Nomination Statement

["Stephen Rutter" <rutter@dakotacom.net>]

 

As a nominee for Director in the SW Region, I would like to see the AERC Board carry out its duty of managing the affairs of the organization according to the purposes stated in the Articles of Incorporation, 1972. Most of the Directors have been in their position for a long time and have allowed the AERC to stray from its founding purposes (e.g., to promote long distance riding, care and welfare of the horse, riding historic trails and collection and publication of scientific data from the endurance horses). All other activities that AERC is engaged in are to be only in an "insubstantial degree".

 

I support the following:

    1. Term limits for all Directors: six years at any one time would seem appropriate.

    2. Elect one Director from each of the nine Regions, with an alternate Director to insure representation at Board meetings. This would result in a nine member Board which could function much more effectively.        The Board should meet more frequently or delegate authority to the executive committee.

    3. Discussions of the Board between meetings on the closed "Board List" should be open for all members to see their Directors at work.

    4. Adoption of the updated and revised Bylaws as presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting and which were ignored by the present Board of Directors.

    5. Update and simplify the Rules and write them so that they are not ambiguous, giving Ride Managers more autonomy to adjust for the inevitable circumstances that occur unexpectedly at rides. Rides throughout the country will never be entirely comparable, nor should they be.

    6. Encourage International to form its own organization and remove the seemingly endless discussions concerning International endurance racing from AERC, most members of which could care less. This would also eliminate International's independent, unaccounted fund raising activities which violate AERC financial polices. 

    7. Recognize limited distance riding as a pastime that relates to and supports endurance riding and is not a purpose of AERC, in and of itself. LD riders that complete should be listed alphabetically with the statement "completion within allowed time". Eliminate all national awards for LD.

    8. Promoting and encouraging "welfare of the horse" issues such as:

        a. The Pride Project (rejected by the Board) and carried out by the tenacity of Dr. Fleming.

        b.  Require the Veterinary Committee to develop methods of tracking horse illness, treatments and deaths both at the rides and associated with the rides. Many treatments and some deaths occur after leaving the rides and are not scrutinized. We owe it to the horses to have their best interest at heart.

        c. Eliminate placing and timings, other than overall time limit, for LD rides to discourage racing.

        d. More education funding and emphasis at all levels of the organization. 

    9. AERC sanctioning of rides but not promoting or financially participating in selected rides such as the National Championship. Let the Race of Champions or similar rides decide those issues for those riders interested in such things.

    10. Maintaining the sound financial practices implemented these past few years.

 

If you can relate to these issues, I ask for your support and vote. Please contact me directly (info under Rules Committee in "Endurance News") and I would be happy to discuss these and any other issues and concerns SW members may have. In any event, please vote when your ballot comes! Let's get AERC back on trail!

 

Steve Rutter