ILR Show Division

PERFORMANCE COMMITTEE Minutes
January 25, 2009
 

Meeting called to order at 7:05 EST.

Members attending Karen Baum , Deb Garvin, Jim Krowka, Tami Lash, Brian Patterson, Tom Rothering

AGENDA ITEM 1 – Establishing committee guidelines:

Committee discussed the need to "reply to all" when responding via email or else to make sure that the email is being sent to performancecommittee@lamaregistry.com

It was noted that outside help and input or opinions should be sent to all committee members if it is going to be used as reference for committee decisions.

Being respectful to one another was considered an essential part of all committee communication.

The committee agreed the guidelines for ethical procedures sent in an email by Fr. Ryan are appropriate to follow.

Tabling topics and ways to maintain forward

momentum were briefly discussed.

Tami asked if Secretary and Chair could work together in keeping data recorded. Jim agreed.

AGENDA ITEM 2 –- Budget Items:

As per Jim's request for information regarding the recent email request for donations to the ILR show division, Tami and Karen provided background and information regarding show division finances.

The budget for the Performance Committee was discussed with Phone Calls and Award Certificates being the primary items. It was suggested there might be cheaper alternatives to the conference calls which would be explored.

AGENDA ITEM 3 – ILR/UAP point system and how this affects the Performance Division: 

Discussion involved a variety of aspects pertaining to the UAP document sent to committee members this week. How points are awarded, moving up in level, keeping the competition friendly (compared to cutthroat type of competition experienced in other species) and level of achievement formats were all discussed. Committee consensus favored level of achievement format but agreed as noted by Tami that at this time it would likely overwhelm show

management and participants. It was discussed that level of achievement formats could be developed  and a prototype set up for show management to utilize at their discretion. Karen recommended keeping the level format in mind when structuring the performance format.  

Agenda item was tabled for continued development and discussion. Jim would continue to work of developing a prototype format. Once developed for this year whether to hold level of achievement trials could be left up to the discretion of show management. Further implementation could occur in 2010.

AGENDA ITEM 4 –  Division rules:

After discussion a motion was made by Jim and seconded by Debi to recommend a 10 obstacle per class requirement for all divisions including youth (with the minutes to be passed on to the youth committee.) Tami noted she would not have a problem with an 8 obstacle course but would go along with committee and a 10 obstacle course format was approved.

Discussion moved to discussion of youth rules, specifically regarding showing in youth and adult classes with the same llama. The committee agreed to recommend to show management  that youth courses in Companion, Trail and Freestyle divisions differ significantly from adult classes by no less than 6 obstacles or trial tasks. The committee talked about safety and that the judges  decision would be final regarding course safety for competitors.

AGENDA ITEM 5 – Classes to be offered within each division:

Novice and Advanced, or Open Youth Junior – age 8-11

Youth Intermediate – age 12-18  (for 2009 only: youth has shown less than 3 years)

Youth Advanced – age 12-18 (for 2009 only: youth has shown more than 3 years)

Committee consensus agreed with this and the youth committee who had already approved these.

It was also agreed that show management could have discretion regarding what divisions to offer.

Discussion moved to recommended obstacles.  It was agreed that Debi would work on Companion , Tom on Freestyle, and Brian (and Jim) on Trail.

Discussion moved to performance division rules and the following list was developed.

Suggested Performance Rules (these will continually be worked on, shared with other committees, etc. until final approval of our list of Performance Rules by the SD-GB):

1).     Courses to consist of 10 obstacles or tasks; except for Jr. Youth and Novice courses which will consist of 8 tasks. Optional course size at discretion of show management.

2).     If youth are allowed to show in non-youth classes, courses must differ significantly by a minimum of 6 obstacles/tasks.

3).     Once a Novice animal has received 35 points, they must move to Advanced.

4).     Animals must show in the appropriate division. Advanced animals should not show in Novice classes.

5).     Handler and animal must negotiate all obstacles or performs all tasks in a safe manner.

6).     In all performance classes, the handler may choose not to negotiate an obstacle themselves, unless otherwise specified by the course designer.

7).     No open toed shoes are allowed in any class.

8).     Voice and/or hand commands may be used. The use of training devices such as clickers or food is not allowed.

9).    If more than one attempt is allowed on a task/obstacle, the penalty for the first refusal /incomplete must be assessed prior to the second attempt (i.e. if a refusal is three points the maximum number of points an animal may be awarded on the second attempt is 7).

10).   In all Open, Novice and Advance courses, once an animal has 3 refusals, they are finished being judged and may be dismissed from the course. Judge's discretion may allow them to finish the course in an unobstructed manner. All youth classes complete the courses regardless of refusals encountered.

11).   No exhibitors may practice in or on obstacles provided for the show, to be used in their classes/courses, at any time during the show. Show Management has the right to offer practice courses.

12).   Obstacles may be numbered for the ease of the exhibitors.

13).   Site rules take precedence over ILR rules and show management has the discretion to limiting Youth showing same animal through Novice, Advance or Open classes.  

14).   Show Management also has the discretion to limit multiple Youth Showing same animal.

15).   For all shows, for all courses, the Officiating Judge has the final say for all Courses.

16).   If Judge deems an unsafe Obstacle/Task, said judge has the right for that Obstacle/Task to be removed or altered.   

Tom expressed concern about liability for show management regarding obstacle classes.  Discussion noted that equine events often involve considerably more risk than llama events and that liability protection utilized for equine events could work for llamas. The committee will investigate this further. 

It was recommended that show management be allowed the option to offer obstacle courses for competitors with disability.

The committee unanimously agreed that all rules set in place now remain in effect until January 2010.

The committee discussed a face to face meeting for all committees and the ILR-SD-GB. Concerns were noted about the necessity and expense for this type of meeting for the committees at this time, especially if not everyone was able to attend. Further discussion noted that a meeting of such could accommodate urgent timely needs in one weekend, as to several teleconference calls throughout the months. 

Tom questioned what timeline or deadline were we under for rules for 2009 show season. It was noted a show in Oregon in February has already been set up and the next ones will be in early March. No specific deadline was set but the end of February is likely when most of our initial setup for rules and policy for the 2009 showing season should be complete. 

Next meeting was scheduled for Saturday, January 31 at 7pm ET  (Jim later informed the group by email that a conflict came up and 8pm ET would be a better time for him so this was changed to 8pm ET Saturday January 31.)

Meeting adjourned at 9pm ET. 

Respectfully submitted for approval,

Jim Krowka 
Secretary
ILR Show Division Performance Committee