After being in quarantine and under a “Stay at Home” order for months now, we are so excited to be returning to regular operations — with your safety at the top of our priorities!
After June 1st, we are slowly reopening our program and services!!
In this post, we will lay out some of our temporary adjustments to riding lessons, horse camps, and classes for the foreseeable future. We will plan to stick to these practices until at least July 1st, but will modify or adjust as needed.
Thankfully, our facility is very open with excellent airflow. Any activities that don’t occur in our outdoor arena or on our riding trails in our woods will occur in our arena or barn, which is also very well ventilated and wide open. We will be doing several things to ensure that we are providing the safest environment possible for our riders to do what they love in their favorite place!
We have put a lot of thought into our plan moving forward. We are looking forward to SAFELY getting everyone back at the barn!
Please bear with us, because we have had a LOT of wonderful people inquiring about getting on our schedule. We will do our best to get everyone out at the barn for camps, classes, and lessons ASAP while still being as safe and organized as possible!
| STATEWIDE MASK MANDATE UPDATE 7/27 Following Governor Tim Walz’s Emergency Executive Order 20-81 taking effect as of July 24th at 11:59pm requiring Minnesotans to wear a face covering in certain settings to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we carefully examined the full order. According to section 10 in the Executive Order as well as the MDH COVID-19 Sports Guidance for Youth and Adults, face coverings are “strongly encouraged, but not required, when participating as an athlete in an indoor or outdoor organized sport.” Additionally, due to the nature of our barn being a covered roof but still open and uninsulated, we are in an outdoor setting with excellent airflow. We are asking all riders that enter the facility to please bring their mask with them for any circumstances that may require them to enter an indoor setting. Masks are encouraged but not required for the actual sport activity of riding their horses. |
Before entering the facility, we are requiring all students to sign a new waiver for the 2020 riding season. You can download it here, print it out, and bring it along with you to the barn! You cannot enter the barn without a signed copy of this new waiver.
Saddle Club Days *NEW!!*
We are very excited to be offering a new option for our most dedicated riders this year!
Saddle Club Days are opportunities for some of the older and more experienced riders in our program to join us at the farm for the day and help with different chores, tasks, and projects before they have an opportunity to ride later in the day.
You must be a member of our saddle club to participate in Saddle Club Days. Please click here to learn more about Saddle Club Days and joining our saddle club!
Group Riding Lessons
- Hand sanitizer will be provided for use upon entering and exiting the facility.
- Temperatures will be taken upon arrival. If the rider has an above normal temperature, they will be asked to leave.
- Face masks are required to have on hand due to the Statewide Mask Mandate, and all riders are welcomed and encouraged to wear them. We will have cute cloth face masks available for purchase at the farm in our new gift shop!
- Please respect social distancing and maintain a minimum of 6 feet from other people when possible. Instructors and staff will occasionally need to get within six feet from riders to assist and help them, but we ask that riders and parents keep their distance from each other.
- We are asking parents to please limit their time in the barn. This is in order to minimize how many people are coming and going through the barn and coming into contact with each other even in passing. We do understand that if your child is a new rider with us that you will want to come in and look around and chat with us (from a safe distance of course), and that is okay. For this temporary period while we are trying to adhere to safe protocols, we just ask that time spent hanging out in the barn is limited.
- If you are potentially infectious, we will be happy to work with you to reschedule your lesson. If you or someone you come into contact with has tested positive for COVID-19, please do not come to the farm. Please DO NOT come to the farm if you have symptoms or have been around anyone that has symptoms, or if anyone in your household has symptoms or has been around someone with symptoms. If you have traveled out of state or country recently, please do not come to the farm. And, of course, if you or someone you come into contact with has tested positive for COVID-19, please do not come to the farm.
- Riding lesson group sizes will remain regular.
Please note that adjustments have been made to our riding lesson protocols since this was originally posted. We originally tried to adhere to 45 minute lessons with 15 minutes in-between to allow for minimized contact in the barn, but after resuming operations for a couple of weeks we have become more confident with our facility and our system so that we are comfortable resuming hourlong lessons.
With how good our airflow in the barn is combined with keeping equipment clean and sanitized between uses, we are comfortable resuming our regular hourlong lessons. We are still requesting respectful social distancing and good sanitary practices from everyone at the facility.
New Riding Lesson Students
As always, we try to do one-on-one hourlong lessons with new students that have not ridden with us before. This will continue to be the norm. A student’s first introductory lesson will still be done privately, and will still be one hour long to allow for plenty of time to get acquainted, answer any questions, and help them get a good start with their lesson horse.
Summer Horse Camps
Our summer horse camp schedule will proceed as planned, with the same careful sanitary and social distance practices in place as any of our other activities.
These horse camps are, by nature, more hands on than the shorter format riding lessons. If you are registered for a horse camp but would prefer to apply that registration fee to riding lessons instead to minimize your rider’s contact with a larger group of children for a prolonged amount of time, we absolutely understand and can make that happen. Just reach out and we will be able to get you on the schedule!
- Hand sanitizer will be provided for use upon entering and exiting the facility.
- Temperatures will be taken upon arrival. If the rider has an above normal temperature, they will be asked to leave.
- Face masks are required to have on hand due to the Statewide Mask Mandate, and all riders are welcomed and encouraged to wear them. We will have cute cloth face masks available for purchase at the farm in our new gift shop!
- We are asking parents to please limit their time in the barn. This is in order to minimize how many people are coming and going through the barn and coming into contact with each other even in passing. We do understand that if your child is a new rider with us that you will want to come in and look around and chat with us (from a safe distance of course), and that is okay. For this temporary period while we are trying to adhere to safe protocols, we just ask that time spent hanging out in the barn is limited.
- As always, drop off for a horse camp that begins at 10:00am can happen no earlier than 9:55am.
- Pick up is at 3:00pm sharp, unless discussed beforehand with Mary or Sam. Please wait in vehicles for your child at pick up time.
As always, please DO NOT come to the farm if you have symptoms or have been around anyone that has symptoms, or if anyone in your household has symptoms or has been around someone with symptoms.
If you have traveled out of state or country recently, please do not come to the farm.
And, of course, if you or someone you come into contact with has tested positive for COVID-19, please do not come to the farm.