American Endurance Ride Conference

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

held via telephone conference call

February 7, 2005

 

President C. Mike Tomlinson called the meeting to order at 6:03 pm.  Also on the line for the call:  Vice President Susan Kasemeyer, Secretary Jan Jeffers, Treasurer Terry Woolley Howe, Vonita Bowers, Mike Jaffe, Roberta Harms, Connie Caudill, Jan Stevens, Howard Kent, Stan Eichelberger, Patti Pizzo, Gail Williams, Bob Morris, John Parke, Duane Barnett, Randy Eiland, Nick Warhol, Jim Baldwin, Barney Fleming, Dane Frazier, Mike Maul, Stagg Newman, Robert Ribley, and Executive Director Kathleen A. Henkel.  Absent:  Maggy Price and Roger Taylor.

 

It was moved by Susan Kasemeyer and seconded by Bob Morris to excuse Roger Taylor (out of cell range) from this evening’s call.  Motion passed.

 

It was moved by Robert Ribley and seconded by Connie Caudill to approve the minutes of the January 3, 2005 call as written.  Motion passed.

 

It was moved by Connie Caudill and seconded by Terry Woolley Howe to accept the Sanctioning Committee and Veterinary Committee reports as written.  Motion passed.

 

It was moved by Connie Caudill and seconded by Bob Morris to ratify the actions of the Executive Committee conference call meeting on February 1, 2005, to approve Vonita Bowers as the ride steward for the Southeast region Fun in the Sun Pioneer (FITS) I and II ride to be held 2/28 through 3/2/05 and 3/3/05 through 3/6/05.  Motion passed with Vonita Bowers abstaining.

 

It was moved by Terry Woolley Howe and seconded by Jim Baldwin to approve Robin Oscar as a back-up ride steward for the Southeast region Fun in the Sun Pioneer (FITS) I and II ride 2/28 through 3/2/05 and 3/3 through 3/6/05 in case Vonita Bowers is not able to fulfill her duties on all days.  Motion passed.

 

Special Sanction Committee Chair Vonita Bowers advised the Liberty Run Pioneer I, II, III, SE Region, Vicki Parker RM, 5/27, 28, & 29/05 25/55  25/55/100  25/55, with the pioneer being the 55 mile ride on each day.  Southeast Sanctioning Director Susan Kasemeyer approves this ride.  Motion to approve is from Committee.  Motion passed.

 

Spirit Mountain Pioneer, MW Region, Candy Barbo RM, 8/5, 6, 7/05 30/55/2D100  30/55/75  30/55, with the pioneer being the 55 mile ride on each day.  Midwest Sanctioning Director Roberta Harms approves this ride.  Motion to approve is from Committee.  Motion passed. 

 

Alabama Yellowhammer Pioneer – 2nd year, SE Region, Tamra Schoech RM, 10/6-8/05, 55/30  50/25  50/25, Otis Schmitt Head Vet. Southeast Sanctioning Director  Susan Kasemeyer approves this ride.  Motion to approve is from Committee.  Motion passed.

 
The Committee recommends sanctioning the North American Championship FEI 100 mile ride slated for 10/15/05 in the NE region for lifetime miles only as this is a dual qualification ride.  Motion passed.
 
The 3 rides in date conflict as discussed during last month’s call, the Grand Canyon, Owyhee Pioneer, and the Smokey Killen, were studied by the committee.  The committee looked at the past history for all 3 rides and came to the conclusion the Grand Canyon ride has the right to the date because the ride had taken place at least 2 years previous without any changes and should be allowed to take place on the new date and the other 2 rides should not take place unless they were 1000 driving miles from the Grand Canyon ride and from each other.  The Owyhee ride has the right to the second choice of other dates and the Smokey Killen ride the third choice of dates.
 
 
 
The committee also determined that all rides in the future that change the number of days, change dates, or locations need to come through committee, regardless of whether they are established rides or not.  Rides that involve changes will be treated as new multi-day rides in the future.  Motion passed with Bob Morris abstaining.  
 
Vonita will draft a letter from committee and advise the ride managers involved.
 
Nick Warhol advised 1403 responses have been received to date and the office is working on inputting the hard copies received.  A summary of the completed data will be forwarded to each board member after the closing date. 
 
With respect to long range planning for AERC, President Tomlinson advised the plan for Thursday in Reno, after the Board meeting, Tom Ackart will join the meeting to begin the long range planning process.  Tom will join the next conference call for approximately 5 minutes to answer any questions regarding the board meeting in Reno.  
 
Jan Jeffers, Awards Chair, presented a motion from committee to approve the Appaloosa and Pasa Fino breed associations donating a breed award for the 2005 season for high mileage equines.  After discussion pertaining to criteria for the awards, Jan withdrew the motion and will present in the future.  Jan will work with John Parke and Bob Morris regarding the awards.  
 
Jan advised she will handle a write-up for the Super volunteer award for presentation during the March meetings at convention.
 
John Parke advised the motion presented by the Horse Welfare Committee will streamline the reporting of equine deaths and take some of the burden off the Veterinary Committee.  The motion was amended at point number 1 to read Four weeks rather than Two weeks.  The motion reads as follows:
 

HWC to immediately replace the existing procedures for fatality reporting and supplement Rule 2.1.8 with the following procedures:

 

  1. Two weeks prior to the start of each AERC sanctioned ride, the AERC office will send the Ride Manager a packet including a set of instructions and suggestions, a Post Ride Statistical Report form and a Fatality Report form for the Ride Manager to provide to the Head Veterinarian.  The Ride Manager shall confirm the identity of the Head Veterinarian to the AERC office at this time.

