Skijoring the Blues Away

In a Canadian winter, it\’s often difficult to break the \”winter cycle.\” You know, go to work or school, come home, watch TV. It\’s often so cold outside that it\’s difficult to summon the motivation one needs to get outside and reap some much needed Vitamin D.

That is of course, unless you are a horse person. Horse people must go outside. Even when we really don\’t want to…

We often find ourselves engaged in winter activities, even if it only involves the simplest task of feeding horses or doing chores. Oh, there are so many benefits of horse ownership!

And here\’s another one for you – Skijoring.

According to Wikipedia, Skijoring is a winter sport where a person on skis is pulled by a horse, a dog (or dogs) or a motor vehicle. It is derived from the Norwegian word \”skikjøring\” meaning, ski driving.

Here in Canada, Skijoring is a darn good way to spend a snowy day. And, beat the winter blues.

So how does one simply, skijor?

In my barn, we figured you pretty much… just got outside and did it.

One fine winter day, some neighbours, friends and I decided to find out what it takes. With the Rocky Mountains as our backdrop, a mild winter temperature hovering around -5 degrees C and zero windchill, we met in the middle of a pristine cow pasture (retired for the season). There were no gopher holes to worry about, but there was a fresh layer of powdery snow waiting for our arrival.

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What does it take to skijor? While we weren\’t entirely sure, we knew good-minded horses were the key. Our darling neighbour Caroline, brought out her awesome little gelding named \”Webster\” and our friend Murray brought two mounts, \”Prairie\” and \”Rocket.\” All three were absolute super stars.

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All three horses had been used extensively for roping and were extremely seasoned mounts. They ran barefoot in the pasture. However, according to some Skijoring associations, many horses wear studded ice shoes.

We were successful in having the horses pull a sled. The kids loved it!

And the burning question I had was – could one snowboard behind a horse?

I learned that yes. You can! And it\’s a good time too, because a board glides along easily behind a loping horse.

Just don\’t catch an edge.

Or a frozen cowpie…

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When the horses really got going, the sled went along at a pretty good clip. This is where the token \”cowboy hat\” came in handy. It could protect one\’s face from the flying snow of the horse\’s hooves.

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Next time we\’re gonna try it with a warm bonfire to greet us at the end. And a whole bunch of marshmallows to roast.

What a way to make some Canadian memories!