Skijoring with Minis

[shelterwood]

So we are winter loving people, how can you not be when winter lasts 7 or 8 months!! My question is this: has anyone ever skijored with their minis or ponies? We have extensively skijored with our dogs, and since I stumbled into the world of minis two years ago I have been wondering and pondering how I can transfer that fun into my horse's world. For those of you unfamiliar, skijoring was once upon a time strictly a horse thing, with full size horses pulling skiers on ice/packed snow surfaces at speed. Around here in my parts, it has now become THE thing to do with your dog. The dog wears a sled dog harness, then is "hitched" to the owner, who is on X-country or backcountry skis, with a nylon, bungee type cord with a velcro break-away strap near the human end and a harness on the human that just goes around the waist and over the butt basically. Dogs learn similar commands as driving horses, but for mine, with less obedience!! I have gone on 15 mile skis in the backcountry hooked to my Eurohound sled dog, and have hardly broken a sweat!

Now I know far different hazards exist with horses, and falling and getting dragged by a horse, even if it is a mini, is not a good thing. What I am considering is doing this in an enclosed space, like my pasture, with a similar break-away system, at slow speeds. One would have to be a good skier to accomplish this, which we are, and have enough balance to handle the reins without using them to balance. I think I would use a bitless bridle for this reason. One would also NOT carry ski poles. Backcountry skis have a ton of ankle and foot support which would improve balance overall. I'd like to clear a track with a snowblower, which I do anyway so the poor little guys can move around in the 4-6ft of snow we typically have on the ground, and just let them trot me around.

I'm asking mainly because I think maybe somebody out there has thought of or tried this, because I am constantly trying to think of ways to exercise and entertain my mares during the long dark winter. Anyone have other suggestions for winter fun? Exercise? Has anyone ever seen the skijoring with the big guys in Leadville, CO? This is a yearly thing down the main street in their town. Talk about speed!! Here's a link:

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I will try to post some pictures of my skijoring equipment and some ideas I have for attaching horse to human. I know some people might find this crazy....don't be too hard on me. I'm posting because I am really serious about this and want to think it through and make it as safe as possible. I think it has the potential to be fun for horse and human alike!

Katie

 

[DrivinTime]

Hi! I don't think it's crazy - I've been wanting to try this forever!

Now, here is where I acknowledge the risk of pain and injury, that I am old, out of shape, and haven't xc-skied in years... So I won't ACTUALLY be trying this anytime soon.

However, with a really well-trained mini and a really athletic skier, I think it would be a blast!

I had been wondering about the equipment used with dog skijoring, and so your post is interesting from that aspect as well. I think the "quick release" mechanisms would be mandatory!

The piece I hadn't figured out in my head, for skijoring with minis, is how to manage reins (guidance) and ski poles (brakes) - so I guess you'd have to do without the ski poles...

I wish you lots of luck with your endeavor and hope that you will post pictures! (Going to look at the video link now...)

 

[MiLo Minis]

Hi! I don't think it's crazy - I've been wanting to try this forever!

Now, here is where I acknowledge the risk of pain and injury, that I am old, out of shape, and haven't xc-skied in years... So I won't ACTUALLY be trying this anytime soon.

However, with a really well-trained mini and a really athletic skier, I think it would be a blast!

I had been wondering about the equipment used with dog skijoring, and so your post is interesting from that aspect as well. I think the "quick release" mechanisms would be mandatory!

The piece I hadn't figured out in my head, for skijoring with minis, is how to manage reins (guidance) and ski poles (brakes) - so I guess you'd have to do without the ski poles...

I wish you lots of luck with your endeavor and hope that you will post pictures! (Going to look at the video link now...)

I am with you on the old and easily injured thing NOW, DrivinTime, but have in years past done this very same very fun thing! After experimenting with it the best way I found was to make a sort of a travois thing to attach a singletree to which the "traces" I made from rope, attached to. You need the "solid" shafts to keep you off the horse when he is braking and I did a lot of snowplowing

and, if you don't have one of the newer breast collars that allow for lower draft, rope on a western girth works well!

The girth became my breastcollar which I hung over his neck with binder twine securely fastened. Two ropes became traces that could swivel around the ring on the girth and loops on the end went over the hooks on my singletree. I used his entire harness as normal and that allowed the breeching to help in stopping. Another western girth became my "belt" that the ropes from the singletree attached to leaving my hands free to "drive" the horse. The idea of having a "quick release" belt is a VERY GOOD ONE! I think that could be achieved on my set up by tying my waist belt to a quick release snap just in front of me and then to the singletree - I didn't get that far in my thinking when I was trying this

My horse was thoroughly trained and very experienced and it was a TOTAL BLAST!!! I have also used a toboggan, instead of my cross country skies, in the same manner. You might want to try that DrivinTime - it is slightly less likely to cause injury

because only the toboggan is tied to the horse, not you, BUT I think that a quick release for the tobaggan is a very good idea too so that in the event of a spill the horse isn't being chased by a crazy toboggan! When I use a drag tire for training I use a pull cord soldered to a quick release snap to allow the tire to "break away". If you used the same thing you could attach the cord to you so that if you fell off the snap would release. You also need to make sure that your horse isn't going to be bothered by ropes and things kind of loose around him. My horses also all whoa from a voice command alone. It is tons of fun though!

