Testing times
by Ann
As 'social distancing' seems to be the new norm, owners Lee and Julia Patterson (Troop) and myself decided to practice the new game that is becoming increasingly central to our daily lives. Lee and Julia have been staying in one of the lodges for a few days and were desperate to see their boy after his winter under rugs. Standing six feet apart on Saturday morning, no hugs, no kisses, no handshaking but a ton of hand sanitizer close by (kindly supplied of course by www.121workwear.com) we managed to cope quite well. Most owners are staying away which is a huge shame and if they do come along we are offering coffee ‘Al fresco’ while we try to keep the confined office air space 'virus free'. The lads are all wearing masks (stolen from under Ajs nose at 121 before distribution to various outlets across the country) and there are buckets of specialist disinfectant all over the place.
The disinfectant we use is the most used disinfectant against all viruses including Coronavirus. It is not a difficult organism to kill on surfaces and it contains a polymer that keeps the ingredients active for up to 28 days so we don’t have to spray everything, every day.
The disinfectant in question has been highly tested by the Irish equine centre and we know the virus is not new among animals, what is new however, is that it jumped ship into humans and we have zero immunity to it – yet. So, by using it we hope to keep the dreaded lurgy under control. So far the entire yard has been thoroughly sprayed, horses water buckets and crucially the handles the staff use to carry them with, have all been disinfected. Every light switch, plug, door handle/ stable door opener, mucking out tool, wheelbarrow handles, feed scoop handles, water treadmill and doors, horse walker doors and controls etc have all been thoroughly disinfected. Bridles, girths and stable rubbers now hang outside every stable door so as to reduce the human traffic in and out of the tack room and tomorrow we will be washing the straps on all the rugs, literally anything touched by human hands is being treated as having the plague. Staff are taking their breaks separately and not all around the tack room table.
The staff are being fantastic and are fully aware of their responsibility to others but what did strike me as alarming today was Lee Patterson’s description of his ‘flu’ before Christmas, it matched that of George’s and to a lesser degree me, sore throat, unable to breath normally, shortness of breath, fever and a persistent dry cough that lasted weeks. Sounds familiar? Could this thing named after a mexican lager have been around a lot longer than we thought?
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