American Endurance Ride Conference
held via telephone conference call
May 3, 2004
President C. Mike Tomlinson called the meeting to order at 6:07
pm. Also on the line for the call: Vice President Susan Kasemeyer, Secretary
Jan Jeffers (joined after the beginning of the call), Treasurer Terry Woolley
Howe, Vonita Bowers, Mike Jaffe, Roberta Harms, Connie Caudill, Howard Kent,
Stan Eichelberger, Patti Pizzo, Gail Williams, Bob Morris, John Parke (joined
following roll call), Duane Barnett, Randy Eiland, Roger Taylor, Nick Warhol,
Jim Baldwin, Barney Fleming, Dane Frazier, Mike Maul, Stagg Newman, Maggy
Price, Robert Ribley, and Executive Director Kathleen Henkel. Absent:
Jan Stevens
It was moved by Terry Woolley Howe and seconded by
Robert Ribley to accept as written the minutes of the convention meeting held
February 29, 2004 and the April 5, 2004 conference call. Motion passed.
It was moved by Susan Kasemeyer and seconded by
Connie Caudill to accept the committee reports submitted for this call. Committee reports received: convention, education, insurance,
international, media, ride managers, technical and veterinary. Bob Morris advised the International
Committee report states “The AERC International Committee has approved the
motion to budget to grant ride managers of one day 100 mile FEI rides up to
$800 to cover front end sanctioning fees.
The exact amount will be at the discretion of the committee. This grant program shall be continued yearly
thereafter beginning in 2004. The stipulation is that if their ride is
profitable the grant money is donated back to AERC International. The grant
will be made to the ride manager at the time the FEI ride sanction application
is submitted to the National Federation.
The vote was unanimous.” Any
grant awarded should come before the board for approval. The International
Committee will be advised their budget needs to come before the BOD for
approval.
Bob
Morris referred to the Education Committee report and mention of contacting new
riders and asked whether the office was maintaining the names and addresses of
day members as directed in the AERC Bylaws.
Kathleen advised that was not the case. President Tomlinson advised this should be corrected in the
database and the information should be collected from ride management.
Robert
Ribley advised he would like an addition made to the Convention Committee
report, item #5 - he received a letter from Bob Suhr advising he will be happy
to handle the swearing-in of officers at the next convention. President Tomlinson asked Robert to convey
the Board’s appreciation.
Barney
Fleming asked whether or not the BOD would review the new drug testing results
set forth by the current Veterinary Committee.
President Tomlinson requested the Veterinary Committee distribute the
details of the drug testing procedure before the next meeting and this issue
will be an action item on the next agenda.
President
Tomlinson reminded the Board that if a member of the Board wants an action
acted upon at a meeting, it must be in writing. Send motions as you want them stated to the Board for
consideration at the next meeting to Kathleen advising the motion should be
placed on the agenda for the next meeting.
Motion
to accept committee reports passed.
Motion
from Randy Eiland, sanctioning director, SW Region, seconded by Barney
Fleming: Request board approval for a
mileage change from 50 to 55 miles for the Caja del Rio ride slated for May 30,
2004 to correct inaccurate mileage calculation. Motion passed.
Motion
from Roberta Harms, sanctioning director, MW Region, seconded by Barney
Fleming: Request board approval for
addition of a ride after the sanction deadline, slated for June 18-20, 2004,
AHDRA II Endure for the Cure, benefiting the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer
Foundation, seconded by Barney Fleming.
Motion passed.
Terry
Woolley Howe presented the following motion from the Limited Distance Committee: It is moved that effective starting with the
2005 ride season there be ten (10) regional mileage limited distance awards to
be awarded in each region. These would
be awarded to the top seven senior limited distance riders and the top three
junior limited distance riders. The
award would be the same award as the regional high point awards in the endurance
division.
After
discussion, the above motion was amended to add “The minimum mileage to qualify
for this award is 100 miles. “ Motion
passed as amended.
Jan
Jeffers, Chair of the Awards Committee, was directed by the BOD to do a
comprehensive study regarding all the awards currently available in all awards
programs.
Discussion
items from previous meetings:
Blanket liability releases, Legal
Committee, no action taken
Education – committee report
submitted
Insurance – committee report
submitted
Junior Committee – no report
Terry
Woolley Howe’s second motion regarding limited distance best condition awards
was tabled until the midyear meeting.
Connie
Caudill, Ride Managers Committee, advised the video is near completion and she
will be in attendance at the Biltmore Ride and will have the video with her for
viewing by other board members in attendance at the ride. The committee is working on final edits.
President
Tomlinson announced the midyear board meeting would be held in Kansas City, Missouri. On Friday, August 20th there will
be an optional meeting from 7 to 10 pm, with the full board meeting beginning
with breakfast at 7 am on the 21st and the meeting from 8 til 5
pm. Hotel information to follow.
