The VERA SMC have approved a new ride for the 2019 Calendar.
The Tallangatta Valley Endurance Ride will be held on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th November and will consist of a 20 km and 40 km event on the Saturday and a 20 km and 40 km event on the Sunday. Many thanks to Naomi McGaffin Brown and her support crew for adding this ride onto the calendar.
Looks like it will be a great track. More details will be posted as we receive the information.
Please note the separate entry form and information flier for the HEROs rides (Ararat, Moyston and Landsborough) have just been uploaded to the files section.
Anyone wanting to take part as a HERO's rider will need to nominate to enter the VERA Endurance ride, complete Horse Health Declaration and Temperature Log as per normal for any endurance event. The HERO's entry form is so you can be included in the series pointscore and be elligible for some great prizes and awards! Sincere apologies for the time taken to get all this together for you!
What started out as a germ of an idea among a small group of us sort of snowballed! Thank you to all at HRV HERO's and the SPonsor Peter Horobin Saddlery for this exciting opportunity to expose more Standardbred horses to the wonderful sport of endurance riding.
The SMC have reviewed and updated the Rider Identification Bib policy. This document is now available under the Policies page on the VERA website. Please take the time to read the document and understand the requirements. This is being posted as a reminder to all members that it is MANDATORY to have your own ride bib once you upgrade to Endurance Rider status. The SMC thanks all riders for their assistance in adhering to this rule.
The VERA SMC would like to invite interested people to attend its Ride Secretary training afternoon. We have been lucky enough to have Kim Stephens (from Tumut and Snowy Zone rides) to help deliver this training.
The training will be held on 17th August 2019 commencing at 1 p.m. The venue is the Chittick Park Room (Seymour Leisure Centre), Pollard Street, Seymour. Afternoon tea will be provided.
If you are interested in coming along please contact the VERA Secretary, Ellen Prestage, to register your interest.
The SMC would like to thank Bronwyn Cuthbertson, who we originally approached to do the training, but we couldn't fit into her busy schedule.
On behalf of the SMC and the riders attending the Toongabbie ride we would like to extend our warm thanks to the following volunteers:
A rally is being planned for 27th August to protest the closure of parks in Victoria. This rally is being organised by the Bush User Group and details can be found on the following FB page: https://www.bugu.org.au/?fbclid=IwAR0-CBHs0f7XOYcU7lDdYcUdenNDl0jbCEv0RfwdDT-2xUvVi9s1HpAWIIs
This is very pertinent to endurance riding as access to tracks will no longer be available and we will lose our rides.
If you have time to head to Melbourne and join the rally please do. It's not time to be complacent and rely on other people standing up. We all need to be heard and to join in with other user groups.
VERA will be writing to politicians to put our case before Parliament. If you cannot make it to the rally then please send a letter to Louise Staley, Member for Ripon who has promised to put our letters before Parliament.
The VERA SMC would like to notify our members that swabbing was conducted at the Toongabbie ride this weekend. 3 samples were taken - 1 from the intermediate ride, one from the group of horses that retired at the 80km mark and one from the 100km completions.
