It might be June, or it might be July, or it might be 2021, but eventually, horse shows are going to become a thing that we all can resume doing. But how to do so safely, in this new world order? Some day a vaccine will become available to the masses, but it won’t be anytime soon. So we’ve got a while between when the world starts to reopen, and when the world’s citizens are rendered safe from this virus by science.
“How to reopen” is a question the whole world is asking, not just horse folks. Bowling alleys, football stadiums, clothing boutiques; everyone and everything has a set of challenges ahead. We’re lucky, we in the horse world, that much of our lives, both in practice and in competition, are spent outside.
But not all of it. The U.S. Equestrian Federation’s recent town hall meeting addressed some of the concerns on how to reopen shows, but there’s more ground to cover, as USEF officials pointed out, and they’re crafting rule changes and lists of best practices to guide all of us as we emerge into the world again. I can only speak from the dressage show perspective, but here are a few ways we could address those indoor and close-proximity challenges, to bring horse shows back to the world in as safe a way as possible.
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!