Hi Everyone!

Things have been quiet here on the lists, but quite a lot of discussion has been
happening off-list. We have held one planning meeting for the Equestrian
Collegium ? the 2 day practice that we`ve scheduled for the weekend of April 4th
and 5th. We have a great start on the mounted and unmounted classes that we
would like to hold.

Before we can go further, however, we need to get some feedback from the
participants. One snag we`ve hit is that it appears that we are not going to be
able to insure this event like a normal practice. That means we have to apply
for separate event insurance, which increases the event cost to $300. In order
to justify that, we need to have a feel for how many people will attend.

And, as long as we are getting feedback, we`d like to hear which of the
activities are of the most interest to you as well.

The basic structure of the event is that we will split the group into 2 halves
and each group will have a mounted session every morning and every afternoon.
That would be four 1.5 hour riding sessions over the two days. While half the
people are riding, classroom sessions will be held for the remainder. Informal
discussion topics over lunch both days and dinner on Saturday will round out the
agenda.

Fees:
$30 ? 2 day Collegium Participant. 2 days of instruction, including 4 mounted
sessions.
$10 per Day ? Auditor/ground crew. Help out as ground crew for mounted sessions
and participate in classroom sessions.

$15 Overnight Stall fee ? Indoor stall for your horse. Available both Friday
and Saturday nights. Shavings included. You bring feed and clean stall when
you leave.

(I just want to point out what a screaming deal $30 is for 6 HOURS of riding
clinics, plus lots of other interesting topics)


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PLEASE EMAIL by MONDAY FEB 16
(we have a restricted amount of time in order to secure the special insurance)

To: monica @ sunponyranch . com AND nest_verch_gryffry @ msn . com

Tell us:
1) If you plan to attend ? Riding or Auditing 1 day or Auditing 2 days
2) Which Mounted activities you prefer
3) Which class room sessions you prefer
4) Any other suggestions ? did we miss a topic?
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Possible Mounted Activities:
Classical Horsemanship Sessions ? mounted sessions working on fundamental riding
skills. As we get into more technical activities these skills will become more
critical.

Mounted Archery -- Un-mounted session. This session will cover the basic
principles of archery and is the prerequisite to the mounted Mounted Archery
session. It is open to all participants.

Mounted Archery ? Mounted session. Mounted archery requires advanced riding
skills and thus this session will be limited to approved riders.

Reeds Schooling -- Drills set up to practice skills needed to do reeds.

Roman Drills - Drills for groups of riders to ride patterns. This could well
be something we add to the list of activities we perform for Demos.

Quintain / Ring Spearing Drills / Riding at the Tilt - Drills set up to practice
the Quintain and Spearing a single ring with the quintain lance. Setting up a
Tilt - the fence that separates jousters and practice riding past opponents.
All of these are skills needed to prepare for jousting.


Possible Classroom/Unmounted sessions:
Medieval Bits and Bitting

Medieval Horse Breeds

Weapons handling for ground crew and riders

Lance and / or Sword making workshop? Haven`t had the tools or opportunity to
fashion your own equipment yet?

Barding, Tack, and Garb. Q&A session with examples present.

Equestrian Awards / A&S projects discussion

Introduction to Jousting ? survey course covering what we need to know to
attempt Jousting this year.

SCA Equestrian rules ? refresher and discussion.

Equestrian Personas ? who are you when you ride?