Stan
Eichelberger advised the questionnaire is progressing – the draft will be sent
to committee members within 10 days for discussion and from that point the
draft will be sent to the board between June 15th and July 1,
2004.
Roger
Taylor reviewed the receipt of AERC’s award from the Department of the
Interior. President Tomlinson expressed
his gratitude for the work Roger and others accomplished that resulted in the
award and thanked the Board for granting the grants so the work could proceed.
Bob
Morris reported both current research grants are in place with formal
agreements signed and funds will not be disbursed until the first deliverables
and then a portion of funds is sent and with each deliverable a portion of
funds is sent with final payment made with the final deliverable.
Next
conference call meeting is slated for June 7, 2004.
Meeting
adjourned at 7:05 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Jan
Jeffers, Secretary
Committee reports: Convention
Committee Report
April
15, 2004
Robert
Ribley, Chair
1)
The committee will be asking input from the membership on topics they
would like presented at future conventions.
This will be done both in Endurance News and on the AERC Website.
2)
Vendor applicants that are not selling product or services are to be
forwarded from Kathleen to the committee for review.
3)
Future convention sites are being investigated. St. Louis Missouri is being researched as a
site for 2009. (2007 and 2008 in Reno).
4)
A questionnaire for future sites/venues is to be developed for the
committee to work off of when researching future convention sites.
5)
A formal letter will be sent from the committee, and possibly the
board, thanking Bob Suhr for all of his years of service swearing in officers.
The Education Committee met by conference call on Wednesday, March
31, at 9 PM EST. Present on the call
were Maggie Price, Stan Eichelberger, Ann Coffield, Louise Burton, Barbara
McCrary, Mike Tomlinson and Stagg Newman.
The purpose of the call was to develop the action plan for the year
for the Committee. The Committee had
been sent the Education Component of the Past Presidents Committee (PPC) Report for
use as a framework for discussion of the actions for the year.
Stagg prefaced the meeting with stating we now have a wealth of
valuable information based on the work in 2003 and prior years. The biggest challenge is effective
information dissemination, i.e. transferring the information into the heads of
the riders who need it. Multiple means
are needed as discussed below. The EC
then went through the Education Component of the PPC and agreed on a set of
action items and responsibilities.
Those actions items as well as important items of discussion are noted
in italics in the report below.
EDUCATION COMPONENT OF PAST PRESIDENTS COMMITTEE REPORT
Objectives: (need this
in rider packet - front and center including why protection of horse is
paramount)
Instill in all AERC members our philosophy of:
Protection of the horse
Rider is ultimately and primarily responsible for the welfare
of the horse
Endurance riding is first and foremost a competition testing the
fitness and endurance ability of the horse and rider over a natural trail
Provide members with the knowledge and assist them with the
development of the skills needed to excel at their chosen roles and goals
Lead in the dissemination of the knowledge from around the world
in promoting the welfare of our horses
Who:
New riders (Ann will be champion for new rider education)
Ongoing riders (Maggie will be champion for this with help from
Stagg)
Ride veterinarians and treatment veterinarians (Stan will be
liaison with Vet Committee for education -Stan to work with Vet Committee to
prepare a letter to vets on how to look for and counsel new riders)
Ride managers and others who help with rides (Louise will be the
liaison with Ride Managers Committee for education - Louise to work with Ride
Managers Committee on info in ride managers packet on how to work with new
riders on protection of horse)
Land managers and government legislators and officials (Trails
Advocacy Committee has lead)
n The
general public (Media Committee has lead)
How:
Electronic via AERC website and other links (Lynn Kenelly will
work on on-going revision of material on AERC web site, working with the
Technical Committee. Barbara McCrary
and Lynn Kenelly will be eyes, ears,
and mouth for the AERC Education Committee on the AERC Membership Discussion
Group and Ridecamp. They will bring
ideas from the e-discussion groups to the Education Committee, sponsor
discussions on ideas from the education committee, and point out where answers
to questions raised can be found on the AERC web site when appropriate.)
Printed materials:
Endurance News (The
Education Committee will continue to supply monthly columns; Jan Jeffers will continue to review other
articles of an educational nature for suitability before publication) Stagg to do May column on use of Heart
Monitor, Louise to do July column on what Ride Managers should cover at the
ride meeting, Stan to do August Column on why BC is most coveted award
including recommendation that High Vet Score be announced and recognized, Ann to do or get Tamra Schoech of SERA to do a column on First time Riders Meeting
including when to have, who to conduct, and what to say. Ann will see if Tamra will do for June
issue)
Letters to membership (Stagg
will author letter to be sent in April to all members on most important steps to take to complete
rides successfully with a healthy horse as follow-up to last years letter on
Preventing Need for Treatment)
Printed material available
from AERC office (Jan will work with AERC office to revise new riders
packet)
Bibliography of material (for
new riders and experience riders)
Press kits and releases to
improve coverage by non-endurance media
(Media Committee's Responsibility)
Seminars:
For new riders at all
rides (Ann will lead an effort to develop
"canned material" for new riders seminars -Education Committee
will also work to develop list of volunteer speakers by region)
Continuing education at
many rides (Education Committee will address this in a future meeting.)
