Pcat Newsletter No 42 April 2007

PCAT NEWSLETTER NO 48 – APRIL 2009

Sponsored by Horseland

PCAT WEB SITE – www.pcat.org.au

PCA WEB SITE – www.ponyclubaustralia.com.au.

We live horses too! Editor – Ann Graves,

President: Judy Pitt – Secretary: Jill Viney –

Most news items get posted directly onto our website under LATEST NEWS so look up that section regularly, especially in busy PC times.

PCAT CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Olympic Discipline ones have all now been held. They all went off very well with satisfactory outcomes. The PCAT thanks all the organisers and their helpers for very well conducted events. As all the results are on the website I will not go into them here, but offer my congratulations to all those who competed and in particular, the place getters.

Unfortunately there was again a mistake in the presentation of the sashes to the teams in the dressage. It is easy for this to occur as the scorers are under great pressure to get the results out in a hurry. Scorers have to select the best from each club, so cannot have the make-up of the team listed as in the Trials grades 1 and 2. Therefore we do ask all team managers in future to check their team scores for those teams that require a rider from each age group and check them against the scorers listing and placings. If there is a discrepancy bring it to their attention immediately.

After much discussion on a new date for the Dressage and Jumping championships – there being many difficulties with this year’s dates – it has been decided to give January another try, but to make it a later in the month, i.e. the last full weekend so they will be on the 30th & 31st of January in 2010.

In future, the Elementary Dressage will be included every year and available for any aged rider.

In the Jumping Championships, riders with two horses can be considered once only for a team and must nominate their team horse. Grade Bars will be available for the riders in the different grades as in the Trials, and will be available to riders who competed this year.

Rope dressage arenas PC has agreed not to adopt the EA rule regarding these, so clubs may continue to use their present ones for club events. Just a reminder, where an arena is not fully enclosed, horses cannot be eliminated for going outside the line of the arena but marks for that movement may be deducted.

Eventing Speed for Grade 3 at 400 mpm has been adopted after the trial period last year.

Horseland Sponsorship

Horseland have been kind enough to give us an extra $1000 worth of product each year. The PCAT have decided to use this to purchase saddle blankets for the National team riders which they will be able to keep.

Please remember that Horseland are very generous in their sponsorship to the PCAT as a whole. Evidently they quite often get asked for sponsorship from individual clubs and championship organisers, but, because they give each year to PCAT, they will not give individually. They have asked us to contact you to let you all know the situation and would appreciate it if you do not seek any further sponsorship from them. Please adhere to this, as we do not want to jeopardise the $3000 sponsorship we do get from them.

They do not have sole rights to sponsorship, except from firms where there is a conflict of interest in the products they sell, at events that they do sponsor such as the PCAT championships.

PRINC PHILIP MOUNTED GAMES

Samantha Gardiner from Circular Head PC and Joshua Dales from Huntingfield PC were the State’s representative at the International Games Selection Camp in Adelaide. Though neither of them got into the Australian team, Sam was selected as the reserve rider. Well done Sam. Though not wishing misfortune to any one it would be lovely if Sam did get to go. Perhaps one may be forced to withdraw for educational reasons as happened for our IPE representative, Alison Hall.

Selection Games Teams 2009 Team.

Final selection for both the Junior and Senior teams will be held at Deloraine show ground on Anzac day. All the nominations will be allowed to go forward to this therefore no zone selection days are needed.

The State Coach, Barry Harper will be conducting training days for all interested Junior riders up until that date. Mike Cotton has been appointed the senior coach.

All riders attending the selection day have an equal chance of selection regardless of whether they have been in a previous team or at training sessions with our State coaches or not. There are five selectors present who all have equal voting rights.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS at Horsley Park in NSW

Fourteen Junior and thirteen seniors have nominated for the Olympic disciplines. The ten games riders will be added to these. Only Lucinda Lambert (Sen) and Grace Ellis (Jun Dsg & Evt) have entered for two disciplines, as no one is allowed to compete in both jumping and eventing.

The manager, Robyn Brown, is organising team meetings when members all get to know each other and various parts of the organisation of the trip are discussed. Riders will not be getting a share of the funds as listed in the Handbook because the PCAT is paying for everyone’s entry fees and their horse’s stabling, which will reduce the cost somewhat and is considerably more than the listed allowance. This is covered by the fund which you all contribute too every year.

Coaches We are lucky to have the services of three such excellent and experienced coaches as Jill Schwartz for Dressage and Nikki Brown for Showjumping while Merindah Hobson will oversee the Eventers.

Chaperone Anne Cotton will act in this capacity and be an assistant to Robyn Brown.

