England COVID restrictions update

[Caol Ila]

The fact that other people are losing jobs, loved ones and businesses has no bearing on how upsetting any one person finds it to be refused access to their horse. They may love that horse more than any human in their own life. Riding or spending that time with their horse might be the safety valve that prevents stress blowing their whole life apart.

Livery owners are providing a service for which they are paid. Horse owners don't, in general, pay for the horse to be kept. They pay for the horse to be kept so that it is available for them to spend time with.

If the law says that access to the horse is allowed but the livery owner refuses to a permit that, then they should expect to lose customers to livery owners who will.

You wouldn't keep paying Tesco if they took your groceries order and refused to give you them.
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This, in spades.

I said it then and I will say it again -- I thought YOs banning horse owners was the wrong thing to do, especially with the kick in the teeth of moving part or DIY liveries to full. If my horse had been at my ex-yard (which I left in October 2019), which banned liveries from March until the end of June, I would have been out of there. My friend's 24-year old gelding, who was really fit and active before lockdown, never quite bounced back to his former glory.

My current yard threatened to ban us if we didn't abide by their Covid rules (there's always some idiot who doesn't, and their rules were pretty sane), which was actually really upsetting. Nothing like punishing the majority for the trangressions of a few. I may have threatened to put my 27 year old horse down if faced with the prospect of not being able to care for her for potentially months. I may have even sent my vet a fairly hysterical text and left him an even more hysterical voicemail to that effect. Luckily for both of us, the yard houses 25 riding school horses and 60 livery horses. I am sure that the yard staff wanted the sole responsibility of 60 additional horses like a hole in the head.

 

[Bernster]

Although this wasn’t the reason behind my recent yard move, I’m glad I did move. Current yard is taking a livery friendly approach to this lock down. It’s the only travel I will do. I will keep up with horse physio appointments and 1.1 lessons outdoors with just me and my ins in the evenjng. I had a nutritionist booked and will move that one as it can wait.

I’m trying to look on the bright side and see it as a good time to get to know the new horse.