[SCA-AE] Year End Toureny Special Announcement

[Aoife]

Year End Tourney Special Announcement: Please forward to local groups with potential attendees. I apologize for duplicate messages in advance. ---Aoife

Q: What has  12 legs, talks at the speed of light, and stops on a Dime?

A: The Autocrats for Year End Tourney!

Since Gunnar and Banshee  have big, big plans afoot, it has fallen to me to help get the word out. Year End Tourney in the Barony of the Endless Hills in Aethelmearc is fast approaching.  There are a lot of exciting contests and some large and small animals for children to enjoy watching. Fascinating as these animals are, we’ve decided that there needs to be a meet-and-greet at the end of the day with the horses. However, with Horses competing and Hounds coursing for the first time in Endless Hills,  special safety rules will be in force as well as some unfamiliar-to-most but standard SCA equestrian rules.

Everyone who enters the site must sign a valid equestrian waiver. Folks who decline to sign the waiver for themselves or their dependants will not be allowed on site. Parents will be asked to acknowledge that that have read the 10 special site rules below, and have explained them to their kids. Unfortunately, children who cannot abide by these safety rules will be escorted to their parents and must remain with them for the rest of the day. If there is a second occurrence, the family will be asked to remove the child from the site. Please closely monitor your children at this event. It is a modern horse farm, and there are electric fences and horse pastures close by.

There will be plenty to keep your kids busy, however. A safe play area is planned in the hall for the youngest of our group, manned by Lord Goimir. The Viking Girl  is planning some boisterous active games in the afternoon. An E-Quest-rian Quest is planned after lunch whereby the kids will be able to get answers to many of their burning questions about the animals, the riders, the rules, and how it all works---and they have to go out and politely ask questions of event participants to get the answers.  There will be a great prize for the winner of that quest, as well as something special for every kid who completes the quest and turns in his or her answers. Lastly, there is a Youth Arts tournament, at which the Baronial Youth Arts Champion will be chosen. If your child isn’t exhausted at the end of the day, it won’t be because we didn’t try!

To aid parents in preparing your kids for the special rules onsite, I’m pasting them below. You may wish to add these tid-bits: Horses with red tassels or ribbons on their head-areas are known to bite. Horses with red tassels or ribbons on their tail areas are known to kick (though ANY horse will kick occasionally). To be safe, the kids should watch the horse contests from behind the fences, and from the bleachers we’ve provided. The kids should never approach a horse without the owner or rider’s permission. They should never approach a horse from behind. They should not try to pet or feed a horse without permission or help from the owner. Horses are easily scared, and are big enough to hurt people when they get scared. Sometimes silly things scare horses, like cameras, loud noises, or fluttering garb, or even horse poop!

I thank you all in advance for helping ensure that our youth (and their families) remain safe and busy at Year End Tourney in the Barony of Endless Hills. You may link to the event announcement, for more details,  here: http://endlesshills.aethelmearc.net/events/ and by clicking Year End Tourney on the list of events. For good info about Aethelmearc’s Equestrian program, see: http://frontpage.velocity.net/duane/ae-eqindex.htm 

Please forward this email to every list where event attendees may be lurking, so that we can easily get the word out.

Cheers

Aoife
Dame Aoife Finn
AEthelmearc Chancellor of Youth

YEAR END TOURNEY SITE RULES 
1. NO ONE ALLOWED IN THE STALLS AND THE BARN EXCEPT OWNERS AND RIDERS.
2. NO ONE ALLOWED IN THE SAWDUST SHED. 
3. NO ONE ALLOWED IN THE HOUSE (site is an equestrian arena at a private residence).
4. DO NOT TOUCH WIRE OR WHITE TAPE THAT IS ON OR AROUND THE FENCES AS IT MAY BE ELECTRIFIED. 
5. NO ONE EXCEPT EQUESTRIANS ALLOWED BY SMALL BARNS WHERE HORSES ARE STABLED. 
6. NO ONE ALLOWED IN HORSE PASTURES. 
7. NO ONE ALLOWED IN SWIMMING POOL. 
8. STAY OUT OF ALL HORSE TRAILERS UNLESS THEY ARE YOURS. 
9. NO ONE ALLOWED IN HOLDING AREA EXCEPT RIDERS AND GROUND CREW. 
10. DO NOT SIT OR PLAY ON FENCES.

Again, a meet-the-horses session is planned for late afternoon, when a few of the gentler animals will come out to be admired. If your children are curious about the horses, they will have the opportunity to pet and talk to one, and ask questions, at that session in the late afternoon.