BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
held via telephone conference call
December 9, 2003
President C. Mike Tomlinson called the meeting to order at 6:04 pm. Also on the line for the call: Vice President Mike Maul, Secretary Jan
Jeffers, Treasurer Terry Woolley Howe, Vonita Bowers, Margie Burton, Louise
Riedel, Connie Caudill, Dean Jackson, Jan Stevens, Stan Eichelberger, Patti
Pizzo, Stephanie Teeter, Gail Williams, John H. Parke, Susan Kasemeyer, Duane
Barnett, Randy Eiland, Roger W. Taylor, Maryben Stover, Jim Baldwin, Barney
Fleming, Dane Frazier, Stagg Newman, Robert Ribley, and Executive Director
Kathleen A. Henkel. Absent: Maggy Price.
John Parke moved and Dean Jackson seconded that the minutes pertaining
to the Welfare of the Horse Committee from the midyear BOD meeting be approved
with corrections. Motion passed.
Maryben Stover moved to amend the minutes to include the Junior
Committee motions in their entirety as presented at the midyear meeting. Motion passed.
Jan Jeffers moved to amend the minutes regarding the Limited Distance
award description to change the wording to reflect an amount “up to”, rather
than fund the award. Motion passed.
Moved by Susan Kasemeyer and seconded by Margie Burton to approve the
minutes from the midyear meeting as amended.
Motion passed.
It was moved and seconded to accept the committee reports as
written. Motion passed. Committee reports received:
Education
Elections
Limited Distance
National Championship
Ride Managers
Technical
Trails
Veterinary
The American Horse
Council is organizing an Equine Identification Task Force to explore the value of
a national identification system to the horse industry. Barney Fleming
volunteered to be AERC’s delegate on the task force, with Stan Eichelberger
serving as alternate. Roger Taylor
moved to accept Barney Fleming as the primary and Stan Eichelberger as the
alternate members of the task force, seconded by Jan Stevens. Motion passed.
Roger Taylor addressed the insurance
issue, discussing the previous insurance bid and the fact that insurance is not
currently available through the Creelman Agency for rides beginning January 1,
2004. President Tomlinson reiterated
there is an immediate need for insurance for upcoming rides, and it is time to
check on the possibility of obtaining an insurance policy to encompass all of
AERC’s rides. Roger will check the alternatives
available and report to the Board at a later meeting.
John Parke advised the matter
relating to Debi Sanger is ongoing and he will report to the Board during a
future meeting.
The proposal presented by the Adam’s
Mark Hotel in San Antonio, TX was discussed.
Jan Jeffers moved that in 2006 the AERC convention be held in San
Antonio, TX at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in February 2006, motion seconded by Stan
Eichelberger. Motion passed.
Connie Caudill, co-chair of the National Championship Committee,
advised the site of the 2004 ride had to be changed from Red Rock, Nevada, due
to a homeowners association conflict.
The national championship ride for 2004 will be hosted by Terry Woolley
Howe in San Diego, California, with the 100 miler taking place on Friday,
October 1st and the 50 miler on Sunday, October 3, 2004. It was moved from committee to accept the
new ride site in San Diego, CA for the 2004 national championship ride. Motion passed. Terry advised she has asked Barney Fleming to serve as head
veterinarian.
Barney
Fleming, chair of the Past Presidents Committee, advised the committee
is working on a long range plan for AERC and has met via telephone conference
call twice and is planning a face to face meeting at the convention and will
report to the board during one of the board meetings scheduled during the
convention.
Connie
Caudill, chair of the Ride Managers Committee, reported that the video
is ready to be mailed and will go out on December 10th. Connie advised she is pleased with the tape
and stated there are a few items she would like to change - the video contains
vetting procedures only and the video is suitable for both riders and
veterinarians and should be ready for distribution at the convention.
Jim
Baldwin, chair of the Veterinary Committee, reported the veterinary
audio tape was mailed today, December 9th, to members of the vet
committee. The tape is straight forward
and will be under budget at approximately $500. The tape should be available for distribution at the convention.
Kathleen
advised the riders handbook has been reprinted. The office was directed to send all Board members a copy of the
handbook.
The
rules have been printed and are being distributed to new members that are
joining for 2004. The rules will be
forwarded to the membership as part of the February issue of the magazine.