Regional and national
seminars (Susan Garlinghouse will conduct an all day seminar at the National
Convention. Education Committee will
address question for regional seminars at a future meeting.)
Support for new riders (Ann will lead overall effort on AERC
program to educate new riders) : The
Committee has a stimulating discussion on better ways to education new
participants in the sport. The point
was made the a phrase to teach riders is that "riders should be as
unselfish as the horse" - rider
managers should(also have special award for new riders, particularly awards
that recognize good care and fitness of the horse. riders should be furnished with
laminated do and don’ts card and/or
have these ideas printed on vet cards - ride managers should be
furnished with packets of info. for new riders, e.g. mini- new rider’s packets -
For non-AERC members the AERC office should consider sending them a new
riders packet and AERC application form after the ride.- ride managers should
consider having one or more experienced riders available at the check-in point
to offer advice to new riders and to convey to these riders the essence of our
sport and our concern for welfare of the horse - new riders should be given the
opportunity to identify themselves and/or their horses so that people can offer
support.
Revised new
riders packet (Jan Jeffers will lead effort to revise new riders packet.
Encourage experienced members to participate in mentoring (address
topic of mentoring at next meeting)
Encourage new members to seek mentoring (include ideas on how
to pick mentor in new riders packet - encourage new riders to work rides - suggest ways for ride managers to match new riders with
experienced riders for coaching at ride sites.
Qualification system to develop “star rated"
mentors (this idea will be discussed at a future meeting).
a
Monitor research from
around the world and translate and disseminate information to AERC (Lynn Kenelly to work with research
committee and to develop international contacts)
Network with local organizations as well as international and
foreign organizations to disseminate information (education champions needed
in each region - also articles from local organizations should be published in
Endurance News in order to exchange information on Best Practices - Education
Committee will address this in more depth in a future meeting.)
Establish ongoing funding:
For example: $3.00 per
member per year (about 3% of revenues) from current dues devoted to
education (Education Committee
request guidance from Past Presidents Committee on what best practices are for
similar organizations)
4/30/04
Roger
Taylor
The
Insurance Committee became very active when our president announced his desire
to have the AERC mid-year meeting in August. We have Equisure reviewing
the Markel policy and making recommendations for changes. We have the
Creelman Agency reviewing the Equisure policy they have with NATRC to also make
recommendations. From our review with ride managers we have a list of
other agencies to contact to see if anyone is interested in giving us a
quote. The committee plans to develop a standard policy and get quotes
from as many as possible. The plan is to move the start date to December
1 to coincide with our budget year.
The
companies contacted so far say that for the August date they will only have an
indication. October will be the time for firm quotes to be effective
December 1.
The
insurance is going very well this year. We will have available at the
meeting how may ride managers have used the AERC plan so far this year from the
total that have turned in ride results.
April
30, 2004
Russell
Broussard
To
promote FEI rides the international committee has passed the following motion:
To
budget for an $800 grant for ride managers of one-day 100-mile FEI rides to
cover front end sanctioning fees. The
exact amount will be at the discretion of the committee. This grant program
shall be continued yearly thereafter beginning in 2004. The stipulation is that
if their ride is profitable the grant money is donated back to AERC International. The grant will be made to the ride manager
at the time the FEI ride sanction application is submitted to the National
Federation. The vote was unanimous. The
Committee is aware the budget for this grant must go before the AERC BOD for
approval.
Lori
Stewart has retired as Secretary of the International Committee
The
Secretary responsibilities have been divided into two positions.
Kathy
Brunjes is the recording secretary
Skye
Priesz is the Editor for the International Column of AERC news.
Betty
Baker is serving as the Financial Secretary
A
sub committee chaired by Theresa Cross is working on updating the International
Committee Procedures. The target date for project completion is Dec. 1, 2004.
4/26/04
Genie
Stewart-Spears, Chair
Bobbie
Lieberman is currently working on an endurance-related article for the LA Times
that will be positioned as a Tevis preview in their Outdoors section.
Bobbie’s
piece on the research grant approved by the BOD to Michigan State University
will appear in the Roundup section of EQUUS in June.
Troy
Smith sent the approved press release concerning Hidalgo to approximately 40
national and regional member publications of the American Horse
Publications. I will be handling the
distribution of requested photographs in connection with the release.
