January/February
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Contents Index Advertisers Scenic City 8 Dixon Smith Back Cover State Championships 14 Specialized Saddles Inside Front Tooraweenah 12 Cover Q60 15 Shahzada 16 2020 Tom Quilty 18 Reports and Notices AGM Notice 5 AGM Dinner booking form 7 Ride Reports Box Hill Endurance 33 Matar Stables Bullio 46 NSW Meeting 20 September 2019 30 Windeyer Photo Gallery 26 NSW Meeting 8 November 2019 42 President’s Report 2 Ride Calendar 34 Ride Results Membership fees 7 Windeyer Central Ranges 29 NSW Point score 22 Matar Stables Bullio 50 Intermediate 25 Intermediate 53 One Horse One Rider 24 Registrar Hints 4 SMC Notice 25 Ride Information Track Preservation Report 3 TPRs 55 National Point score 37 Advertising rates 67 One Horse One Rider 39 Accredited Vet List 65 Membership Information Forum 40 AERA Lifetime Distance Scroll 61 Zone One AGM report 41 AERA Application for Distance Scroll 60 Proxy Form 54 AERA Registration of Endurance Horse 59 Chief Stewards 64 Log Book ID Procedure 58 Ride Previews Non accredited but willing to help vet list 56 Bumbaldry 9 Ride Secretaries 62 Mt Lagoon 10 Ride Booking Procedure 57 Mudgee 13 NSW SMC committee 68 Upper Corindi 11 As I write this it seems as if the entire country is burning. Sydney itself is ringed by fire and has been for weeks. Our RFS members are becoming exhausted as are all the other members of our emergency services. No idea what we would do without these selfless people. We can’t thank them enough for what they do. Hopefully the rains will come, sooner rather than later. A couple of our rides have already been cancelled because they have been affected by the never ending drought. Others may follow suit because of the fires. On a more optimistic note, there is a great ride calendar for 2020 with some new rides being listed. The AGM is in Bathurst this year. The SMC puts a lot of effort into organising the AGM, awards presentation and dinner dance so hopefully many of you can attend. Remember there is a cut off for the dinner. You need to pay your money to the Secretariat before 10 February 2020. It should be a great night. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this newsletter over the last 12 months. Thank you to Animal Focus, for the never ending supply of photos. Thank you to Henley Design for continuing to produce the cover. Front Cover: Garry Weis riding Raymar Hazeemah with Brad Dillon riding Banfield Reign, in a riding time of 11.13 at the Bullio ride. Inside back cover: Noni Seagrim riding Honey Bee, to be first middleweight at Bullio in a riding time of 7.04. Both photos by Animal Focus. Cover: Henley Design. Editor: Helen Rich NSW Endurance News January February 2020 President’s Report With the 2019 season now completed, it is time to turn our attention to the upcoming AGM to be held on the 22nd February at Bathurst. The AGM is the members’ time to have their voice heard, please come along and take part, have a listen and have your opinions heard. I am sure there will be some discussions that may be of interest to you, if you are not there your opinion won't be heard. Also anyone thinking of standing for the committee vacancies please step forward and raise your hand. Following the 2019 AGM we will celebrate at the annual dinner dance, awarding successful recipients their prizes from the annual point score after which those enthused can dance their hearts out. Finally I would like to thank my committee for all the hard work and dedication throughout 2019 and hope to see those up for re-election consider another term on the SMC. As I write this report, sadly many of our members are being affected by the bushfires encircling the country. I really hope that no one suffers from too much loss and if there is anyone that has been affected please let us all know, I’m sure everyone would be willing to pull together and assist. Cheers Tony NSW ERA COMMITTEE MEETINGS Meetings are currently held at Richmond Club Cnr. East Market and Francis Street, Richmond Meetings commence at 6.00pm sharp. All members are invited to attend. Next Meeting Dates Annual General Meeting 22 February 2020 Bathurst NSW NSW Endurance News January February 2020 Page No. 2 Track Preservation Report for the NSW ERA AGM Fiona Meller As I write this report, all around the state savage bushfires are burning, and entire National Parks are being consumed by fire. I hate to think what condition our favourite riding areas will be in, and I don’t like to speculate on whether parks and trails will even be reopened in time for the endurance season. One side effect of the monstrous fire season has been to delay the release of the South-East Wollemi Horse Riding Plan for public comment. Some of you may remember me talking about the original first draft which was appallingly