John
Parke, chair of the Welfare of the Horse Committee, advised he will file
a written report with the Board. Mike
Maul and Jim Mitchell have prepared spreadsheets summarizing the equine
fatalities and Jim Mitchell has volunteered to assist in preparation of an
article from the committee for publication in Endurance News. John advised he had a conversation with
President Tomlinson regarding the many unsolicited proposals regarding equine
welfare and how to process the proposals.
Two workshop sessions are slated for the convention, one Friday and one
Saturday with the focus on horse welfare and at that time people will be
afforded the opportunity to discuss these proposals.
Gail
Williams, chair of the Limited Distance Committee, presented motions
from committee regarding a change regarding Best Conditions offered for Limited
Distance rides and also for the addition of a new national award similar to the
Bill Stuckey award currently given out for the endurance rider 65 years of age
with the most endurance miles in a season.
The award proposed is entitled the Limited Distance Masters Award. The committee would like both motions to be
effective for the 2004 season.
Stagg
Newman moved that the motion pertaining to best conditions being offered on
Limited Distance rides be tabled until the Thursday convention meeting in
February 2004. This will afford time
for the Limited Distance Committee to prepare and publish an article in the Endurance
News soliciting feedback from the membership regarding the change.
Motion
passed to table the motion until the convention meeting.
The
second motion from the Limited Distance Committee regarding the addition of a
National Limited Distance award to the individual 65 years or older as of the
first day of the ride season, riding strictly limited distance miles, the award
will be entitled Limited Distance Masters Award. The award is patterned after the Bill Stuckey Award regarding
endurance miles. It is proposed the
award become effective 12/1/2004 for the 2005 ride season, with Jene Moseley
funding an amount up to $150 for the perpetual trophy. Motion passed. Maryben Stover abstained.
Maryben
Stover, chair of the Junior Committee, advised the committee is
continuing in its efforts to rework the motion relative to the 100-mile award
proposal as presented to the Board in the September 16, 2003 meeting.
Mike
Maul, chair of the Technical Committee, advised a proposal will be
presented to the BOD at the Reno, NV meeting regarding purchase of the
Doublejoy software.
Barney
Fleming, chair of the Research Grants Committee, advised an announcement
is being prepared for the magazine by the researchers selected and more
proposals will be presented to the Board before the Reno meeting.
Roger
Taylor, chair of the Trails Grants Committee, advised the
Harrison-Crawford project is currently on standby, the Wolf Creek project has
been published in Endurance News, and the Lake
Sonoma project has the backing of the Army Corps of Engineers and Back Country
Horsemen. At the midyear meeting
$27,000 was set aside for trails grants and out of those funds, $15,000 has
been allotted to Wolf Creek, and $5000 for the Lake Sonoma project. Connie Caudill advised she prefers to have
the trails grants projects before the Board published in the magazine before
they are voted upon. Stagg Newman
called for the question.
Roger
Taylor moves the Wolf Creek Trailhead project be funded immediately, that the
project coordinator be informed by the Executive Director that funding is
available for distribution upon receipt of the proper paperwork. The funding
for the project not to exceed $15,000 to be funded from the trails line item
2004 general fund. Motion passed.
Jan
Stevens, Connie Caudill, and Patti
Pizzo abstained.
Roger
Taylor moves that the Sonoma Lake Trails Improvement Project have AERC
tentative approval for $5000. The
project be published in Endurance News, any negative comments reviewed. With any negative comments resolved, the
project should move forward. The funds
should come the trails set aside funds and advertised in a manner that other
Northern California riders can volunteer to help and these trails can be
reopened. Motion passed. Jan Stevens, Connie Caudill, and Patti Pizzo
abstained.
Pertaining
to protocol with respect to postmortems, Jim Baldwin, chair of the Veterinary
Committee, advised the CEU course for veterinarians to be held in
conjunction with the convention in Reno, is being set up to assist in finding
state diagnostic labs across the nation with discussion expected regarding the
funding of standardized postmortems and partial posts, etc. Review and discussion will also take place
regarding drug testing procedures and procedures for reporting equine deaths.
Kathleen
advised the office is proceeding with the printing of the new sanction form.
Stan
Eichelberger, advised a report regarding production of a survey pertinent to
AERC demographics will be presented at a future meeting.
John
Parke advised it appears the best place for a blanket liability release would
be on the membership form that is signed each year at the time of membership
renewal. Discussion tabled until the
Reno convention meetings in 2004.
