1. IMPORTANT: Advertising for the 2017 RPSBS Annual closes on May 19^th. Please do not miss this great value for money opportunity. Click here for more information
2. State Annual Meeting dates:

Queensland                May 2
South Australia          May 17
Western Australia    May 18,  7.00pm Ogden’s Bar and Grill, Gosnell
Tasmania                     May 20
Victoria                         May 27
New South Wales     May 27

3. The new RPSBS web site came online on Wednesday morning 3^rd We now have a truly integrated site linking all state web sites to the national site.  It is hoped that members can easily access information and all forms they require quickly.  Our thanks to Despina Mitrakas of Show Pony Graphics for an outstanding job.
4. The Annual General Meeting for RPSBS Ltd is being held on Saturday 17 June at the Melbourne Airport Best Western Motel commencing at 4.00 pm to be following by a general forum and then dinner. We need to provide the motel with dinner numbers so please inform the national office if you are intending to attend the dinner and provide the office a list of any topics you want discussed in the forum.  The theme for 2017-18 is Youngstock and the Board is canvassing ideas on how we can promote our youngstock.
5. Changes to Registration Rules: Hackneys have been removed from the list of recognised stud books and Welsh D has been added. Colts 2 years and over must be adult registered before they can be shown or used at stud.
6. Membership Structure for 2017-18: The family membership has been replaced by the Joint membership in which additional names can be added for $20 each.  The benefit for families is that the siblings can remain in that membership once they come of age.  Participant members no longer have to be linked to a member but will be members in their own right.  Participants can become members at any time in the year without incurring a late fee.
7. A Judges’ Handbook has been produced and judges will receive a hard copy of the handbook when they attend a RPSBS Judges’ seminar.  Judges’ seminars are being held in conjunction with the state Annual Meetings. South Australia is having a Judges’ seminar on June 10th. The Handbook is available online for anyone to download.
8. In response to a request from the Victorian committee, rules for Amateur Produced classes have been formulated and are available on the new web site.
9. Queensland is trialling a Youth Judges’ competition this year and it is hoped to have the rules and associated forms on the national web site by the end of the year for other states to adopt.
10. Judges’ Policy: The new Judge’s policy is online and all forms have been up dated and are available for download.  When the new 3 tier structure was initiated all judges’ were placed on at state level.  At the March Board meeting many judges were upgraded to national level.  By the end of this week there will be an upgrade form on the national website for Judges at state level wishing to be considered for upgrade to National level.  These forms are to submitted to the national office by July 31.  State committees are then given the opportunity to make comments on the applications before they are reviewed by the Judge Committee which then submits the upgrade recommendations to the September Board meeting for ratification.
11. There has been an issue for members competing in Newcomer events when their pony has changed in type from Show to Hunter. The Board has determined that when an animal has qualified as one type then it must compete in the Newcome final in the same section but that this shall not affect its eligibility to be shown in the other section in non-Newcomer events that season.
12. The Society has been in discussion with German Riding Ponies enthusiasts about what the RPSBS could offer. The proposal under consideration is that a separate independent registry for the recording of German Riding Ponies would be established under the umbrella of RPSBS. These would not be considered Riding Ponies for showing purposes and all state committees would be encouraged to offer separate GRP events for them to compete in at events they conduct. There would be an upgrading system introduced for foals produced by crossing GRP with RPSBS ponies in a similar manner to that previously used when ponies were bred to unregistered stock.