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The Southeast Endurance Riders Association (SERA) is a non-profit organization designed to promote endurance riding, encourage better care of endurance horses through rider education and assist ride managers in producing quality competitions. The area served by SERA consists of the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. SERA uses the rules for endurance riding as set forth by the American Endurance Ride Conference(AERC). SERA supports the Principles for Equestrian Trail Organizations.

The 2022 SERA Convention

2022 – the Year of the Unconventional Convention for SERA. This was a year where everything was topsy turvy crazy. SERA President Lara Worden deserves a gold star, a crown and a pay raise for putting this one on. Putting on a convention is a little bit like putting on a ride. You are at the mercy of the weather and the stars and no one sees everything that goes on in the background to make it happen. As a rider, if you don’t see or experience problems at a ride, you don’t know they exist. The same is usually true for convention, but not the 2022 Convention. In addition to the “normal” stress attendant with organizing a convention, from finding a venue to lining up speakers, entertainment, and food, worrying about finances (because remember, SERA offers this convention at no profit to the organization which pays for the awards, speakers and meeting rooms and passes along the banquet charges at cost) and running a couple of meetings, Lara dealt with COVID, supply chain issues, and oh, did I mention the weather that caused us all to bolt early? The theme this year was “roll with it”. Lara did!
One thing I would like to mention. Lara’s President’s message was given to the theme song “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. Lara’s twist on it was “A Little Ugly, Some Bad and the Good”. The Ugly is what I want to bring to your attention, and that is the inevitable result of the passage of time. Simply put, our current volunteer base is either aging out or dealing with personal/family issues. We aren’t seeing much influx of willing volunteers to fill the gap. To those of you who do, we are so grateful. For those of you who haven’t given much thought to it, Lara issues the following challenge: plan your ride schedule with some volunteerism in mind. Come a day early and volunteer wherever an RM needs you. Finish your ride and see if you can fill in at the pulse box, for the scribes, at the finish line, etc. Think about what it’s like to be a rider when there isn’t anyone to take your horse’s pulse and help us fill the gap.
To each of you who attended, thank you!
Special thanks to speakers Nelia Rueter, Marion Brewer, Patsy Gowen, Joe Schoech, Sudi Lenhart, Sharon Wilson, Dr. Rachel Mottet and Dr. Jane Manfredi. Thanks also go to Nina Barnett (points keeper), Ike Nelson (awards orderer extraordinaire), Sudi Lenhart and Jana Smith for their advice and convention expertise, and last but definitely not least, Eric Rueter – SERA’s Master Blaster and handler of all things technical.
Also, thanks to our awards sponsors –
LD Mileage Champion – Jana Smith
65+ - Patsy Gowen
Freshman Horse of the Year – Dan Hallman
Freshman Rider of the Year – Foster Olson and Lela Nielsen
Garrie Bates-Ritter Long Ears Award – Ginee Ritter
First 100 – RiteBalance, Sudi Lenhart and Nolan Whitesell, and Mane Street Pet & Horse
Grand Champion Junior – Dinkelmann Arabians
We had some changes to our State representatives and officers.
Sudi Lenhart is our new Vice President (thanks to outgoing VP Kim Williams)
Kathy Burnett is our new Florida representative (thanks [again] to outgoing rep Kim Williams)
Shannon Thomason is our new Georgia representative (thanks to outgoing rep Jane Larrimore)
For awards winners, see the link on this website.
Click here to view the 2022 SERA Convention Slideshow

Congratulations 2022 SERA Awards Winners

Click here to view the 2022 SERA Award Winners

THANK YOU to our SERA Awards Sponsors

SERA would like to thank the following for their generous sponsorships of our awards:
Current Sponsors
RiteBalance, Sudi Lenhart and Nolan Whitesell, and Mane Street Pet and Horse - sponsor of the First 100 Award
Christo Dinkelmann - Grand Champion Junior
Dan Hallman - Freshman Horse of the Year
Jana Smith - in Memory of Steffanie Waddington - sponsor of the LD Mileage Champion
Foster Olson and Lela Nielsen - sponsor of the Freshman Rider of the Year
Patsy Gowen - sponsor of the 65+ Award
Ginee Ritter - Garrie Bates-Ritter Long Ears Award
Click here to view all SERA Awards
If you have questions about a particular award please contact Laurie.A.Underwood@gmail.com

SERA GOES MOBILE

Send a big thank you to April Johnson. She has just completed version one of SERA phone app. mSERA is now available for download at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.seraonline.msera This first version includes most of the SERA Leaderboard. Download the app and try it on your phone over the weekend!

INTRODUCING OUR NEW PARTNERS

We have some very exciting news to share! SERA and The Ride and Tie Association have decided to double the fun and have entered into a partnership. RaT events use the same trails, the same veterinary staff and follow the same veterinary criteria as SERA sanctioned endurance rides and RaT is a natural partner with endurance events. Starting with co-sanctioned events occurring on or after December 1, 2019, SERA will offer two new awards for Ride and Tie events: Rookie Team of the Year, and a top Ride and Tie Horse of the Year award. These awards will be presented at the annual SERA convention, starting with the convention held in 2021 for the 2019-2020 ride season. These awards are only eligible to RaT members who are also SERA members participating at RaT/SERA co-sanctioned rides. Here is to a beautiful relationship!

AERC / SERA SAFE SPORT

In February of 2018, President Trump signed the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. This act mandates that any sports organizations that conduct interstate sporting events that includes minors must comply with the Safe Sport Act. SERA and AERC rides are thus covered by this law. The act calls for mandatory reporting, training, and prevention.
The Safe Sport Act established the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, www.safesport.org, as an independent entity to investigate reports of abuse and protect athletes from abuse. The Center offers an on-line training course for all adults for $20.
At the 2019 midyear meeting, the AERC Board of Directors approved a motion to require:
Each AERC ride in the U.S., beginning in the 2020 ride season, must have a designated SafeSport ride management representative who has passed the SafeSport online training prior to the ride. The SafeSport representative must be in camp during the ride and available if necessary, not riding the ride. The AERC office must have proof of SafeSport training before the ride occurs. (Reimbursement is available for one management team representative per ride.)
Please visit the AERC Safe Sport Page for more information about becoming Safe Sport Certified.

Check out the SERA LeaderBoard

The Southeast Endurance Riders Association (SERA) is pleased to offer a new service for it's membership. Click on the SERA Ride Services menu item on the left and explore this new benefit.