Part Livery and corona?

[holymosquito]

I guess this is a tack room AIBU?

I share a lovely horse with 2 other people. Her owner and 1 other sharer. I do 1 day a week. It has been a great share - lots of flexibility etc. The horse is kept on part livery, so we only have to groom, ride etc.

During lockdown we were asked to stay away as the horse was on part livery. However more regular yard users and DIY continued to visit.

Recently we have been allowed to return providing we follow social distancing - absolutely.

On my day I always try to do my share of yard jobs. Top up water buckets, skip out, sweep the yard etc. In my opinion this is normal - although it is officially covered by the part livery.

There has been no communication from the yard staff that this is no longer allowed. Until I touched a wheelbarrow and shaving fork (from the communal area), when they had a right go at me.

Should I have known that this was no longer ok? Or would you think that being allowed back on the yard would mean a return to basic yard activities?

At our yard we all got our own tools etc to use during covid. Sounds like they could have said it more nicely though, if we were using something of someone else's we should really use gloves. Prehaps they are scared of the ease of lockdown.

I don't think she should have had a go at you - I'd have done the same probably. I always skip out the stable I've used and sweep up any piles on yard/walkways after myself even if not specifically required to do so, habit of a lifetime and usually much appreciated by the yard staff! It may be they've instigated new rules post-Covid about the tools, but obviously if so there's been a communication breakdown as you haven't been told so a friendly reminder/request would be more sensible IMO. But then again plenty of people are still feeling quite anxious/jittery about the regulations easing, esp if they or their family have health issues so we all probably need to cut each other some slack ATM. And horsey people don't always have the best social skills in any case so I am usually prepared to accept more brusque-ness/lack of observance of normal etiquette/downright rudeness at the yard than I am in any other context (except perhaps dealing with toddlers!).

Our yard has taken a reasonably pragmatic approach to this - there are hand sanitisers available and we are all wearing gloves and there is a 'one person at a time' rule for the indoor areas like the tack room, feed shed, office etc but there is a certain expectation that we will all touch the same surfaces at some point - gates, doors etc. I think the risk of transmission from wooden or plastic surfaces which live outside must be super low...

I would probably have been a bit cautious and perhaps double checked what was going on.
E.g. my yard owner is now allowing owners back on the yard but I checked before bringing my partner over because although normally allowed, I wasn't sure. When lockdown started I made sure that I stopped borrowing any tools, buckets etc. I would be a bit annoyed if someone else started borrowing my things, even if they were in a communal area. Sometimes communal areas are the only place to leave things.

OK, they could have handled it better, but in the grand scheme of things I would just let it go.