04/20/24
December 29, 2008
Skijoring anyone?: It sounds like the ultimate extreme sport, but for Ryan Lakovitch, a rider from Jackson, Wyo., (pop 8,647) who won the sport's national championship in 2000 with his partner, skier Cody Smith, there's more to skijoring than sheer adrenaline. It's also about teamwork, cooperation, and skill of the horse, rider, and skier.
Here's a short video of the extreme sport from a 2005 competition. Skijoring has become popular here in NW Montana, with competitions set for January/February. I plan to attend and will hopefully be able to post a video of family members taking home the top prize.
Short video: http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=qG2&q=skijoring%20horse&revid=2059110347&resnum=0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#
I think the most extreme form of skijoring in North America is practiced in Leadville, CO, where they dump a bunch of snow onto Main Street, build jumps and gates, and use western quarterhorses who have two speeds, standing still and flat out. Take a look at this vid -- watch for the guy who eats it in front of the bar.
(My brother wants to enter this event, with his two quarter horses. Thank God he doesn't have a horse trailer)
posted by lil_brown_bat at 04:33 PM on December 29, 2008
Yeah, lbb, the majority of videos that I have seen are from Leadville. My wife's cousins think that the event in Whitefish, MT, will be set up similar to what they do in CO. (On the city streets, not in an arena of sorts) They have been practicing over the last few weeks and it's amazing the speed that they go. What has made me cringe the most is the flat landings from 20 feet in the air. It makes MY knees hurt.
posted by BoKnows at 05:33 PM on January 01, 2009
Sorry about the cut/paste url link. If you haven't seen skijoring, it's worth the watch.