In previous years, “July is our busiest month by far,” Kennedy said, noting this time last year, Ghost Ranch had about 600 monthly riders. This month, however, there have been no more than 100 riders, he said.
This is largely because of a July 1 announcement from the governor, Kennedy said, requiring out-of-state visitors to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arriving in New Mexico.
After shutting down from March 20 through June 6, the Ghost Ranch’s horseback riding program reopened at 50 percent capacity. Rides through July 1 almost immediately sold out. “So, I thought, ‘OK, we’re going to be fine,’ ” he said.
Then the governor’s announcement came — a whiplash for him and other horseback venues.
Kennedy reached out to all guests booked for the month of July to notify them of the new rule, at which point about 80 percent of customers canceled their reservations.
“We went from zero to half capacity of what we normally do, back to almost zero,” Kennedy said. “It…
