking afterward, like a true high tech employee, lol. My boss sent this to our team chat recently. |
Two days ago, Ontario Equestrian announced that they had sought legal advice and determined that boarding facilities were included in the definition of "indoor recreational facilities" that legally had to close their doors to everyone but employees. To ensure compliance, the boarding barns insurance companies won't cover them for liability insurance if they continue to allow non-employees on the premises. Again, this is just in Ontario right now, to be clear.
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| Finding truck parking at this time of day downtown is usually impossible :( |
That lit a fire under me to actually take most (though not all) of my GP trainer's recommendations seriously. Those Ontario owners had almost no warning before being cut out of their horse's lives entirely for an indefinite amount of time, and I don't want to be caught flat footed if the same happens here. So I:
- Wrote up a list of all the things I do for Connor that our staff doesn't generally do, including blanketing rules, muzzle maintenance and protocols, what's in his supplements, whether I authorize colic surgery, who Connor's emergency contacts are (me and his breeder) and some general health and maintenance stuff
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| I know Blogger makes pictures slightly blurry in RSS feeds so you may need to click through to my actual site to see this clearly if you're interested |
- Replenished my Thrush treatment (I use Tomorrow) and scratches treatment (max strength Desitin, triple antibiotic ointment and hydrocortisone) since it's going to RAIN EVERY DAY FOREVER
- Put a full bottle of fly spray on his stall door even though it's not fly season here yet, because it will be 30 days from now
- Put his backup muzzle straps and breakaway halter crown in an easily accessible location, along with electrical tape
- Made up 30 days of supplements in Ziploc baggies, in addition to the week's worth in my usual tubs I already have done
- Brought his backup sheet out to the barn
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| I'm gravitating toward old, familiar comfort food music right now |
One other thing I'm doing right now is changing what I'm willing to deal with under saddle: you do NOT want to be in the hospital right now, not with resources as low as they are for the patients that need them most already. Now is not the time to take risks on horseback, y'all. Keep that in mind the next time your horse is feeling frisky on a chilly day.
So I guess, bottom line, boarders, we can't predict ANYTHING right now, not even that we will be allowed to see our horses tomorrow. Don't freak out, but don't be caught unprepared either. For me, preparation is soothing, and it's greatly contributing to lowering my stress levels right now, hopefully you feel the same!
We don't have an indoor ring so I'm not sure if we would be classified as indoor - I did buy 30+ days of grain though because Mary's tends to run out of his grain (supply chain probs in perfect times....) and I didn't want him to be without (though he is on half rations right now because its raining and he's therefore not working) Our boarding facility told us to NOT congregate in tack rooms or the barn aisle and to use all outdoor racks when possible (kinda impossible right now with the rain). Our barn is so airy and large and well ventilated and we have maybe 14 horses on the property right now. He moves boarding barns April 1st though and will be living outside 24/7 with a shelter so things will obviously be changing for us soon.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I understand it, it doesn't matter if you have an indoor or not. Just having a boarding barn is enough to get classified as an indoor recreational facility, as in, having people doing recreation activities underneath a roof. SO glad you found a new barn!! What a relief.
DeleteThat's wild! I understand it, but also so awful!
ReplyDeleteYeah, you could describe the whole situation that way!
DeleteI keep meaning to write up more than just emergency contacts and this finally pushed me to go get it done! If you're at a big barn or newer (like I am), I also included the location and descriptions of things like my grooming bag, trunk and blankets.
ReplyDeleteVery good idea! I keep a lot of my lesser-used-but-sometimes-needed things in my trailer around the corner of the indoor, so I had to let them know where that stuff was even though I am neither new nor at a big facility!
DeleteDenver seems to be kicking around the idea of shelter-in-place, which if it went into effect, I'd have a hell of a time making a legitimate reason to visit the barn. I won't lie - the idea of not seeing Gav, and him not having anyone who loves him or knows him handling him for a month or more, brought me to tears. This is weirdly the only thing that has rattled me up to this point.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting what you're doing and what your barn is doing. I'll be doing a similar prep.
Awwww <3 I'm sorry that rattled you, although it's a good thing to start to come to terms with just in case. Good luck with your prep!
DeleteSo far we can still go to the barn. So far. We are even having lessons they have implemented a no more than 3 riding at one time on the property and we have different area s to tack up in now no more socializing. that is fine. Remus is pretty easy care so he has his smart paks they have hay and grain and otherwise would be fine. Saying that IF we shut it all down (and it could go that way for sure) I would probably try to bring him home since I have a barn, and grass and hopefully could buy grain. ACTUALLY i think i will buy grain this weekend just so i have it in case.....thank you for this reminder to think ahead!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this! Very educational. I am also one of those people who find preparation soothing.
ReplyDeleteYour post also pushed me to seriously acknowledge the gnawing feeling that I should bring my horse home that I have boarding at an indoor now, rather than waiting until the end of April. Initially I thought that I was being an alarmist. But by taking him home now, not only am I reducing the amount of work required by the employees who are already stretched thin trying to keep the barn sanitized, but I'm also reducing the barn "population" by two more people (my daughter rides my horse too). Of course, I will miss the indoor since my ring is still under snow! But this will be better for everyone.