August 23, 2020 
In a world where a global pandemic threatened to cancel every horse show we looked forward to in 2020, new heroes would rise: the COVID protocol enforcers.
They stop you in a line longer than a Starbucks drive through when you’re running late in the morning to check your temperature. They shoo away groupings of people at the ring like flocks of pigeons. Maybe they’ve had to remind you to pull your mask back up over your nose.
As inconvenient as these new rules might seem, it’s exactly what’s keeping everyone safe and showing during these uncertain times. Without the COVID Cops there wouldn’t be shows this year at all.
Just because they’re sticklers for the rules doesn’t mean Thunderbird Show Park’s Anti-Covid Avengers don’t know how to have some fun, though. Thanks to Sarah Graham-Dinwoodie and some corona-inspired creativity, the team has adapted a few favorite TikTok trends.
COVID Cops demonstrating an alternative greeting to the antiquated hand-shake. This TikTok trick also works for casually dodging a hug or double cheek kiss. Tradition is out, Gen-Z trends are in.
When by some miracle you and your friend finally recognize each other behind the mask, hat and glasses and you’re all like, “Yeah! Okay!”
Hat down, mask on, living like a rockstar.
Now you know how the FEI horses feel getting their twice a day temp-check. This mask really puts you in the horse headspace. Though, we’ll stick with the human forehead thermometer.
By “now walk it by yourself” they mean the course without your entire entourage. Or at least stay six-feet apart. You should know how to measure that exact distance during a course walk after all…
That feeling when you get to the end of the week, safe and COVID-free because you followed CDC guidelines and more horse shows are on the horizon!
