March Newsletter

Hi everyone – none of the horses or ponies were willing to write the newsletter this month, as they felt putting their hooves on the keyboard was a high-risk area – they are sanitising their hooves regularly and don’t want to come into contact with stuff us humans have touched. So we’ve used a lovely pic of Super Mario instead ☺ 

There won’t be a huge amount in this newsletter other than our policy/plans for COVID-19, but this is because it is so important that we get the correct information out to members. Please be aware though – the information is changing on a daily basis, so you need to keep checking our public Facebook page if you do not ride with us, or the closed members page if you are a rider. 

FLATWORK LESSONS

One of the first tasks we had to do in preparation for this virus was risk assess our workplace/centre and identify areas of high traffic/contact that we couldn’t control. Poles and jump stands were immediately recognised as being higher risk as they are a hard surface and have multi users – our coaches touch/move poles, then help riders adjust stirrups e.t.c. and whilst we are using (a lot) of hand sanitiser, we simply cannot be confident that the poles do not increase the risk. So we will be teaching flatwork only in our riding school/group lessons over the next fortnight and then will reassess the risk. 

FLATWORK LESSONS

One of the first tasks we had to do in preparation for this virus was risk assess our workplace/centre and identify areas of high traffic/contact that we couldn’t control. Poles and jump stands were immediately recognised as being higher risk as they are a hard surface and have multi users – our coaches touch/move poles, then help riders adjust stirrups e.t.c. and whilst we are using (a lot) of hand sanitiser, we simply cannot be confident that the poles do not increase the risk. So we will be teaching flatwork only in our riding school/group lessons over the next fortnight and then will reassess the risk. 

WASH YOUR HANDS

We know……. You’re all bored of hearing it, but it is the one constant piece of advice. At ARC we have good handwashing facilities at both ends of the building and have taps that can be turned on and off with elbows/disposable paper towels and doors that again can be opened with elbows/feet e.t.c. We have posters up detailing how to wash hands correctly (more for our younger members hopefully) and we are requesting that every member washes their hands on arrival and departure. 

LESSONS

At the moment, all lessons remain as normal. We would anticipate the riding school activities being closed or reduced only under the following circumstances: 

• A government “lock down” on social or physical activities which we felt included riding. 
• Enough of our coaching staff becoming sick that we cannot cover all lessons. 
• Enough of our members becoming sick that we drop to below 30% attendance (at this point, it becomes financially inefficient to put lessons on). 

We are lucky in that we are relatively low risk in our environment – we are a predominantly outside and low contact sport; however, we are not underestimating the issues that this virus is going to present, and we need to be prepared.