Competitions and social distancing

[Vodkagirly]

On the presumption that we are going to need to keep up social distancing for a considerable amount of time after lockdown finishes, what ideas do you have to make competitions safer?
I saw on a fb group some suggestions that dressage judges could only give a mark no comment so a writer wasn't required and that people would need to supply there own number so not everyone would go to the secretary, results posted online and rosettes posted out. What suggestions could you make?
Please try and be positive

 

[MagicMelon]

I imagine it'll either be allowed or it won't simply with the advice to stay away from other as much as possible which isn't that hard if its in an outdoor event. I cant imagine they'd do things like sending rossettes out etc. I dont see the issue with picking up a rossette off a table since its no different than picking an item off a shelf in a supermarket (and probably safer since a rossette will have been handled less).

 

[Roxylola]

I'm more interested in comments than marks or frillies tbh so I wouldnt be interested in competing for that and I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way. And having written, I think judges would struggle to even get just a mark down and pay appropriate attention to the test without a writer. Of course, they could bring their own writer possibly.
I think supplying your own number would be fine. I'd have no issue with posting results and rosettes but I doubt it would make that much difference

 

[ycbm]

Writer and judge with headsets so they can keep 2m apart, could even be in 2 vehicles.

Easily done and lots of trainers have headsets.

.

 

[milliepops]

I'm more interested in comments than marks or frillies tbh so I wouldnt be interested in competing for that and I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way. And having written, I think judges would struggle to even get just a mark down and pay appropriate attention to the test without a writer. Of course, they could bring their own writer possibly.

agree with this
I think it would be hard to pay enough attention while also looking down the sheet for where the next mark goes. Dunno about you but I've had to prompt enough judges for a mark that they've skipped to know that

Was also going to say about headsets, they are pretty damn reliable these days.

Loads of ways to avoid the need to go into the secretary - scores outside/thru window etc, I'd be happy to have frillies put in post or not at all, for unaff I would be happy having a sheet emailed to me.

Minimise helpers coming along, sometimes the whole family seems to be there for an outing but most people can manage on their own or with +1. Bring your own tea in a thermos!

 

[ycbm]

Since I only compete for the cafe and the cafe will be shut, this is a purely hypothetical discussion for me ?

 

[j1ffy]

I think it would be doable with headsets for dressage and posting sheets (potentially allowing time for any virus to die off before opening the envelope on arrival?!) and probably for SJ too.

The challenge for eventing is likely to be XC control, which is usually in a tiny box. I'm not sure how easy it would be to do that offline. It hadn't occurred to me until I spoke to a colleague who runs control at a number of events, and has developed some good software to make it run smoothly. Even with the software it's very hard to see how it could work efficiently while maintaining social distance for the numbers most BE events have.

 

[Lexi_]

Bit tricky to imagine really, as I can’t get my head round what things will look like post lockdown! Will we still need to enforce social distancing? Will all the equipment need sanitising?

At BE, control and start team would be difficult, as mentioned above, because it’s 4-5 people wedged into a little cabin.

FJ briefings, you’d need to bellow a lot louder if everyone was socially distancing spaced out! The actual role itself would be quite managable if the pairings of volunteers were from the same house but that’s not always the case. Then you do quite often need to pick up riders/catch horses etc so can’t remove yourself from touching things completely!

I think the bigger issue may be the age of a lot of volunteers - a good chunk of them will be ruled out if the vulnerable have to stay in isolation for longer than the general population and that’s going to cause issues.

 

[criso]

Numbers aren't an issue, I have a set that can clip onto any saddlecloth and I wouldn't worry about taking a rosette from a table or a scoresheet, it's no worse than picking up a tin in the supermarket that several people may have handled or being handed a receipt. Dressage writers may not be OK in a car but sitting outside you may be able to find the optimum distance where you can still hear. One place has a table at C and judge and writer at each end would be just about 2m.

It's the tiny UA stuff that could be tricky. At the small venues round here the warm up and collecting ring get really crowded - not even a collecting ring but area outside the school entrance. Lorry parks a long way away so there's not actually anywhere to go. Dressage people could stay in the lorry park until they need to as you know your time but SJ is a free for all with people crammed into a really small space waiting to go in, deciding which class to enter a the last minute. True about entire families coming along but you may have Dad as horsebox driver and Mum as pony wrangler.

Big venues will have the space and organisation to cope but the small ones just don't and they are exactly the little competitions that fall under the radar and don't get checked at all.

How would toilets work? Nothing like competition nerves for sending me to the loo 5 times in 20 minutes.

 

[HappyHorses:)]

Think SJ would have to be pre entries and times given. Warm up should be limited to the next 5/6 to jump depending how big the warm up is. To be honest I’d love it if SJ was run this way in general!