Dane
Frazier reported on the death of DJB Rockin Adios as reflected by the FEI.
Dean
Jackson, Sanctioning Director for the Mountain Region, asked for Board approval
on a mileage change pertaining to the recently held Outlaw Trail Ride due to a
last minute problem with a landowner.
The ride was originally set up for 25 miles for the first two days of
the ride and 35 miles for the last day.
Motion to approve the mileage change passed.
Mike
Maul advised he would like unofficial draft minutes typed and sent to the Board
list within 2 weeks for review by the Board.
Members of the Board will have 2 weeks for review before posting as
unofficial draft minutes on the website.
Vonita
Bowers advised the Old Glory Pioneer ride requires special sanctioning as it
was previously held as a 2-day ride.
John Parke moved to accept Vonita’s recommendation for approval of the
ride, seconded by Stagg Newman. Motion
passed.
Meeting
adjourned at 8:19 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Jan
Jeffers, Secretary
Committee Reports
Education Committee Report
December 09, 2003
Draft
I. Update since July Report
The following summarizes Education Committee actions since
the last BOD Conference call.
New Activities:
1.
Dr.
Jeannie Waldron and Dr. Susan Garfield have agreed to do an “Ask a Vet Column”
for EN and Troy Smith has agreed work with them. AERC members can
submit questions and selected questions will be answered monthly in EN.
2.
Dr. Jim
Baldwin has agreed with the EC to jointly sponsor a follow-up letter to the
spring letter on welfare of the horse. We plan to have the draft of this
letter ready shortly. This letter will reemphasize the responsibility of
the rider and emphasize three key steps to protect the horse: partnering
with the ride vets to assess how the horse is doing; keeping the horse properly
hydrated; and proper pacing. Attachments will address these areas in more
detail.
3.
Jan
Jeffers is working on an updated bibliography of recommended reading
material which will then be placed on-line and sent to new members.
4.
Ann
Coffield of the EC will take the lead in working to revise the EC page on the
AERC web site to make new information is accessible to the membership.
The EC web page should either have directly on it or easily link to EC columns
printed in EN, information for protection of the horse, information for new
members as well as additional material.
Continuing Activity
1.
The
Education Committee continues to supply a monthly column for Endurance
News. The current emphasis of the columns in on the health and welfare of
the horse..
2.
The
Education Committee continues to work with the AERC office to review
educational articles before publication in EN. Jan Jeffers leads this
effort.
3.
The
Education Committee will develop a Education Committee business plan for
presentation at the BOD meeting held in conjunction with the National
Convention.
4.
The
EC revised the AERC Rider’s handbook. It has now been published and
is being sent to new members. It is also available on-line.
5.
Dr.
Susan Garlinghouse has modified her proposal for a nutrition seminar as follows:
– In 2004, Dr. Garlinghouse
will again do a one hour nutrition seminar as part of the AERC regular seminar
program (repeat by popular request) with the same fees as previously of $250.
– In 2005, Dr. Garlinghouse
is proposing to conduct a one day seminar the day after the convention that
would be sponsored by Purina. She is in discussions with Purina and they
appear to be willing to pick up many of the major expenses with minimal conditions.
Dr. Garlinghouse will present a proposal to the EC which will then make a
motion to the BOD as appropriate when more details are worked out.
6.
The EC
proposes to develop clinic materials that could be presented at rides and other
venues; to develop a list of speakers who would be willing to present the
material; and to develop and facilitate the offering of a series of
clinics. Where local organizations exist (e.g. SERA, PNER, ECTRA),
we would with those organizations. Potential topics include:
ź
New
Riders Clinic (to be given at ride sites before the ride similar to what SERA
does at SE rides to educate new riders about the sport)
ź
Yes,
You Can Do a 100 (intended to get more people to start and complete 100s)
ź
This Is
Endurance Riding (intended for presentations at horse fairs, etc. to attract
more people to the sport)
ź
From
Riding to Racing (intended to give the people who wish to race the knowledge to
do so safely and well)
ź
Preventing
Treatment in Endurance Horses. (based on material in the “one pager” we
developed earlier this year).
The
first part of the plan would be to get a small group for each topic to develop
the material with a member of the education committee on each group. We
will start by soliciting already available material from the membership thru
the AERC list serve, etc.
