A Moving Season

This newsletter had to go out today because we are about to MOVE the National Office and systems will shut down tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon. First of all, on behalf of the National Board, the National Committees and our National Office staff, I would like to wish you a great Christmas and a safe, healthy and happy New Year. The National Office is closed from noon, Wednesday, 20 December 2006, and will re-open at its new premises on Wednesday, 03 January 2007. The start in a new office will hopefully also be a fresh start in other areas, after an administratively rather frustrating but otherwise quite successful 2006. As they say, a change is as good as a holiday! Change The first reaction to any proposed change usually is resistance (and a decent half-halt won't fix this type). Resistance is quite normal. Most of us prefer not to change because we are comfortable where we are and are uncertain how a change will affect us personally, our position, our plans, etc. On a more general level one can almost anticipate some of the reasons that will be given against something new, often mainly because we don't want to change rather than because the proposal does not make sense. Here are the top 10 "killer phrases" (nothing new but in this instance largely "borrowed" from http://www.effectivemeetings.com/): "How would you know?” / “You are too young, too old, etc.” "If it ain't broke..." "We've always done it this way." "I'll get back to you." "It'll NEVER Work." "No!""  "Great idea, but not for us." "Do you realize the paper work it will create?" "It isn't your responsibility." "We tried that before." Yes, some of these "reasons" may be relevant, but should we not at least be able to expect an open mind, for people to listen to the reasons why a change is proposed and what benefits it will bring? Climate Change Now this is something we all can help to slow down.  Global warming is now established and will in the long term have drastic consequences for our sport, particularly in Australia. So why not make a New Year's Resolution and do something about water and fuel conservation, greenhouse gas emissions and other measures that will make life better (or less bad) for the generations to come? How things work in the EFA In the last edition, we gave you a general overview of the EFA. In this issue, we are focussing on the High Performance Program. You can download this overview (this is an MS Word document with an embedded PDF file), which again does not really justice to the complexity and depth of the program, but more information is on the EFA National web. Let me, however, introduce the subject to you with a bit of its history in the EFA. In 1994, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) offered the EFA and Cycling Australia shared funding for the employment of a High Performance Manager. (After all, both sports involve riding and a number of "Disciplines".) For some reason, the share deal fell through. As a National EFA Director with the "Development" portfolio, I convinced the Federal Executive to accept the concept even if the EFA had to make up the other half of the salary. Wayne Roycroft and I then went to Canberra, argued our case and were successful. After advertising and numerous panel interviews, we offered the position to Gareth McKeen. Gareth very quickly built up the program from scratch and did an excellent job getting it to a level that earned the respect of the ASC and others in the sport community. Gareth left us at the end of 2004 (as he had planned) after the Athens Olympic Games, and Brett Mace now fills the role of High Performance Manager. Governance Restructure As advised in the last newsletter, the EFA Dressage Committee is the first one of the "old" National Committees to move a non-representational "skills-based" structure, after the National Board approved the proposal with some minor amendments. We are now calling for nominations from the general membership. It will be interesting to see when other committees will follow suit and re-examine their own structure. National Office Staff We are pleased to advise that Mandy King has started as Sport Consultant - High Performance. Mandy will be handling a wide variety of work, including FEI Schedules, FEI registrations, overseas entries and related matters. Welcome, Mandy. We are also looking for either superwoman or superman who can assist us with marketing and publicity, web maintenance, web help desk support to Branches and Clubs, database management and development and a few other things that need more attention.  So if you can write a good story (with apostrophes and hyphens in the right places), know MS Access, MS Excel and web editing (html. etc.) and are prepared to work for little more than nothing, we would like to hear from you. More specific details of the position (or a number of part-time versions of it) early next year. Are you a film star? Or would you like to feel like one? We have been approached by the producers of a new film "Australia" to find doubles for Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. They need talented riders with that "born-in-the-saddle" look for specialised sequences within the film. This would be a chance of lifetime for members to be involved. They need females of very slim build around 5'11 (177 cm) - 6 ft (180 cm) and males also of slim fit build around 6'2 (185 cm). Interested persons would need to be available from early next year. For further details, please ring Craig Emerton 0418 497 076 (Since I clearly fit the criteria, I am planning to so you might not want to bother ....) Events You may be surprised to find out that in Florida, a major event had to be cancelled last weekend (and others are in doubt) after a suspected outbreak of equine herpes virus, which has already killed a number of horses. This shows again how important it is for riders to be vigilant and take note of their horses' condition. As far as "national" events in Australia in January are concerned, we have the last qualifier in the Australian League series of the FEI World Cup Jumping in Dapto (NSW) on Saturday, 21 January 2008. It seems that a number of riders that have taken part in the series are not aware of the FEI registration requirement for themselves and their horses. The rule became effective in January 2006. Riders and horses not registered for both 2006 and 2007 will not earn ranking points on FEI and Australian League ranking lists, including the Golden Grand. Registration Form Rule Changes Eventing At its meeting in October 2006, the EFA National Eventing Committee changed the medical provisions in Rule 33. The change becomes effective from 01 January 2007. New EFA Show Horse Rule Book The EFA Show Horse Committee has worked hard in the past year to develop a more complete resource for Show Horse riders, judges and organisers. The new rule book collates all the existing rules from several documents into one and clarified some of the wording. The greatest development is “guidelines” to assist everyone in the sport. The rule book will be effective from 1 January 2007 and will be available for free download from the EFA National web site. Specific rule changes to note include: Addition of rules for Working Hunter competitions No change of saddlery permitted in Showman Only snaffle bridles are permitted in Showman Update of rules relating to Protests and Complaints Update of the definitions of Abuse of the Horse Dressage Minimum Age of Horses: As decided at the February 2006 meeting, members are reminded that horses must be 7 years of age to be eligible to compete in Prix St Georges or above. Horses must be 8 years of age to compete in Grand Prix. These rules are in line with FEI Dressage Rules. Thank you to those who supported us and the sport On behalf of the National Board, National Committees and our staff in the National Office, I would like to thank all those who have made a contribution in whatever way to the development of the sport. This includes volunteers of all kinds, riders, drivers, vaulters, owners, officials, sponsors and "administrators" who have helped to run our sport. Particular thanks go those who assisted the National Office getting its job done. We hope we can bank on your continued support. Supporters and Sponsors I cannot close without thanking our funding agencies, sponsors and supporters. In particular, we would like to mention • the Australian Sports Commission, our Principal Sponsor, • the Australian Olympic Committee, • Horseland, • Kentucky Equine Research and Ridley Agriproducts, • Horse Deals magazine, and • Aon Risk Management Services. Make it a good day! And once more: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Franz Venhaus Chief Executive Officer

