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On Tue, 3 Jun 1997 17:04:50 -0400 (EDT) KimFue@aol.com writes:
>rides average at least 130 riders per ride (and are growing every
>year) and
>people are signed up months in advance. The San Diego rides have a
>huge
>following and have become the most popular rides in Southern
>California. I
>am not sure these rides would have developed this great reputation if
>Terry
>had implemented a "No Refund" policy/attitude when she took over these
>rides
>a few years ago.
When you are comparing numbers like these, an entire ride in our part of
the Mountain Region would be "petty". Sometimes a ride will have only 20
riders (or less). A ride with the numbers you draw in your area would not
even miss 20 riders.
The committee I've worked with for the last several years had to initiate
an early entry commitment. Because, without at least 20 riders, we would
not break even on "non-donated" expenses. Most riders don't even realize
that their entry fees do not cover all the costs involved unless you get
upwards of 60 riders per day per event. This number is an exceptional
turn-out in our area. Granted, some rides are lucky in that they don't
have to pay for campground fees, USFS fees, and other facilities. However,
that is not the case in our area. In addition to a 60 rider "bottom"
number to break even without monitary/goods subsidy, we CANNOT have more
than 75 riders as a top limit, due to USFS regulations. As you can see, we
have a very small window to work with here.
Yes, you read that correctly. If there were not monitary/goods donations
to subsidize our rides, we could not break even, with less than about 60
riders. And, this is without pay for any ride management or other
volunteer help.
> On a personal note, I will never forget three years ago when
>Richard and
>I pulled into the Cowtank Ride in New Mexico an hour before the ride
>began
>(we had trailered over 20 hrs) and decided not to start the ride that
>day.
> Randy Eiland urged us to start the ride and if our horses were too
>tired (or
>if we were too tired) and pulled before the first vet check he would
>give us
>a refund for the day. He took a gamble that he might loose 2 ride
>entries
>that day
I disagree here, no disrespect toward Randy, but I think he was taking a
gamble that he would "make" not "lose" 2 ride entries that day. You were
already there. Right? If you didn't start, he'd be out 2 entries that
day.
> A hard nose attitude may pay off in the short run but I think a
>little
>kindness goes a lot further and develops a better relationship between
>riders
>and management. Most endurance riders I know would be willing to
>reimburse a
>ride manager for an individual campsite fee if the situation was
>explained to
>them.
This is simply the amount of the deposit which we are not refunding. And,
we "kindly" do not refund that. Except for vet or medical excuse.
A "hard-nosed" policy, is necessary in our case because be put on
high-overhead, low-attendance rides.
>It's hard to believe that there are so many riders dropping out
>of
>rides at the last minute for no reason that it is influencing the
>number of
>vets that have been hired. Perhaps more then a refund policy should
>be
>evaluated.
With 130 riders per ride this might be hard to believe. However, we are
usually dealing with make or break numbers in this region. If riders want
any rides in this area at all, they will have to put up with "refund
policy". The alternative would be to recruit ride managers who are willing
to put on rides really big, privately owned ranches. In our past
experience we've found these people are not willing to work without pay or
they just plain don't want anybody on their ranches.
Or, perhaps another alternative would be to recruit ride managers who have
really deep pockets and don't care how much money they loose year after
year. If you have any extra of those types out there in California, sent
them our way. Heck, everyone's moving to Colorado these days.;-)
(Personally, I'd like to move to Wyoming myself. But, my husband won't
go).
Linda VanCeylon & crew
Buhni, Sunny, Rain Man, Rabbit, & Fiddler
lindavan.eqath@juno.com
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