There's a new e-mail list for AERC endurance riders on the Internet. The sole requirement for joining is that you be a current member of AERC. It's not an AERC-sanctioned list at this point. It's led and moderated by Mike Jaffe of the Central Region as a result of discussions at the last convention in Chattanooga. Hosting and all the technical support for the list are supplied by John Teeter; I serve as the AERC interface.

Here's a quote from the home page for the list that describes its purpose: "The purpose of this list is to provide AERC members with a discussion forum exclusive to themselves. Others outside of the AERC are welcome to peruse the archives . . . but only AERC members can subscribe and post messages."

The list has about 400 members at this point with about 10 AERC directors subscribed. It's been up and running since June 8. The volume isn't high -- about 25 posts per day so far -- and a digest form is available for those who don't want to receive a lot of e-mails during the day. There are also archives that both members and non-members can view. Topics so far have included "Variables in meeting pulse criteria," "Trot outs and lameness," "Recovery time at vet checks," "Post ride horse death information," "Accountability and statistics," "The Florida 3-day 100," "Weight divisions," "Methods to ID horses -- and is it needed?," "Exit checks and CRI," "Cheating," "Horse deaths/vet committee," and "Board minutes."

So far the posts have been very much "on topic" -- that of endurance. This may change as the list gains more members and maturity, but it's certainly a positive aspect of the list. One of the purposes of an AERC-only list was to encourage members to join a lower volume list where there may be more board of director participation. The list is "unofficial" at this point and has no direct connection with the AERC organization. Moderation is handled very unofficially by Mike Jaffe as well. His philosophy is " We are not here to censure ideas or opinions. We are here to ensure the forum benefits the overall membership to the greatest extent possible."

If you are interested in subscribing, send an e-mail to AERCMembersForum Moderator@goldhill.com with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line and your AERC number and name in the body. The home page describing the group is at http://www.goldhill.com/members/.

Past board minutes online

And to close this column, I'd like to share a little history with members. John and Steph Teeter and Bob Morris have placed all the board meeting minutes from 1975 to the present online at www. aerc.org/documents/boardminutes. There, you can get a glimpse of our history, members of the board of directors of yesteryear, and issues facing our organization 20 or more years ago.

For example, in the 1975 meeting the annual budget for approval was $6500; today it's $580,000. Issues included "new bylaws," how to finance the budget, juniors, and forming an Ethics Committee. Methods to support the budget included mandatory membership to qualify for AERC awards, increasing membership dues, trying to find a national awards sponsor, charging rides a sanctioning fee and a fee for each participating rider. Dues were $10 for an individual and $15 for a family. Two years later those fees were increased to $12 and $17. In 1977, 64 rides were sanctioned by AERC. Some of the members of that board are still with us and active -- Julie and Bob Suhr, Kathy Perry, Lou and Hanne Hollander, Roger Taylor, and Louise Riedel. Two are currently on the board.

It's fascinating looking through the names, issues, motions, and sometimes personalities of these past minutes. Some of the same issues are still relevant today. You can see the evolution of our awards and points systems -- and see the reasoning that went into them. These were all volunteers as we still are today -- caring about our sport, its future, and especially its equine partners.

Try reading some of it -- you will have a better appreciation of how the board works and sometimes doesn't work. But we are all here for the same reason.