CHIO Aachen to add Eventing and Vaulting to its program Following the success of these Disciplines at the recent World Equestrian Games at Aachen, the Organisers have decided to add Eventing and Vaulting to their program. Traditionally, only Jumping, Dressage and Driving had been on display.

Young Aussie Eventing Riders win 2006 Trans Tasman The 2006 Young Rider Eventing Trans Tasman competition in New Zealand had its challenges on the cross-country course but the Aussies won by a margin of 53.6 peanlties. Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

Laurie Lever and Drossel Dan win ISS-Tempo World Cup Grand Prix With the only clear round over a two-round course, Laurie Lever and Drossel Dan won the $5,000 Grand Prix at the 2006 ISS-Tempo Summer Showjumping Classic at SIEC.

FEI Bulletin No. 5/2006 out now The FEI has published the last of its Bulletins for 2006. It contains quite a few items of interest.

EFA Dressage Committee - Nominations Open In a ground-breaking move, the EFA Dressage Committee unanimously agreed to implement a non-representational ('skills-based') structure in 2007.

Final Notice: FEI Horse and Rider Registrations for 2006 From the beginning of 2006, competitors in all FEI-level events (not just Eventing as in previous years) had to have an FEI registration, also for their horses.

Medical provisions in National Eventing Rules change from 01 January 2007 At its meeting in October 2006, the EFA National Eventing Committee changed the medical provisions in Rule 33. The change becomes effective from 01 January 2007.

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