SKIJORING -- HAVING FUN IN MONTANA

This is a uniquely Montana type of activity – combining two of the major activities of the region: horses and skiing. And what a fun event. It's old and traditional Western horse culture upon which many towns were built, and the new and innovative (take that to mean different) skiers who have been drawn to the mountains. The horseman and skier are united through a shared love of going really, really fast and flying through the air at high speeds.

First, let me apologize for my pictures. My little camera does a great job on scenery and still shots, but just doesn't do well at these action shots. And that plus my bad eyes didn't give me the shots I wanted. I recorded the action I wanted, but I didn't have the right saturation or focus to get those great shots. But I've included them in this post.

To let you see some of the great action shots, I'm including a link to the photos from the Flathead Beacon, which turned out wonder. Their photographer definitely had a much nicer camera than mine, and he also had some prime positions from which to get these great shots. So enjoy.

www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/2011_skijoring_event/21639/

Skijoring is a part of the annual Whitefish Winter Carnival, and the Whitefish version involves a horse and rider pulling a skier on a 30 foot rope around a horseshoe shaped 800 foot long course at high speeds over jumps and around slalom gates. It's fast paced, full of spills, and draws an incredibly large crowd. It's now held at the Whitefish Airport, but in the past they held the competition on the main street of downtown. That is until one skier almost crashed through the front window of a store, and several runaway horses went into the crowd. So much for crowd control.

(Several of the horses decorated for the event)

And this was not just any Skijoring competition – this was the 2011 World Skijoring Championships!! Although it really looked like any local bunch of skiers and cowboys out for a day of fun. With about 100 pairs of horse/rider and skier, it was quite a competitive.

(Yes, this is a mule who will be pulling the skiers)

There are rules – really. They have 3 divisions: Open (most experienced competitors), Sport (those who have entered 3 events or have won in a previous event), and Novice (anyone entering for the 1st-3^rd time with no wins). The Novice group went first, and they looked as good as the other divisions – just with slower times.

From a horse person's perspective, this looked to me like “a pulled tendon waiting to happen”. The horses are running through soft snow, around corners, and at full gallops. As I was about to leave two horse, one after the other, went down in the snow. And the riders jumped back on and took off again with the skiers – tough folks in Montana.

As for my somewhat chunky, out-of-shape horse, Ludo, I'm pretty sure we could pull the fastest time. Ludo would be running wide-eyed, scared out of his mind with a 30 foot rope and skier chasing him around the course (after all, he is a Dressage horse). The Western horses are much more tolerant of almost everything, although many of them had a hard time going past the snow jumps with the orange paint (outlined the jump for the skiers).

The rules do protect the horses – thank goodness. One horse may compete in only ONE division, and is limited to TWO runs per day. The rider can compete in more than one division, but on a different horse, and they are limited to FOUR runs a day. In the day and age of helmets for riders, only the skiers were required to wear one.

There is also a lot of “mixing and matching” of riders and skiers. One noticeable rider in a bright orange and yellow striped shirt, pulled two skiers, and then come out as a skier being pulled by 2 other horses.

Skijoring is said to have originated as a method of winter travel over several hundred years ago in Scandinavia. Farmers used Skijoring to travel between communities, using the horse to tow the skier. Laplanders on Noric skis held reins attached to reindeer. A Skijoring competition

was even demonstrated at the 1928 Winter Olympics (darn....it didn't get picked as a winter sport).

Today there is the North American Skijoring Association which holds a circuit of competitions across the country. The oldest organized equestrian competition was in Leadville, CO in 1949. You will also see Skijoring using dogs or motorized vehicles – but of course we prefer the horses.

As a part of the Whitefish Winter Carnival, there were several “Yeti's” to entertain and scare the spectators. As part of the “lore” of the Carnival, the Yeti are the pranksters and thieves of the Carnival, and as the legend goes, the Yeti's try to kidnap the King and Queen and generally disrupt the activities – all in fun, of course.

At the 2011 Skijoring World Championships, there were 3 “Yeti's” – men dressed up in white overalls with skins hoods and a leather mask over their face. It did seem to take a very brave child to approach the Yeti's.

So if you are near the Flathead Valley and/or Whitefish at the end of January, you should come and take in this unique sport of Skijoring. It's a great athletic competition, and loads of fun.