 

 

  1. The Head Veterinarian shall complete a Post Ride Statistical Report form immediately after the ride and submit it to the Ride Manager for transmittal to the AERC office.  If there is a fatality on the ride or related to the ride, the Head Veterinarian shall also immediately complete the Fatality Report form and submit it to the Ride Manager for transmittal to the AERC office.  The Ride Manager shall be responsible for making sure the Post Ride Statistical Report and Fatality Report forms are completed and transmitted to the AERC office in a timely manner.

 

 

  1. The AERC office shall open a file for the each fatality incident and forward copies of the Fatality Report form for the incident to the members of the Board of Directors, the Veterinary Committee and the Horse Welfare Committee.

 

 

  1. The Veterinary Committee shall prepare a report to the Board of Directors concerning the cause of the death.  This report shall be confidential and shall not be made public.

 

 

 

  1. The Veterinary Committee report and veterinary records or other materials collected by the Veterinary Committee shall be made available to the Horse Welfare Committee.  The Horse Welfare Committee shall investigate the circumstances of the fatality and shall prepare a comprehensive report concerning the incident to the Board of Directors.  Witness statements, records and other materials gathered by the Horse Welfare Committee shall not be made public.  After review and comment by the Board of Directors, the Horse Welfare Committee’s fatality report shall be made public by publication on the AERC website and in Endurance News.

 

Motion passed with Jim Baldwin abstaining.

 

President Tomlinson invited discussion regarding AERC’s affiliation with USEF.  President Tomlinson advised the USEF board has no intention of ever putting on an endurance national  championship ride.  Endurance is currently the only discipline not affiliated with USEF.  Each other discipline does hold national championships.  USEF currently holds dressage and jumping national championships and is trying to relinquish those championships to the affiliates themselves.    It is USEF’s wish to have each discipline put on and control their own national championship event.

John Parke advised he sees no harm in affiliating now, and suggests AERC do so and try to work out a specific agreement addressing the practical issues that are of concern to AERC.  Motion from President Tomlinson:  “The AERC Board of Directors authorizes the President to sign the 2005 United States Equestrian Federation, Inc. Affiliation Association Application.  Motion passed with Barney Fleming voting No and Randy Eiland abstaining. 

 

Meeting adjourned at 7:22 p.m.

 

Jan Jeffers, Secretary

Committee Reports

 

Sanctioning/Special Sanctioning Committee Report

2/3/05 Vonita Bowers, Chair


The Committee makes the following recommendation to the BOD regarding the conflict in ride dates for the Grand Canyon, Owyhee and Smokey Killen Memorial rides.  Our opinion is based on the following ride history information provided by the AERC Office:

Owyhee Ride
Steph Teeter.
Oreana, ID
Currently sanctioned for 2005 Sanction was automatic, because this is the 3rd year
BUT the date was changed to two weeks earlier.

2001      one day ride                     54 entrants     began on        10/27
2002       5 day                            339 entrants                           10/22
2003        5 day                           331 entrants                           10/21
2004        5 day                           268  entrants                          10/19
requested 10/04 for 2005

Grand Canyon
Ann Nicholson
Fredonia, AZ

3 day ride in 2000 and 2001
4 day in 2002
5 day in 03 and 04
The ride was approved because it is the 3rd year.  No date change for 05

2000                 3 day             176  entrants            began on      10/14
2001                 3 day             139 entrants                                10/13
2002                 4 day             181 entrants                                 10/11
2003                 5 day             199 entrants                                 10/11
2004                 5 day             264 entrants                                  10

The Grand Canyon should have seniority and  is granted the dates requested.  If the other two are not 1000 miles apart they must select another date, then the Teeter ride gets next choice, the Killen ride next. 
And in the future, all rides with a change in # of days, date or location come to the committee regardless of # of years in existence.

The committee is discussing the Fairhill ride Sanction as well as the Liberty Run and Spirit Mountain Special Sanction requests, and will present the recommendations at the February conference call.

 

Veterinary Committee Report

Jim Baldwin, Chair

To: AERC Board of Directors

Subject: Horse death at Tevis

On July 31, 2004 Debora Wilson’s horse "Moonshadow Bey" (Shadow) died on the trail during the ride.

For the veterinary committee, I examined the facts in this situation and sent my findings to the veterinary committee. I think those that wanted to comment have had sufficient time to do so, consequently, I am going to give my report to the board.

Debora Wilson is an experienced endurance rider that has been riding in endurance competition since 1988. She has 2640 miles of endurance competition and 60 limited distance competition listed in AERC records. She lives close to the Tevis trail and trains on it frequently. The horse "Moonshadow Bey" shows 150 endurance miles and 60 limited distance miles in AERC’s records.

This report will be written from conversation with Ms. Wilson, AERC records and the post mortem report from Dr. Bradd C. Barr DVM PhD who is with the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory, Davis, California. (Vet School).

In visiting with Ms. Wilson she indicated that "Shadow" ate and drank well during the Foresthill vet check and eagerly returned to a sharp trot leaving the check. They crossed the highway right out of the check and had gone only 100 to 150 feet on the trail alongside the highway when "Shadow" took two wobbly strides then collapsed on the third and died almost immediately. Veterinarians were on the scene within three minutes but there was nothing that could be done. The horse was transported to University of California at Davis (UCD) for a post mortem examination.

The diagnosis from the laboratory was, "Focal pulmonary artery rupture with secondary diffuse perivascular hemorrhage surrounding the proximal pulmonary artery and aorta". This said in layman’s terms is a ruptured blood vessel. This could have happened at any time and the stress of the competition probably had very little to do with it. Our condolences to Debora.