SCHUPBACH, GERMANY (AP) – Stephanie Kirchner’s journey to work has got longer but, she said, cheaper: she has left her SUV at home and switched to real horse power.
Stud farm owner and horse trainer Kirchner, 33, said she decided “it can’t go on like this” after fuel prices jumped following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Since I also suspected hay harvesting and everything else will become much, much more expensive, we said, ‘we have to save a little money’,” she said.
So she has switched to travelling the roughly six kilometres from her home in western Germany by horse-drawn carriage. That turns a one-way trip from 10-15 minutes to as much as an hour.
But Kirchner calculates that, given how much fuel her Toyota SUV consumes, she saves about EUR250 (USD264) per month if she can use horse power every day.
Her carriage, drawn by two horses, is popular with children and some others. But “of course humanity is hectic and then some people are annoyed if they can’t get past me fast enough”, Kircher said.
She acknowledged that her answer to rising fuel prices isn’t for everyone.
“I can’t put a horse in a parking garage,” she said. “I think a lot more horse riders would do it if opportunities were created for the horses.”
