July 2020 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN July 2020 Page 21 Remember...tell our advertisers you found them in East Coast Equestrian. By Jessica Duffy US Eventing Association It’s been nearly three months since USEA recognized compe- titions were suspended in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the first weekend of June saw competitors returning to the field of play at three events across the country: River Glen in New Market, Tennessee; Feather Creek in Norman, Oklahoma; and Plantation Field in Unionville, Pennsylvania. The USEA was on the ground at Plantation Field on Friday to observe the joy and excitement of the first day back competing since mid-March. Plantation Field offered Beginner Novice through Inter- mediate levels with Intermediate, Preliminary, and Open Training all running as one-day events on Friday and the remaining Training divisions, Novice, and Beginner Novice following suit on Saturday. From contactless packet pick-up and temperature checks at the entrance to drive-thru fence judge orientation, there were plenty of changes to be seen around the event designed to keep competi- tors, staff, and volunteers safe. “We knew we had to get this right and we had to do it in a way that people outside the eventing world could see that this is a no-contact sport where we can maintain social distance,” said Mary Coldren, Plantation Field’s event organizer. “It was important to us to show that this can be done in a way that follows CDC guide- lines and hopefully it will benefit other events for the rest of the sea- son. I sent an email to the compet- itors last week that said, ‘All eyes are on us. This will not look like pictures you see at the beach. We are going to wear masks and we are going to social distance. We’re going to do this right.’” Coldren said it came down to the wire as far as gaining approv- al to run, as Pennsylvania only entered “Phase Yellow” on Friday – the stay-at-home orders for Chester County extended through Thursday night. “We didn’t get permission until 8:45 p.m. on Monday night,” she said. “All along, no one would say, ‘yes,’ but no one said, ‘no’ either. That was one of the hard parts – are we or aren’t we, maybe we can, maybe we can’t? Two weeks ago, I thought we had no chance. We rolled the dice and got set up and got lucky that it worked out!” Coldren noted that special thanks was due to Denis Gla- ccum, President of Plantation Field Equestrian Events, Inc., for making sure the event got the go-ahead to take place. “He really deserves the credit for having a positive attitude and making the presentation that got us the permission to run. I was doubtful, but he never gave up!” “The whole concept of trying to put on an event with no face- to-face interaction with people has been challenging,” Coldren Plantation Field Kicks Off the New ‘Contactless Eventing’ (Continued on page 22)