You could also try an actual sleigh for horses Katie!

 

[targetsmom]

Count me in the "old and easily injured" crowd, but it sure sounds like fun. I tried a couple of alternatives last year that I felt were much safer and plenty enough fun for me!

First, was just cross country skiing in the hilly pasture WITH the minis:

Starting out:

Really getting into it: You can't even tell I am on skis, but I am.

But this was even more fun, and corners were quite exciting: I have even hooked green minis to this sled with weight in it for training, but Princess, shown here, is well trained.

The weanlings enjoyed it - their turn will come some year:

More snow coming tomorrow....

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I hitched my two Dobes up to the trolley last winter as the nearest I could get to the field with the van was half a mile away and I had all the hot feed to get there! I hitched one dog on each side of the steering arm (little garden trolley) and held them in the middle on halters. I attached them with two very posh halter (I believe they are Hamilton's) left over from the Arabs- turned upside down they make a brilliant dog harness! They took three days to get the hang of it so I did not have to walk in the middle and I wish they would talk to DC about how easy it was. They did it for praise and cuddles and they had a blast- it really got them fit, I can see why Huskies space out. A sled would have been much better but I could not get anything big enough. I am not harnessing me to me dogs for all the gold in the universe and, having been towed by DC and ended up in a hedge, I am not harnessing him to me, either- I know how strong he is! The main difference would be that the skijorers have another person on the horse, doing all the hard bits, but my pipe drag would work, without the wheels, as a travois, and it weighs nothing.

 

[RhineStone]

I showed these photos to my son asking if he would be interested in that (for some reason the horses are not a novelty for him, and he is spending less and less time on the box), and he said that one of those new foamy type sleds would be good for that. I hadn't thought about it before that, but at least if you get dumped off the sled and the attached sled is loose with the horse, it is less likely to whack the horse in the heels and scare the cr-p out of him vs. one of those plastic ones with the harder edges....

Just a thought,

Myrna

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I showed these photos to my son asking if he would be interested in that (for some reason the horses are not a novelty for him, and he is spending less and less time on the box), and he said that one of those new foamy type sleds would be good for that. I hadn't thought about it before that, but at least if you get dumped off the sled and the attached sled is loose with the horse, it is less likely to whack the horse in the heels and scare the cr-p out of him vs. one of those plastic ones with the harder edges....

Just a thought,

Myrna

Myrna what are they? I do not think I have seen them....

 

[RhineStone]

Just search for "foam sled" and a number of examples will come up. I might be concerned about the "pulling capacity" of that type of sled, that the rope or whatever might pull through. The "attachment" might have to be reinforced somehow.

 

[dreamlandnh]

We have not skijored with the mini's but Lizzie will hook up a plastic sled behind the boys and go around in that. We make it so that the sled is WAY behind the horse so that little flying hooves won't get her. We are lucky that we have a flat field she can play in, till our snow is too deep.

 

[shelterwood]

Yay! You guys are awesome. Great pictures, great ideas! I have used a sled behind a mini, and towed my husband around briefly with me leading and him on skis, but what I really want is something like Rabbitsfizz posted. I think the travois thing made of PVC could really work, but needs tweaking. Here's the thing, the skijoring harness I wear, with the break-away part near me, is waist height, so therefor the connecting piece between the two "shafts" needs to be held up near that height, as you would need it for brakes (yes, no poles could be used, they would be entirely too cumbersome) along with LOTS of snowplowing to stop. But if there were a PVC across at basically waist height that would also be a set of brakes, and you could use a short connector (the breakaway part) to hitch horse to human. I will take some pics of my current equipment and post....

Katie

 

[MiLo Minis]

Yay! You guys are awesome. Great pictures, great ideas! I have used a sled behind a mini, and towed my husband around briefly with me leading and him on skis, but what I really want is something like Rabbitsfizz posted. I think the travois thing made of PVC could really work, but needs tweaking. Here's the thing, the skijoring harness I wear, with the break-away part near me, is waist height, so therefor the connecting piece between the two "shafts" needs to be held up near that height, as you would need it for brakes (yes, no poles could be used, they would be entirely too cumbersome) along with LOTS of snowplowing to stop. But if there were a PVC across at basically waist height that would also be a set of brakes, and you could use a short connector (the breakaway part) to hitch horse to human. I will take some pics of my current equipment and post....

Katie

Actually Katie, I found that the travois would lift up where you need it when you are in draft but goes to the ground when you are stopping. Hence the need for using breeching and a singletree. My "harness" (girth) was at my waist too and it worked because I had the traces fixed so they could swivel around the girth rings allowing for the change in draft. I would love to see photos of what you have done - I am actually thinking if we get a good snowfall this year I may risk breaking a few things again

it is THAT much fun!

