New Logbook Registrar

NEW LOGBOOK REGISTRAR
The new logbook registrar is Mrs Jill Hawkes, 38 Kings Road, Upper Natone 7321, phone 0427 790 918.

STATE CHAMP FUNDRAISER
The information and entry page for the State Champ Fundraiser on Saturday 2016-06-10 is now online.

TQ18 WORKING BEE
A working bee to help prepare the Santarena Park site for the TQ18 is scheduled for May 28 & 29 - see the Calendar.

SMC MINUTES
The March & April SMC meeting minutes have been posted to the website - see under the Newsletters menu item.

Wanted: Chief Stewards

Interested in becoming a Chief Steward? Read on.

There are currently only 5 active Chief Stewards in Tasmania: Pat Lamprey, Helen Bowkett, Greg Johnson, Denise Williams and Mark Dunn. Of these, three are still actively riding. None of them are (ahem) young.

There have been rides recently where there has only been one Chief Steward available to oversee the ride.

No Chief Steward = No Ride.

To try and ensure Tasmania does not find itself in a position where rides can't be run due to lack of a Chief Steward, a push is underway by TEERA to identify suitable candidates for Chief Steward and put them through the accreditation process. A high level of assistance and mentoring will be provided.

What do you need to do to get accredited as a Chief Steward?

  • Be a TEERA member and be 18 years of age or over
  • Be an active, accredited TPR
  • Possess suitable interpersonal skills
  • Submit an application detailing your endurance experience (riding, organising, officiating)
  • Sit a preliminary written exam - this is 'open book' with all answers obtainable from the rule book.
  • Act as Assistant Chief Steward at three rides
  • Undergo an oral exam where 21 ride scenarios are discussed - you get these in advance.

So far so good?

If you'd like to have a chat about this please come and see me at an upcoming ride (I will be at Kimberley and hope to be at all of the other rides in 2016 too) or email me for my phone number.

Please give this serious consideration.

As you all know, riding is a very satisfying, rewarding and enjoyable experience.

So is Chief Stewarding.

- Mark Dunn

Bushwackers Endurance Ride

Ride Information & Online Entry

  • The information and entry page for the BBRI Bushwackers Endurance Ride at Upper Castra on Saturday 2016-04-09 is now online.
  • A new online entry system is being used for this ride. Your feedback on the new form would be appreciated, and there are two feedback questions at the end of the form to facilitate this.
  • Please note that you will not receive an entry confirmation email with this new system. So long as you see the "thank you" message after submitting your entry, all is well - please do not submit duplicate entries because you have not received confirmation by email.
  • Before entering, please make sure you have read and understood the recent rule changes requiring a Horse Trainer's Declaration with each entry. See the news post below for more information.

Important Changes to Ride Entries

There have been some changes in the AERA rule book that will affect the way you enter rides as of 1 January 2016.  A trainer's declaration must now be completed for each horse entering a ride. For convenience, the declaration will be included on the reverse of the entry form that you sign when entering.

However, if you are riding a horse that you have not trained yourself then you need to have the trainer of the horse sign this form. If the trainer of the horse is not going to be at the ride then you must download the declaration (Form 35) separately, have it signed by the trainer of the horse and bring it to the ride where it will be attached to your ride entry form.

An important part of this rule is section 43.7  For endurance and marathon rides, the trainer must be a full riding adult or junior member of a division association.

If you ride as a ‘jockey’ for someone else this is important information.  Please note that the trainer’s declaration is already included on the second page of the entry form, so you would only need to use Form 35 if the trainer isn’t present at the ride

From the rule book:

27.6       A ride entry shall not be accepted unless the appropriate ‘Trainers Declaration’ for the horse is completed on the ride entry form or accompanies the ride entry form pursuant to Clause 43.5.
43.5       Every horse in every ride, shall require a ‘trainer’s declaration’ for the horse, which may be completed on the ride entry form or attached separately to the ride entry form using AERA Form 35 Trainers Declaration.
43.6       For introductory, intermediate, micro-marathon and mini-marathon rides, the trainer of the horse does not need to be a full riding adult or junior member of a DA.
43.7       For endurance and marathon rides, the trainer of the horse must be a full riding adult or junior member of a DA.
43.8       it shall be a serious infringement of this Rulebook for a person to lodge a false ‘trainers declaration’.
43.9       Where the rider is not the trainer of the horse, the rider shall make reasonable enquiry of the trainer of the horse to satisfy themselves that the horse will compete free of any Banned or Prohibited Substances pursuant to Section 5 EADCM Rules.

NEEEC Endurance 66 Marathon

Ride Information & Online Entry

  • Information and online entry for the NEEEC Endurance 66 Marathon & Mini-Marathon rides are now online.
  • For more info and entry links please refer to the calendar.