PRELIMINARY COACH COURSES

One course will be held in each zone for new candidates and which is also suitable for candidates who have Pony Club Level O and wish to upgrade to NCAS Pony Club Preliminary Coach. There will be a small charge of only $20 for the whole course because expenses are off set by the funding of $1,500 from Sport and Rec. The manuals costing $15 are extra. These should be purchased earlier and worked on. The most recent Level Os do not have to pay again.

The Northern course is on Sat 2nd and Sun 3rd May at Pine Lodge, Westwood. The change of date in a notice that was distributed was wrong. For further details or if you are interested in attending please contact Carol Hobson, ph 63831700 or Judy Kilby by 17th April. Other zones will notify their dates shortly so watch the website.

SAFETY & FIRST AID EDUCATION

The Northern Zone held their first aid equestrian module upgrade presented by Hamish McGovern from SafeTas recently, which they found very informative. It is open to all those who hold their workplace level 2 first aid certificate. The other zones are yet to organise their session. The cost is minimal as the PCAT is funding it.

THE HANDBOOK

The revision of all sections has now been completed. Most are dated December 2008, a few are earlier and one or two even later. Invariably after every State Council meeting, some things do get changed so be prepared for a change even if you have reprinted the new edition. The latest version will always be on the website. Check the date in the footer to see if you have the latest version as your printed copy. There may be only a few words changed that you could insert rather than reprinting a page as this one noted below.

Correction In the Policy statement pages there are only two changes that have been made On page 1.23 I forgot to cross out the line re Zone Grievance officer (GO). I did however change Zone to STATE in their role heading on p 1.25.

Addition There is a change to Section 5 as two trophies were added to the Trials prize list that I was not aware of.

There is a Contents list which has things listed in the order they are in the Handbook, while the Index has them in alpha order, so if you cannot find what you want in the contents list, then check the index doc. You should be able to find what you are looking for by referring to one or the other of these.

EVENTING

New rules. The EA has published their Eventing rule book again this year. It is on their website. I suggest that riders should print out the pages that are relevant to them. It is not necessary for them to print the whole book, which refers to 3DEs and classes, grading etc, which is irrelevant to PC, however if you are competing EA events too, then you will need these. I have downloaded it into Word and reduced the number of pages by spreading more onto A4 size, so if anyone would like that sent to them by email, I am happy to do so, then you can easily select what you require to print. I suggest you keep a full copy and cut up another one to print.

The CCP will be meeting shortly to decide if there are any changes that we should not adopt. If we decide not to

go along with any of them, the difference will be included in our Addendum. If we do adopt them, there will be no mention of them in it. The new updated Addendum will be put on our website as soon as the decisions are made. Take note of any of these when they are published. They will be enforced from that date.

Recording falls Scorers are asked to be sure to record any falls that take place at fences, both XC and SJ. Some of the scoring programmes allow for this and others don’t so if you have one that does not, record them somewhere, even if on a different document.

Carrying whips for dressage. You are allowed to warm up with one in the warm-up area, but you need to drop it as soon as you are called into the competition area. Carrying it around the arena area will incur 4 penalties, and if you enter the arena with it, it will mean elimination. This rule does not apply for the unofficial Grades 4 and 5.

Back protectors are highly recommended but not enforced. Note that ill-fitting ones are more dangerous than none at all.

Any lace up boots without smooth soles (look like a bush walking boot) are Not approved.

PONY CLUB TURNS 80

The Pony Club was founded in Britain 80 years ago. The PCAT is sending a congratulatory card. Australia has their biggest membership of any country.

VICTORIAN FIRE TRAGEDY

PCV wish to thank all those who donated things, however they did note that a lot of the equipment sent over was too old to be useful and had to be discarded. Whether our state was guilty of this I do not know. PCV have established a fund to which all states are contributing, to resurrect grounds and equipment that branches have lost.

We are donating $500 this fund. Luckily only three grounds were affected. Any over will go towards unfortunate members, some of which lost their horses.

OFFICIALS’ ATTIRE

Just a small reminder that if you are asked to officiate at any gymkhana or any other PC fixture, or instruct at a rally, you should attire yourself neatly. Remember, the riders have to wear their formal uniforms so you should dress to match them. Uniform, a coat and skirt or neat slacks, etc, are all acceptable.

COACHING ENQUIRIES

If you require advice or have any about any queries on coaching matters, these should now be addressed to Anne Cotton who is the chairman of the CC panel. Carol Hobson resigned from this position over a year ago but says she is still receiving queries. Her email is .

TEST NOMINATIONS.

Don’t forget that these close for the higher tests to the ZCTOs on the 30th April. If you are interested make it known to your CCTO, who will nominate you if they consider you are nearing the required standard.