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From the Desk of Marty Schaffel: A Challenge to Our Upcoming Season

I think we can all agree that for the most part, things tend to go as we expect them to.  Occasionally there are deviations or surprises that throw us off.  But rarely are there acts of nature that dramatically affect us, like a huge hurricane.

Over the last two days, I have been trying to understand this coronavirus.  How serious a threat to us is it? So far, there have been reports and opinions that cover the full range of perspectives from no big deal to major crisis. That tends to leave us confused and uncertain. And we wait for more information. What startles me now is the perspective of two highly regarded infectious disease doctors. Both have said that this virus will reach pandemic proportions.  And if so, it can dramatically affect our daily lives, and our horse show industry. Therefore, we need to rationally think this through and be prepared.

The current concerns right now seem to be around travel and large gatherings.  Those are the two key elements of our show season. We travel from far and wide to be together for our shows. 

Hopefully over the next week or two we will have a better grasp of how pervasive this virus will become.  There are already huge trends toward less travel.  Businesses and organizations are curtailing business travel and meetings.

We all need to collect and share the best information we can on this.  Information from reliable and accurate sources. This is not about sowing panic.  This is about being informed.   If this all passes over and settles down, that will be wonderful.  But if it continues to spread and creates significant pressure against travel and large group events, we will need to prepare ourselves for the impact from this.

In the meantime, we must continue to get our arms around the consequences this can have if it does spread and prepare for its effect on our shows.  In other words, we must absolutely hope for the best, but be properly prepared for the worst. I pray that some great scientific minds can slow this down. The next week or two will be very telling.

Marty Schaffel, ASHA President