COVID Horse Life Update Part Two

I also picked up some pretty new things on sale from our local tack shop.
I'm doing what I can to #shopsmall and support our local businesses right now.

I feel like everything in life right now requires a difficult decision. Even going out for a run, I need to pick a route that I think won't have too many people and constantly watch and be alert to dodge people as I go while also watching for traffic and lumps or bumps in the sidewalk so I don't hurt myself. It's uncomfortable and tough to zone out and just run.

My anxiety has made shopping difficult because people aren't good at following rules so it's almost impossible to avoid coming within 6' of someone at the store as everyone mills around. That's with MN taking this pretty seriously and doing a good job social distancing overall so far. I can't imagine what it would be like in a place where it wasn't being taken as seriously.

Nothing has felt like a more difficult decision than horse stuff though. Being completely blunt, my options were to stay, cross my fingers, and hope that the barn opens to some extent or the communication gets better or go and have to deal with all of the ickiness that is trying to move a horse during this quarantine while leaving my current barn family at this time.

Not any sort of official advice but cute and funny and still good things to consider.

I knew if I moved that some people would feel like I had moved just so I could ride my horse. We're all in this together and I understand that many people can't ride or see their horse right now. I also knew that I couldn't make the decision based on other's opinions. As horse owners we are all responsible for our own horse, ourselves, and for doing the best that we can for each of them. Sometimes we're going to mess up and look back and wish we had done things differently, sometimes we're going to get it exactly right, and sometimes it's going to be somewhere in the middle.

I'm incredibly anti risk. I'm not an adrenaline junky, I drive at or below the speed limit, I lunge if Katai seems anxious or especially high energy, and with this quarantine I'm staying 99% home with my boyfriend and only ordering food because other than a handful of times that we've needed to leave over the last month+ for truly essential purchases I don't want to leave the house. We've purchased masks (from Equifit actually :), found some hand sanitizer that I've ordered, and are carefully following the science as far as social distancing (those few times we go out), hand washing, and washing/disinfecting our groceries as appropriate. With that, while I'm tempted to just completely hide at home until this passes, none of us can or should completely stop our lives for the next 18+ months. That certainly has its own dangers including, for many of us, mental health decline. Instead, I believe in following the science, reducing risk to the smallest possible amount, and following all guidance in things like our Stay at Home order.

Also taking full advantage of every dressage learning opportunity include this webinar series that Meghan from
A Enter Spooking has put together!

I'm exhausted from all of the decision making and at first just buried my head in the sand and waited it out. However, I also knew that with our current peak expected around the end of June-mid August and the likelihood of additional waves following that, this concern I have about my barn isn't just going to go away in the next month. My boyfriend and I have had a long talk about horse and barn options since we've found that he's not as high risk as was originally thought. So, as we move forward and find out about the next steps for both our stay at home order and any updates from the science community on what we should all be doing we're also moving forward in appropriate ways.

I've considered a bunch of options and have some plans that I'm working to finalize. My BF is working to build an at home climbing wall and we're going to continue to stay 100% at home for the time being.

Blogging and COVID Horse Life Update Part One

Well shit guys, this isn't exactly something I expected I'd be writing about during my lifetime.

First, since I hadn't updated and then everything hit the fan I figured I'd briefly update everyone on my blogging plans. Basically, when I took a pause on blogging back in February I didn't know how long I would take off blogging and wanted to experiment with other methods of communicating with my horse social network. However, once I took the pressure to blog off my shoulders it became apparent pretty quickly how much that break was needed. In addition, while I get some comments and interaction through my blog, I get far more through Instagram and just really love that platform for communication vs. blog comments. It feels much more interactive and more of my friends follow me on Instagram than through my blog.

With that, I don't plan to completely stop blogging. There are certainly things, like this update, that are much more easily communicated in this format vs. on an instagram post. I also do love blogging and the longer format certainly makes journaling easier. I am currently planning to post if and when I have bigger updates, feel like writing about something, have time, and feel motivated to. Otherwise I'll continue to update Instagram because it's just so much less time consuming and easier media wise etc.

We did discover this cool water tower on
one of our walks around our new neighborhood.

On to the horse life with COVID stuff updates.

For anyone who doesn't know I live in the Minneapolis, MN metropolitan area and I work for a major healthcare (hospitals, clinics, elder care, etc.) organization in MN. With that, while I might not be on the front lines I do have an inside look at how COVID is impacting hospitals and healthcare workers. Also important to note, our "Stay at Home" order went into effect on March 27th at Midnight. This "Stay at Home" order is similar to many others that have been shared in that it encourages outside activities that comply with social distancing measures, shuts down "non-essential" businesses, and encourages individuals to only engage in essential activities while following social distancing measures.  My BF and I both are lucky enough to work in fields where we can work 100% from home. We're also ordering all of our groceries online. With that, we've done a handful of curbside pick ups for booze and other items but otherwise haven't left the house since March 9th when we were both moved to 100% wfh.

I had stopped going to the barn as of 3/19 because the person who rents the apartment above the barn had symptoms similar to those with COVID. As of March 25th at Midnight my barn closed with the communication that it would open when it was safe. Between then and now I've received one video of the stall mares running around and playing (where I could sort of see Katai) and have had a couple of text exchanges with the owner. With that, I haven't seen Katai now for four weeks as of Thursday, 4/16.

Old fashioned with the best bartender <3

In Minnesota most barns closed down when the Stay at Home order went into place on March 27th. However, in MN boarding barns as classified as "agricultural facilities" and are thus exempt from the stay at home order which makes them free to make their own decisions about how to handle social distancing measures. Many have since re-opened with measures such as scheduled barn slots for all boarders. I know of at least one barn that remained open but canceled all group lessons, clinics, schooling shows, and other gatherings and is maintaining social distancing rules including hand washing, cleaning items that are touched by multiple people, and encouraging things like masks and sanitizer use.

I also know of barns that closed completely that have still been incredibly accommodating during the barn closures. One of those barns even sent the owner, my friend, a video of them celebrating my friend's horse's birthday including party hats and a cupcake with a candle that the horse even "blew" out. It was adorable, and sweet, and caring. Other barns have not been so accommodating, including mine.

Long story short, I've been faced with an icky decision with way too much time to think and worry about it. Basically I needed to try to find a new barn now based on the care concerns I have or stick this out in place with my fingers crossed that Katai will be ok and move after things quiet down. Since I think most of us know that this could go on for a long time, unless *fingers crossed* we find a vaccine or treatment, I don't know what "after things quiet down" means. If that's a couple of months I would be able do that. If that's 18+ months I absolutely won't. Right now our peak is projected to be at the end of June because we are social distancing well that means a long curve. With that, I can't imagine that "safe" will be a thing until at least this fall or even early next year.