Partners hearings, provide information to legislators, and have directly pursued legislation on behalf of CHC members.
Connecticut Gymkhana Association The CGA banquet was held November 6, with the saddle for the most CGA points awarded to Gabby DiPasquale. Runner-up Daelyn Boscarino also won Best New Horse. Congratulations to all the CGA winners and thanks to everyone for a wonderful year. I will be handing over my title as president of CGA to Safaya Tork and Colleen Neidt, who will share the duties. We’re looking forward to the upcoming season. To learn more about the CGA, visit ctgymkhana.com or follow us on Facebook. 7 Shawna Baumann
Connecticut Horse Council The CHC began in 1969 as the Connecticut Horse Advisory Council, which was formed to defeat proposed legislation that would have prohibited the use of bits, spurs, and other training devices. In 1971, the advisory council was incorporated as the CHC. Since 1969, the CHC has been actively involved with legislation in order to protect the interest of equestrians. The CHC monitors legislation that impacts the equestrian community, including farmland preservation, taxation, property rights, trails, state parks and forests, and the environment. We testify at 32
March/April 2017
Carol Boscarino
Our goal is to foster connections within the horse community throughout the Nutmeg State, and one of the ways we do this is with our Partners Program. Connecticut organizations that partner with us receive a free one-year subscription for each member; space in the magazine for news, events, and photographs; and a link from connhorse.com to its website. Interested? To learn more, email partners@connhorse.com.
our local leaders and state legislators to gain their support for those issues that are important to us. If there are
The Connecticut Gymkhana Association’s Awards Banquet on November 6.
The Connecticut Horse Council from left to right: Meg Sautter, Laurie Gianniotti, Eric Hammerling, Fred Mastele, Ginger Tullai, David Frazzellini, Ruth Beardsley, and Diane Ciano.
We’re the voice of the equine industry at the state capitol. Most recently, this included horse and other agriculture tax exemptions, vicious horse, and vulnerable user legislation. We also supported legislation to keep the Community Investment Act from being eliminated, along with other agriculture related issues. We’ve found that for the past few years our state legislators have focused more on the budget, which brings with it the possibility of losing more funding for agriculture and our state parks and forests. As horse owners it’s important that we work with
concerns you would like addressed, or ideas for proposed legislation, please notify the CHC. For the 2017 legislative session we support Resolution Act 16-1: A resolution proposing an amendment to the state constitution to protect real property held or controlled by the state. It was passed in the 2016 session (as Senate Joint Resolution 36), and, as required for proposed constitutional amendments, must be passed a second time to allow the public to vote on this important referendum question in 2018. The resolution would amend the state constitution to require that
state-owned public lands must receive a public hearing and a two-thirds vote before being given away, swapped, or sold by an act of the general assembly. In our region, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York constitutions already include similar protections for public lands. Also, it has recently come to the attention of CHC that the governor released the proposed FY 2018-2019 budget that includes an 8 to 10 percent cut to the state’s general fund budget. If this cut is applied to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), it would result in closing some campgrounds as well as many state parks and public facilities, and reduce the amount of trail projects local communities can implement on their own. Please let the governor and your state legislators know how you feel about these potential cuts and how they impact you. In addition to its legislative advocacy work, CHC has affiliated with Association Resource Group (ARG), which allows us to offer $1 million in excess liability insurance to our members through Equisure Insurance. The insurance is available at an annual cost of $19 per individual and $38 per family. Please contact us if you are interested. The ARG affiliation will also allow us to offer CHC member discount benefits for prescriptions (equine, pet, and personal), Hertz rentals, Veterinary Pet Insurance, Pet Smart, and others. We hope to have the benefits posted on the CHC website soon. The CHC holds quarterly meetings in March, June, September, and December at the Eversource building at 107 Selden Road, in Berlin, at 7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of those months. We encour-