bad. This park is my main training ground so I was particularly vocal in my criticism! They were also proposing to use the document as a template for future recreational planning which would have been very bad news. I’m happy to say that they took the feedback on board and completely rewrote the document. The final draft is much more horse-friendly and will allow us to focus our submissions around proposals for specific trails. Unfortunately I can’t say much more until it is officially released, but we should not need a big campaign of opposition, just targeted and informed comments from ride committees and local riders who know the trails. Another success has been the eventual outcome of the wilderness pilots which ran in Kosciuszko, Deua, Monga and Mummel Gulf wilderness areas. The pilot scheme has been converted to ongoing permission for horse riding to continue in those locations on those specific trails. The outcomes of the monitoring demonstrated negligible impacts from horse riding, which helps support our position when we ask to be allowed to ride in other areas. Charlie Gauci and I continue to make written submissions on draft Plans of Management on behalf of NSWERA to promote the horse riders’ point of view, support positive changes and oppose restrictions on horse riding access. Our task is becoming easier as attitudes change within the National Parks & Wildlife Service. We no longer have to argue for the general principle of whether horses should be allowed in National Parks at all, as this is now widely accepted. Instead we simply have to present a case for why horse riding is appropriate in each specific park and location. This does not mean however that we should become complacent. There are still pockets of hostility and ignorance regarding horse riding, and occasional plans of management which ban horse riding on specific trails or in whole areas for no legitimate reason. Progress picked up again after stalling under the previous State Minister for the Environment who approved barely any management plans during her time in office. At the time of writing, her successor Matt Keane has already approved at least 21 new Plans of Management and Amendments: x Bago Bluff NP x Bouddi NP x Coorabakh NP amendment x Crawney Pass NP x Curracabundi Parks x Deua Catchment Parks x Dowe NP x Horton Falls NP x Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve x Khappinghat NP x Morton SCA x Mount Canobolas SCA x Murrurundi Pass NP x Palm Grove NR x Somerton NP x Thirlmere NP x Trinkey SCA x Weddin Mountains NP amendment x Wallis Lake Reserves NSW Endurance News January February 2020 Page No. 3 x Wondoba SCA x Yurammie SCA Many of these contain significant access improvements for horse riders. Some of the most noteworthy are: Khappinghat NP: was originally proposed as a Nature Reserve which would have prevented any horse riding except on public roads. Horse riders successfully persuaded NPWS to have most of the park reclassified as a National Park with horseriding allowed on the network of management trails. Coorabakh NP amendment: permits organised groups to ride along Coopernook Forest Way and Flat Nellie Trail creating a connecting link between Lansdowne State Forest and Comboyne State Forest. Weddin Mountains NP amendment: reversed a ban on horse riding to allow organised groups to use two trails which combine to form a 20 km loop. This was the result of representations from the local pony club and trail riding club. Berlang SCA adjacent to Deua NP: horse riding permitted on several trails. Curracabundi Parks: a further wilderness pilot established, available to horse riders using the Bicentennial National Trail or staying at Karamea Homestead with their horses. These examples highlight the fact that we have successfully educated NPWS on the importance of loop rides; links between riding areas especially where National Parks are adjacent to State Forests; and a more nuanced response to provide for horse riding instead of a simple black-and-white “permitted or banned” approach. My 8-year terms on the state-wide National Parks & Wildlife Advisory Council and Planning Committee have ended. While on those committees, I was heartened to see submissions made by current or former NSWERA members, and sometimes those submissions made a significant difference in convincing NPWS to make horse-friendly decisions. It was also very satisfying at some of my final meetings to find the large majority of committee members supporting my position, with the extreme greens outnumbered. A refreshing change from always being the “dissenting view”, which was the case for quite a few of the earlier years! I am still a member of the Blue Mountains Regional Advisory Committee for NPWS, which will help me to stay up-to-date with what is happening in National Parks.