Whitefish Skijoring

It's Whitefish Winter Festival time -- and one of the most fun activities is the Whitefish Skijoring World Championships. I decided to keep the "text" to a minimum and use this blog to show more pictures.

The sport is not unique to Montana, but is well suited for this area of the country. It combines the old and traditional western horse culture and the new and innovative skiers who are drawn to our mountains. It's a horse and rider pulling a skier around a horseshoe shaped 800 ft. course over jumps and around slalom gates. It's fast paced, full of spills, and draws a fun loving crowd.

We have royalty:


....in the form of the Miss Pro Rodeo Queen and Little Miss Rodeo.







We have horse and rider combinations:












This is an ex-racehorse -- really fast -- and way bigger than the other quarter horse types in the competition.


And this horse is 30 years old, which in people years would be like an 80 year old running around this course -- amazing.








And we have skiers:




























And even one snowboarder in the competition -- I believe he crashed after the last jump.











There are people who compete as.....












.....riders......












....skiers (and wear strange helmets).....






.....AND WIN!! This is Barton Slaney, and he won his division in both 2011 and 2012.










In 2012, the Ski Joring competition added a division for MULES, where they crowned "the Best Ass in the World".




































This particular mule had a problem....he wouldn't stay on the track and kept trying to run into the center of the ring. So he would leavethe poor skier almost at a stand still until the lady could get the mule back on the track. One man told me on Saturday, the mule ran into the middle at the end of the track, and the saddle slide all the way down the side of the mule -- lady came off.













So there you have it -- the winter sport of Montana. Come and enjoy!!!