7.
The
Education Committee will liaison with the vet committee, the media committee,
the ride management committee, and the Ad Hoc Committee on the Welfare of the horse
to implement the above
8.
Continued
the dissemination of the information developed in the Program to Prevent
Treatment Program of horses.
1. $3000 for general expenses (same
as 2003)
This may be used for any
general
mailings to the membership (I anticipate one next year like we did this year as
a good way to get a critical issue before the members)
conference
calls among the EC
possible
inserts in EN of important info
sponsorships of
seminars
miscellaneous
2. Approximately $2500 - 1/3 of the
costs of the eductional video tape on vetting horses that will be co-sponsored
by the Vet Committee, the Ride Managers, Committee, and the Education Committee.
President Mike
Tomlinson has asked our three committees to jointly sponsor the production and
distribution of the video. I believe this tape will be distributed to
vets to educate them on our sport and be available for purchase by members.
3.
The Education
Committee may develop more specific proposals for aiding in the funding of
seminars. We have not yet worked out the details.
Submitted from the 2003 Education Committee
Maggie Price - co-chair mmsprice@ptd.net, 1-570-992-4900
Stagg Newman -
co-chair staggandchery@charter.net,
1-828-665-1531
Jan Jeffers – sleeeker@garlic.com, 1-408-779-4722
Connie Caudill – enduroride@aol.com, 1-812-967-5973
Steph Teeter – steph@endurance.net, 1-208-875-1206
Barbara McCrary – bigcreekranch@cruzio.com,
1-831-423-4572
Susan Garlinghouse – suendavid@worldnet.att.net ,
1-970-568-9124
Stan Eichelberger, DVM – bergertvet@aol.com, 1-540-343-0194
Ann Cofield, ANNCOFIELD@aol.com,
Elections Committee Report
presented by Michael
Maul, Chair
Results
of the Regional Directors Election
The results of the 2 regions where a ballot was required follow:
Central Region
Vonita Bowers 152
Mike
Jaffe
148
Margie Burton 85
Mountain Region
Jan Stevens
155
Howard Kent
134
Bob
Steller
52
Ballots received on Dec 1 were not counted. All ballots
received were able to be counted.
All candidates have been notified of the results of the
election.
presented
by Gail Williams, Chair
LD
Best Condition Proposal:
The
committee was charged with the task of making the Limited Distance riders feel
that they were as valuable to AERC as any endurance distance. One way to
do this was exploring a Limited Distance Best Condition criteria that all
regions would use to judge those horses presented for Best Condition. The
committee explored a number of options. Proposals were made by Bryan Gran
and Terry Woolley-Howe that involved a number of changes to the current AERC BC
form. The committee looked at every aspect of the current form and what
the impact of change virtually every category would have on the LD
riders. The committee used several different formulas on several previous
rides and on Terry’s October 4 ride to see the impact of potential
changes. The changes were not significant enough to warrant a complete
overhaul of the current form.
The
LD Committee had a conference call on October 7th; the committee
discussed these results and the likely options they could choose. The
results of this conference call were as follows:
1. The Northwest, Central and
Southeast regions already use the current LD Best Condition form and are well
satisfied with it. So 5 of 7 regions are currently using one form.
We did not feel it would be in the best interest of the sport to promote two
(2) separate forms and therefore agreed to propose the current AERC B.C. form
as the best option for LD rider with the least amount of changes necessary.
2. A national BC form gives
Ride Managers the opportunity to promote horse welfare by discussing BC
issues. The LD committee wants to promote horse welfare and we feel the
national BC form is a TOOL that will assist ride managers.
3. The LD riders are the
fastest growing group of riders within AERC. We want to promote
consistency between LD and the longer distance rides and a consistent BC form
does just that. Plus, the LD riders want the BC to be offered at each
ride as it is for other distances.
4. The National LD BC form is
needed to have consistency between all groups of riders.
The
Limited Distance Committee proposes the following rule change:
Change
Rule L9 to read: An award will be available for the
horse judged to be in the Best Condition, effective immediately.
Current
L9 reads: An award may be available for the horse
judged to be in Best Condition.
We
believe this puts the Best Condition judging on the same basis in Limited
Distance as in any other distance.
We
are running this by the Ride Manager’s Committee and the Rules Committee.
