With the rising costs of fuel I find myself having to decide if the cost of traveling to a ride is worth going to a ride. Guess I am wondering if there are others out there that are running up against the same decision. I live in an area that unfortunately we don't have a lot of rides close by. So in the past few years it has not been uncommon for myself and other local riders to have to travel anywhere from 400 to 600 miles one way to go to a ride. That can make the cost of a weekend fun trip to do a 50 mile ride really expensive. I am not whining here and I know some of the solutions. One being become a ride manager and manage a ride close to home. I have no desire to be a manager though ;-) . I am starting to consider multi day rides more which help cut down on traveling costs rather than going to single day rides. There is also the buddy system of traveling together which is an option that I have done and can do, but I really like taking my own rig which is really set up for a single horse and traveler.
I was really excited for the ride season a couple months ago and had on my schedule about seven rides that I wanted to do. As the fuel prices rise I find myself deciding that maybe that ride 500 miles away, and this is including the AERC Championship ride, is really not that important. Sigh!!!! I am now down to hopefully doing four rides this year, one of them being the Owyhee multiday in October. Hummm wonder if my mare can do all five days?
So guess I am not looking for comfort or solutions, but just wondering if others are feeling the pinch and starting to make those tough decisions about doing rides this year too.