Safety Communications

  • NTARC will be supplying Safety Communications and RFID logging at this event. 
  • Helmet tags will be fitted to all 80Km and 40Km riders. Please present your helmet/s to the Communications Trailer as early as possible.
  • The Comms Trailer will be located near the canteen. 
  • The trailer has had some modifications made and now has a service window on the rear of the trailer for enquiries and fitting of tags on the helmets.
  • The usual service of music and strapper calls will be broadcast on FM 87.8 MHz

    Norm Thorley VK7KTN
    NTARC SAFETY Communications Coordinator

Proposed Rule Changes - Mandatory Rest Periods

As noted in the previous post, there will be time allocated for discussion of these proposed Rule Changes at the General Meeting on Monday 7 March, 7.30pm. All welcome to participate:

16.1          Rule Changes – Motions for Discussion and First Vote. 

16.1.1       Mandatory Rest Periods.

NVP proposed rules on Mandatory Rest Periods for Horses: 

The following rules are proposed to proactively provide best practice in protecting horse welfare from excessive competition schedules. There is increasing evidence that horses require a period of rest between competitions to allow for physical and mental recuperation, and while there have not been prospective studies in endurance to define precisely the time each horse might require for this rest, data from overtraining of racehorses and retrospective analysis of data e.g. from AERASpace provide some guidelines.

Overworking horses can result in diminished strength of bone and other structural tissues while they remodel in response to the imposed workload. For example, bone requires a period of rest after strain to lay down strong structural elements that can cope with further imposed load, and until this is completed the bone can actually be weak and may fracture. In addition to physical effects of repeated exercise, there are mental aspects of overtraining that impact negatively on the horses’ exercise performance.  

For many years, the national veterinary panel has discussed the imposition of compulsory rest orders on horses after elimination from events; such rules would provide greater consistency of approach to individual cases. Horses which have had an unsuccessful completion as a result of lameness, metabolic problem, or injury require time to heal. It is acknowledged that not every case will be the same, but having a standard rest period would allow recuperation time, in the best interests of horse welfare, and remove inconsistency in application of rules.  

  1. After competing in any AERA or FEI endurance event, as defined below, a horse must be given a mandatory minimum rest period, before it is again eligible to participate in any AERA or FEI endurance event.

    For the purposes of this rule, an endurance event is any ride defined in Table 4 of the AERA rulebook or defined in Article 814 of the FEI Endurance regulations, or a specific endurance carnival encompassing several supervised days of ridden competition where a rider prenominates to ride one horse on more than one day of that carnival.

    Distance completed and rest period incurred:

    start – 40 km 5 days
    start – 80 km 12 days
    Over 80 – 120 km 19 days
    Over 120 km -140 km 26 days
    Over 140 Km 33 days

    Extended rest periods will apply if a horse has been eliminated from the ride for metabolic or lameness reasons. 

    The total rest period commences at Midnight at the end of the day that the ride finishes (24:00 hours), as denoted by the maximum ride time allowed, and finishes at the same time on the last full day of the rest period. The published ride start time of the horse’s next ride must fall after the expiry of the rest period. 
     
  2. Extended Rest Periods for metabolic eliminations that require immediate invasive treatment

    Any metabolic condition diagnosed in a horse which has been eliminated that left untreated would compromise or threaten the welfare of the horse is considered a condition requiring Invasive Treatment. It is the responsibility of the Head Veterinarian and the Treatment Veterinarian to review, on a case by case basis, the treated horses at the end of an event and classify each case as one requiring Invasive Treatment, incurring mandatory rest, or Authorised Treatment not incurring mandatory rest.

    If a Horse has been eliminated for metabolic reasons which require immediate invasive treatment at any endurance event, it must be given a mandatory rest period as below before it is again eligible to participate in an endurance event:

    Invasive Treatment 1st Incident 60 days in total
    Invasive Treatment 2nd Incident 90 days in total 

    The extended rest period for a 2nd incident comes into effect if the horse has been eliminated for metabolic reasons which require immediate invasive treatment at any 2 consecutive endurance events or twice within any 3 month period.
     
  3. Extended Rest Periods for Lameness

    If a Horse has been eliminated for lameness reasons at any endurance event, it must be given, in addition to the rest period defined in rule 1, an additional mandatory rest period as set out below before it is again eligible to participate in another endurance event.

    Lameness 1st Incident 14 days in addition
    Lameness 2nd Incident 21 days in addition 

    The additional extended rest period for a 2nd incident comes into effect if the horse has been eliminated for lameness reasons at any 2 consecutive endurance events.

    Elimination for lameness reasons at a 3rd consecutive endurance event will incur a mandatory rest period of:

    Lameness 3rd Incident 90 days in total 

    Elimination for lameness reasons at any 4 consecutive endurance events will incur a mandatory rest period of 6 months before it is again eligible to participate in an endurance event.

    If a Horse has been eliminated for lameness reasons at more than 4 consecutive endurance events it will be banned from endurance events.