LIMITED
DISTANCE COMMITTEE PROPOSAL 2
presented by Gail
Williams, Chair
LIMITED DISTANCE MASTERS
AWARD
Limited Distance Rider
Award for rider over 65 with most LD miles:
Based on the Bill Stuckey
Award) Honoring the rider 65 years of age or older who completed the
greatest number of Limited Distance miles (any number of horses). One
placing acknowledged. Keepsake plaque awarded and engraved onto perpetual
trophy.
Cost: Cost of keepsake
plaque each year if perpetual trophy is sponsored and donated.
Jene Moseley has offered to
sponsor this award in the amount of $150 per year.
We are running this by the
Awards Committee.
National
Championship Committee report
presented by
Connie Caudill, Robert Ribley, co-chairs
Carol Hoeft, who did a
fantastic job in hosting this years NC rides has ran into some trouble with her
homeowners association. They do not want the National Championship ride again
next year so we will be using our alternate site that Terry Woolley Howe has
offered in the Pacific South region. This has been our alternative just in case
any problems would come up. The 100 mile ride will be held on Friday, October
1st and the 50 mile will be held on Sunday, October 3rd.
The following tells about
the ride: Challenging trail starting in the
desert and climbing to the pines in the Laguna Mountains. Course starts at the
Manzanita Horse Camp which has full hookups, corrals, bathrooms, showers and
large oak trees. The trail is on desert trails overlooking the Corrizo Valley
and the Salton Sea before climbing through the pines on the Pacific Crest Trail
to the Laguna Mountains. The trail head west down the historic Noble Canyon
before heading east over Pine Mountain before returning back to basecamp.
Directions: From San Diego go east on Interstate 8 (approximately 60 miles) to
the Live Oak Springs offramp (same offramp as the Golden Acorn Casino). Go
south on Old Highway 80 for one a a half mile to Royal. Turn left at the store
(open 24 hours with gasoline and diesel) and go 6 miles to the Manzanita Horse
camp. This ride can be pre-ridden on May 1st, 2004.
We have the Montana ride, Ft. Howes, with ride managers Bill and Jan Stevens
for 2005. For 2006, we voted in the Wolverine site in Michigan, with Maggie
Mieske. We are still in the talking stages regarding this ride.
Technical Committee
Report: Dec 2, 2003
presented by Michael Maul, Chair
The new site continues to run well and is being accessed at
an annual rate of about 4 M per year. This may be due to the
novelty of a new site. After several more months we will
have an idea of the steady state access rate.
The BLM sponsorship logo has been added and the writeup for
them is on the sponsors page.
A number of new pages has been added to the site including
the Decade Teams.
Still working on setting a date to visit the office to
transfer much of the maintenance to the staff.
After several initial glitches for hotmail users - the email
lists seem to be working OK now.
Trails
Committee Report
presented
by Jerry Fruth
Chairman
AERC Trails Committee
When
I took over the helm of the trails committee my first objective was to secure
representation in Washington D.C. through the American Horse Council. I
did just that. Trail riders across the United States are now being
represented in our Capital. The AHC has a full time staff dedicated to
working on just trail related issues.
The
second objective was to establish trail advocates in each state to be our eyes
and ears when it comes to trail access issues. At the same time those
trail advocates were given the responsibility to know their land manages and to
put together work crews to work on trail maintenance. Some of our trail
advocates have been outstanding and others have done average or below average
work.
To
augment our "Trails Grants" more emphasis in the next couple of
years will be to build a stronger trail advocate group. I don't want
to be giving out money without our riders actually working on the trails
project if possible. We will see that they become educated in trail
preservation. At the same time we will expect them to organize work days
and to get the endurance riders off their horses and on the ground
actually doing hands on work.
To
accomplish all of this I'm going to begin to delegate more of what I do in the
way of hands on preservation efforts and concentrate on those national issues
that need attention. Finding those dedicated souls with the time,
energy and talent to handle some of the day to day trail preservation work will
be another challenge.
Between
now and the convention I will be working on a new structure for the trails
committee
and will have it to present at the convention.
Veterinary Committee
Report
presented by Jim Baldwin,
Chair
The audio tape has been
completed and copies have been forwarded to the vet committee members for
review and comment. Copies will be forwarded to the board after review
and changes by the vet committee members.
Work continues on the
continuing education program of the convention for the veterinarians attending
the convention.