4/25/04
Connie
Caudill, Chair
The
vet video/DVD is approaching completion. We hope to have it out this month and
have already had several requests from interested ride managers/vets. We hope
the delay in the completion will have been well worth the wait. Tom Greer has
promised it to be in our hands in the next couple of weeks, after the final
review and approval, it will be mailed to all new veterinarians and any
veterinarians who are interested. The Ride Managers would like this tape to be
available free of charge to all ride managers who request one. We feel most
ride managers are the people who have the opportunity to educate first time
riders and also are the host of many endurance riding clinic which the use of
this tape would be excellent. This tape will be a great educational tool for
all of us.
4/30/04
Mike
Maul
A.
Work on the contract for the Transfer of the Doublejoy
s/w is in progress with the starting point being the
contract used by AERC for the TomCat office s/w.
B. New online features added include:
Four new forms that riders can now fill out online and send
to the AERC Office. These are:
1. Ride Feedback from Riders to Ride Managers with comments
about the ride and suggestions for improvement.
2. Horse Registration in the mileage program
3. New Membership Discount Registration and for AERC
members who have not been current since 1999
4. Post Ride Survey Form - if your horse experienced
lameness or metabolic problems specifically related to a
ride, whether at the ride or after leaving. This can be
submitted signed or anonymously. This form can provide
useful information for the Vet and Welfare of the Horse
Committees.
C. Work nearly completed on adding links to the registry so
that 1/2 Arabian pedigrees can be linked to the AERC horse
history and registry users can see the 1/2 Arabian endurance
accomplishments. In debug stages.
D. Karen Chaton has added some very nice statistics for
Juniors at http://www.aerc.org/Education_Max_Junior.asp
E. The office has continued taking a larger role in
updating the AERC site now with Troy handling all the updates.
5/3/04
Jim Baldwin, Chair
Last
Monday (26 Apr 04) the veterinary committee had a conference call and it was
reported to the committee that there had been a horse death at the Grizzly
Mountain Ride and it was being reviewed. Two other items were discussed
-- the two vet rule and drug testing procedures. We had eight committee
members on the call plus Dr. Stan from the ad hoc drug testing committee.
I have said many times to many different board members and I will say it again
--- there is almost nothing that I view as an emergency when by-laws, rules,
policies or procedures are discussed. The items that I present to the vet
committee or to the board will have plenty of time for discussion and either
rejection or implementation.
It has been kicked around for awhile about having a rule requiring a minimum of
two veterinarians at a ride. As I reviewed this and listened to the
opposition to it, it became evident that some of the smaller rides would have
difficulty justifying two vets for control. The second vet would be there
in case something got in trouble. There are rides with over two hundred
horses with only three vets and one of them serves as a treatment vet leaving
two vets for two hundred horses. When this issue is viewed in this
manner it makes the rule seem kind of hollow.
Anyway, out of consideration for the welfare of the horse the veterinary
committee feels like having a rule in place is in order but having a "back
door" if necessary. Consequently, we are proposing this wording for
a new rule. If the rules committee, competitions committee, legal
committee and other concerned committees will review this while the board has
time also to mull it over, we will see if it has merit. This would be
Rule 2.1.
"The ride must employ at least two veterinarians whose services will be
exclusive to the event, pre-ride, during the event and post ride. In rare
instances the sanctioning director may grant a waiver to allow a ride to employ
one veterinarian if the ride cannot support two vets. If a waiver is
granted, a treatment facility must be available within a reasonable distance
from the ride in the event an equine needs veterinary treatment. At least
one vet must be at the ride site for at least one hour after the last equine
crosses the finish line or has returned to ride camp".
Discuss it, see what you think and if it has merit we will revisit it.
When I became chair of the veterinary committee the drug testing was not being
handled very well. At the same time Barney took over a new ad hoc
committee called the drug testing committee. He improved on the old
testing considerable but it was my opinion that there had to be a better
way. I presented what I felt was a better way very early after becoming chair
of the vet committee. I presented it to the committee and to the board
and it was discussed at length at the Reno Veterinary Program. There was
very little opposition to it but there was some.
The proceedings blue book under the vet section drug program states, "The
entire vet committee shall participate in establishing procedures for the drug
testing program". This was done but the opposition to it wanted a
role call vote. Now all of you know that a vote cannot happen by e-mail
so for Dr. Stan to implement (sp) this program we had to have a conference
call. Mike Tomlinson is encouraging conference calls for all the
committees and if there is a need I have no problem with them BUT they cost
money. The one we had cost over $100 (Kathleen did not have the actual
cost but felt it would exceed $100). We have been told over and over that
we should be cost conscience (running this corp. as a business) when spending
AERC's money. We discussed one more time (for over an hour) what had been
proposed and a vote was taken. The results were one against and
the rest for the proposal. I feel ashamed that I had to
spend over $100 dollars of our members money when it was unnecessary and
feel that all committees should review the necessity for having conference
calls (this is my opinion and may not be shared by others).