President's Report
Oh My ! What big shoes to fill . .. . . ..
Firstly I would like to Thank Pamela Russell-Green for her hard work and persistence in having the wonderful club we have today. I greatly appreciate Pamela’s assistance in staying on board to show me the ropes and to push and prod where required.
Secondly I would like to thank the committee for their commitment and support to our club and the new would be President.
Wow! What a day the last show was! I don’t think anyone would have expected such a “summers” day and the call for Jackets to be optional. A big Thank you goes out to all the Judges and Pencillers who had to persevere in the heat!!!!! Let’s hope it’s not an indication of what is ahead.
** Please remember and pass onto your spectators/helpers – that our main car park area is for floats only! Cars MUST be parked in the cars only area which is on the right hand side at the end of the driveway. As you can appreciate there is nothing more frustrating then trying to park a float! Your assistance with this matter is appreciated.
*** If you or anyone you know are available to offer assistance on show days, please contact myself or anyone on the committee. We are always looking for runners and pencillers and the club will acknowledge your efforts.
Well I look forward to our next comp on the 7th December – please get your entries in ASAP as it closes on the 7th November. With the Christmas theme day – it is always exciting!!!!!!
Take care and Happy Riding
Susan Harris
President
Secretary's Report
Wow, how hot was it on Sunday 19th October? Horses, riders, judges and pencillers all sweltered in the heat.
From Arena 5 I found a lot of horses and riders very flat due to the heat. It was so sudden and unexpected we never had a chance to acclimatize to it.
To those of you that I spoke with briefly my face does not always appear like a fire engine, and I hope to catch up more fully in December.
Just a quick note, in the EFA Rule book it states:
“Riders must not warm up within 20 metres of an arena that a test is being held in”
This means that you cannot ride around the outside of Arena’s 4 and 5 while tests are taking place. Please be considerate to other riders and know the rules. I actually had to stop a test due to a rider warming their horse up around these arenas. Please note warm up is in the sand warm up arena, do not come to Arena’s 4 or 5 before your time and expect to warm up around the arenas this is not to happen. Please be fair and show respect to your competitors.
Equally on Saturday before the show no one is allowed to use the arenas to practice in. This is also in the EFA rulebook. Even if you are not entered in the show, the arenas can be knocked down or broken, the arenas are a large expense to the club who if we have to replace parts of an arena this can end up a costly exercise.
I am constantly amazed at the number of riders who do not even glance at the rulebook. How can you compete in a sport and not know the rules. I urge all of you to go online to the EFA website and either download the rules or at least read through them.
As previously stated if you are entered in an EFA Official Test I require your EFA number and the horses EFA number on the entry form. I will no longer accept “To be advised”, your entry will be returned immediately. These numbers are submitted to the EFA 1 week prior to the competition taking place to check that members and their horses are current. If there is a problem I can then contact you to correct the problem. I am not here to chase you for the numbers. Remember, Bridle number are MANDATORY.
Congratulations to our winners and place getters for Horse of the Year, Young Rider and Pony of the Year what a Super effort.
Finally a big thank you from me to our outgoing President, Pamela Russell-Green. Pamela guided the club through one of our darkest periods in 2007 with EI and kept all the Committees spirits up and provided us daily with the latest information from the Horse Industry Council and Department of Primary Industries.
Joanne
A Penciller's Experience
(Would you like to pencil to help your Club?)
We are always short of Pencillers and our April Competition was no different,
so we called on a rider’s parent who had never pencilled before and Marie
Wildridge took up the challenge, then we asked her to give us her thoughts.
YES I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. When introduced to the Judge I
advised her that I had not pencilled before. Helen Mackay (the judge) was an
absolute gem.
I had some really good tips from Pam Wood and Pamela Russell-Green prior
to the event. Things like familiarise yourself with the test, and that the cheat
sheet with abbreviations would be in the folder. Funny I thought I would need
the cheat sheet but as you write the Judge’s comments down you abbreviate
naturally anyway.
During the first test I had my finger on each of the movements writing down
the comments and I even found that I could sneak a peek at the test, by the
second test I could actually watch some of the test.
It's interesting to watch the test from a different angle, as a Mum
watching/calling your daughter’s test you think you have some idea what the Judges are looking for. Where as a Mum you can see small things that are
incorrect and you wonder how much they effect the marks! As a penciller, just
jotting down the comments and listening to the explanation from the Judge,
these little things actually make a big difference and correcting them can help
considerably in preparation for the next outing.
So in answer to your Question did I enjoy the experience-Yes I was very
nicely surprised.
Would I recommend it-Yes I think we should all have a go and by some small
miracle you may even learn a thing or two.
We would like to say……..
Marie coped admirably as her first pencilling experience was pencilling a
Medium 4.1
Are there any others out there ready to take up the challenge?