There has been a great deal of commentary on Facebook following the recent AERA post advising of the change to the TQ Rider Qualification Criteria. AERA has watched the commentary and has received some correspondence related to the recent decision. The AERA Management Committee members have been surprised by the response as we had not considered this to be a "major" change. There is still work being done to develop a survey to get member feedback on how best AERA can meet its constitutional obligation to support pathways to international competition and this will come back to the next Management Committee meeting. AERA MC Members did see this as a potentially major change and when this was first raised it was determined that this would go to the members for consultation.
The AERA has been considering changes to aspects of the Tom Quilty event over the last three meetings. Most years there is a minor change put forward and over the years many changes have been made, some with no major reaction and others have elicited strong opinions from members. The change most remembered by many seems to be the decision to move the Quilty around the States. A referendum to decide this was held in 1984 and it was passed that the Quilty would be hosted in each state on a set rotation. SA was the first to host the TQ out of the Hawkesbury region in 1986. State memberships had been growing and this move saw membership numbers increase further. This change also brought about the change of the original gold cup to a lesser but still valuable perpetual trophy. It was considered impractical to transport the original gold cup around the states and it was decided to have this displayed at the Longreach Stockman's Hall of Fame. These decisions in their day were considered major or significant changes. The intrinsic message of one hundred miles in one day on one horse was unaltered.
There have been many other significant changes which have been made by the AERA Management Committee and by Ride Organising Committees, introducing changes that they saw as being in the best interest of the sport. These included the introduction of VGIH, the introduction of 5 legs, several changes to the design and manufacture of the buckle, risk management, biosecurity protocols and timing systems. Most recently the mandate of a tracking system was introduced.
Recent discussions at AERA - and note that these have been interrupted as DAs have focussed on AGMs
July 2025, QERA reported to AERA that they and EQ had had preliminary discussions about endurance being included in the 2032 Olympic Games as a demonstration sport.
September 2025 - QERA reported updates on discussions with EA and others and it seemed that there would be no demonstration sports at the 2032 Olympics. There was also concern raised that the model for quarantine requirements would not work for endurance horses. Noted that there would be further discussions between EQ and EA and Dick Collyer was to report further on locations near Toowoomba that could be a ride base for a 160 km endurance event. Proposal put forward for survey of members re changes to TQ - DAs to provide feedback to November meeting.
November 2025 - a draft survey was presented and sent to DAs for comment and came back to the January meeting. Minutes of that meeting have not been ratified yet but it was decided to separate the two issues remaining, that is rider qualification and introduction of FEI, and the survey still being developed is as explained above.
The motion was put forward
That the Quilty rider qualifying criteria be changed to “either must have completed a 160km in one day endurance ride or must have completed a minimum of 500kms in endurance rides and must have done an endurance ride within the last 13 months”?
So, this will result in a change to the Event Standard which has been:
Competitors
a) All non-international competitors must meet the following requirements:
i. Must be a current financial riding member of a DA of the AERA.
ii. Must meet the requirements of AERA General Rule (S1), 29.3 – rider status, and must have, additionally, successfully completed at least one 160km/24-hour endurance event.
Moved: Dick Collyer
Seconded: Kim Moir
Rationale
The current qualification requirement for a rider is that they have completed a ride of 160kms in one day.
1.There are several anomalies with this requirement. A rider may have completed many 1000s of kilometres and perhaps a number of marathon rides, but cannot enter the TQ if they have not done the 160-in-one-day ride. On the other hand, a rider could complete 3 x 80km rides and then a 160-in-one-day (a total of 400kms) and be eligible to enter the TQ.
2. If the intention of this qualification is to limit the number of entries in the TQ, declining membership over the last decade has meant that TQ organisers would prefer more entries rather than fewer.
3. If the intention of this qualification is to ensure that TQ riders have sufficient endurance experience, then the anomaly in point 1 applies to this also.
4. While the current 160km qualification may assist in increasing entries in DA State Championships, it means that members who enter a SC and are not successful often miss their chance to then enter a TQ held in their DA, which only happens once every 6 years.
There has been some comment about the need to have rule changes voted on at two meetings and this voting procedure is from the AERA Bylaw change to rules and applies to the AERA Rulebook.
One of the challenges moving forward is to have some way of assessing what constitutes a minor change as opposed to a major change, and it seems we may all have a different view on that. Our thinking had been that something that might affect a small number of members was minor, but if it affected all members it would be major.
