People can differ in what they consider the big issues facing themselves or their organization depending on what they feel is important to their own particular goals.

Some of us ride for the enjoyment of seeing new trails and being with our horses. Others aspire to international competition, performance goals such as awards, or rider education.

My take on the big issues facing AERC in the coming years is influenced both by being a director now for more than five years and by being a rider with some performance and distance goals.

Fuel costs

One issue that affects us all today is the rising cost of fuel. It costs us more to go to rides. It may make ride attendance smaller, causing financial problems for the ride manager, and result in fewer rides in following years. This year -- even with almost $3 fuel prices -- ride attendance is only down by 2.8% at midyear. Compared with a normal growth year, though, it's down about 5% as we typically have about a 3% annual increase in ride entries. This doesn't seem like much but it's more than 1,000 fewer rider entries spread over the whole country compared to a typical year.

My personal solution to this has been to drive slower going to and returning from rides, which saves a substantial amount of fuel. Other possible solutions include sharing costs and "pooling" to rides. Possibly AERC could facilitate this in some way with an online service. Another solution popular with members is going to more multi-day rides so that the fuel cost per ride day is less. This creates a problem though for the one-day rides and their ride managers.

Whatever solution you chose, this is one big problem that isn't likely to go away as it did in prior fuel shortages. Some amount of growth is necessary in all organizations and without it our options become more restricted.

Drug rules/testing

Drug rules and testing is a second important issue for me. Major international events including recent World, European, and one AERC event have experienced positive drug tests. Decisions made on the basis of rules in place in the international organizations have been controversial, leading to court challenges. AERC needs a clear and enforceable drug policy to be able to protect our equine partners.

Changes in drug rules and testing are in progress under the direction of the Veterinary Committee, chaired by Melissa Ribley, DVM, and the Rules Committee, chaired by John Parke. It's a difficult task and one with serious implications for AERC and our membership. It's also a task that will span the tenures of several AERC presidents. The results for members will be a more understandable set of drug rules and, for AERC, protection in the high-stakes issue of defending our rules in a legal setting if needed.

Trails preservation

Trails preservation is another issue for AERC. Without continued access to our present trails and potential growth into new areas, we will find it difficult to maintain membership interest in riding the same trails. AERC has some good initiatives in place with courses that improve our trails and at the same time improve our relationship with the federal and state agencies that govern access to many of our trails. We have a larger influence than our membership size would indicate through partnerships with larger organizations such as the American Horse Council and trail riding groups dedicated to trail access. This is a continuing effort that has to take a high priority for AERC.

Other serious issues

This is a short column and I can only discuss a few issues at a time. Other issues that fit in the "big" category include:

-- Money has been flowing into our sport in the U.S. and internationally over the past few years. What are the implications for us? What are the ethical issues for AERC and its members?

-- High-profile events are becoming more frequent. International endurance events are changing the view of endurance. The AERC-International Committee is our conduit to this arena. What role can AERC realistically expect to have in these high profile events?

-- LD and multi-days. Over half our ride entries are now limited distance or multi-day rides. How much is this changing the character of our organization? Do we want to influence this direction or simply consider it a natural evolution?

There are lots of questions requiring a great deal of work to generate solutions that will improve our future. It requires dedicated members working on the board with good input from our members. I wish there was an "easy button" like the one we see in the TV commercials but life isn't like that.