Speaking purely personally, I don't think it's the distance to be travelled which is going to be the principal sticking point in 2009 (not if the price of diesel stays roughly where it is at present, PLEEEEASSSEE!!
)...
As Tally points out, the quantity of AQHA shows now available is getting very respectable; if I were to attend all but the reining-specific ones, that would still require me to max out my holiday allowance for the year (you can see how I've been filling my time since back at work
). OK, in 2008 I took the luxury of taking a Thursday, Friday and - usually - Monday off work, since I knew I wouldn't get back home until after midnight on Sunday night and would still need to sort out filthy clothes/collect pets/stock up the fridge before confronting the working week; but this year that's not going to be an option if I want to compete broadly - and if something goes wrong outside of shows (eg side of house falls down through sheer neglect, cat gives up ghost or hacking horse falls ill), that will mean one show less. And that's all assuming I've still got a job
! OK, I've factored in a few WES shows too but that's because I enjoy those particular WES shows, I wouldn't want to compromise them as they too are well-run and big fun.
I wonder whether individual show circuits might be considering advance discounts to competitors who pre-book on their whole run of events, so that they can be better assured, as Tally says, that there's a good quality turn-out? And I'll be particularly interested in the impact on start times/finish times that concurrently-judged shows might afford - if I can drop just a couple of those Thursday 'preparation day' days off work, that would make a significant difference...
Post edited by: campbh, at: 2009/01/08 21:36
Post edited by: campbh, at: 2009/01/08 21:39
