[Polkageist]

Oh yeah, energy reserve!
That almost trivializes energy cost for maintaining Create Mount. The wizard will fully recover the maintenance cost and then some during travel, and incidental rest along the way can make up lost FP used to help cast the spell initially.

For a chocobo that you don't have to feed, stable, or worry about at night that's definitely worth the cost.

So, this kind of points at the versatility but also the complexity of GURPS vs. TOG. One has a pre-packaged spell that does one thing with no real options for adjustment or customization to a situation.
GURPS here, we can see the opportunity costs of doing something similar at various skill levels, and various amounts of attention to detail to either make it work freely or costs if there's time or hostile pressure.

There's definitely some synergy so a wizard doesn't have to be a Create Mount specialist. Energy reserve is universally useful, so putting more points in that certainly isn't unreasonable. Same with Recover Energy, there are few bad reasons to put spare points into the skill in order to reach 20. Create Mount is all about managing initial and ongoing costs, and considering the situation. Starting out from the friendly village without a firm timeline gives ample space to cast and keep a magic riding rabbit for the day.
Lower skilled wizards may struggle to get to an easy break-even point, possibly costing a bit of travel time to devote to recovery. Nevertheless, for a wizard on a budget who has time and need of a frog to carry their stuff Create Mount is definitely worth it.

e: Great opportunity to do the math and then package it into a "trademark move" or SOP sort of thing. Say, "15 minutes before we fully break camp and hit the road I create my mount and meditate to recover [some|all] of the casting cost."

e2: I love that idea, a cadre of trained riders (halfing sized) with optimization for fast moving, magical flying mounts. Definitely something a fantasy nation with wizards could invest in.