 

[Kendra]

My brother's friend, who showed with us for years, was a ski-racer and wanted to try skijoring. I don't usually work my horses in the winter, because I'm super paranoid about them slipping and getting hurt and it all being MY FAULT ;-), but we finally had the perfect day, the snow came down fast on dry ground, so there was good footing, but enough snow for skiing.

Usually (At least in the YouTube's Curtis showed me, I'm no expert) the horse is ridden by one person while another tows behind on skis. Curtis did a lot of thinking about how to set up the harness so that he would towed by the breast collar and not the bit, but for this trial run we hooked Image up to the cart and put a tow rope from the cart. As it turned out, this was the one and only time we ever did it.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

My set up weighs nothing. If you took the tyre off it you could hold it at waist level, or even put it on a harness so long as it was velcro, and hold onto the bar- imagine a hang gliding harness- I made it out of piping made for plumbing- you would still need traces, I think.

 

[LazyRanch]

This is way cool and I had no idea there was a name for it. I am a ghastly skier, but a heck on wheels skater. I have been known to terrorize our neighbours by buckling on my inlines and driving my most trusted horse. I use an old quick release from a trailer tie, just in case. I too am of the old, don't wanna get too wracked up genre.

If we get enough snow this season, though, I might make a try at skis.

 

[susanne]

This looks like so much fun, but alas, I'm the super klutz who broke her leg on a dry sidewalk in summer (freak circumstances).

Mingus is big on judging his driver: gentle and slow with those he thinks need care, but cutting loose with those he thinks can handle it. (He's NOT always right, LOL.) I can only imagine if I got behind him on skis -- I bet he'd just stand still!

 

[paintponylvr]

Wow, a way fun and memory stirring post!! And some of the replies made me realize I can remember my "pony sledding" w/ cinches and lariats in CO in the 70s/80s w/ a smile rather than cringing. Thank you for sharing these ideas and the wonderful pictures!

I am terrible at sking when in good shape and now am not, so I'll stick to the cart(ing) idea and the toboggan. I did do something different - we put a bale of hay on the red toboggan we had, straddled it and left our legs/feet down. We could then brake (didn't have breeching) and balance on sharp/inclined turns. My sister and I spent HOURS racing a 13 hh pony mare around that way several years in a row. The biggest problem is the attachment for the towing assembly these days isn't the same. Just pulling a toboggan around has a tendency to rip the tow strap thru the plastic now.

yes this almost makes me wish for snow. Last night was our first freeze - and man, I'm not looking forward to this winter. Of course, it would help if I shake the sinus infection and get the wrenched knee healed up - then I wouldn't be so "blue" in this weather...

 

[paintponylvr]

Jane -

Do you have any close up shots of the attachment of the axle/wheels to your pvc shafts? That is COOL. I've done the PVC shafts as a trainer up around the ponies haunches (don't have pics w/ small ponies - just a couple with 1/2 arab/shet filly).

With a couple of ours, I just feel like we are missing some "steps" - and think your development might be that missing step that will take us in the right direction. Plus it's less expensive than either steel or wood (I think) but more important - light weight and easily made by clumsy me!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Have you looked on the Spotted Toad thread? If that's not enough I'll take some tomorrow. It is all duct tape and will power- basically I wanted something that would break long before the horse did if something went wrong. I made this up, quite literally as I went along- it started of as a pole drag, then got the tyre for weight, then I lashed on the wheels right down low, now I have jacked them up to driving height. I felt exactly as you do- with DC I needed something in between- I have never had this problem before, but I have to admit I ahve not harness trained a "show horse" before, all my driving ponies have been Cobs and Cob ponies, nice well behaved, sensible animals- I never tried to harness train any of the Arabs because I was quite attached to the idea of being able to walk and riding them was enough of a challenge!!!

 

[shelterwood]

Well I took some pics of my skijoring equipment, but not on an animal (no one here to take better pics).

This is the harness that goes over my hips, sits low, over butt sort of. The red handle is the breakaway and gets pulled toward you if needed.



The next picture is of the breakaway released.



Outside the range of the photo is the leash that attaches dog to human, 1/3 of which is bungee type material, the other 2/3 is just nylon cord, with a simple snap on the end.

Now to try to modify this to a horse set-up. Will post photos of ideas and attempts. Just thought you all might like to see what the human harness and breakaway looks like. I also bought a bitless bridle and have been ground driving my mares in it. I feel this is the more humane way to go as I anticipate doing some inadvertent tugging on the reins at times, and it will often be single digits or below zero when I'm out doing this. Anyone else use a bitless bridle at all in the winter? I know that they are not generally accepted in driving circles. My mares ground drove VERY well in it. Just can't imagine stuffing cold steel into a horse's mouth at -10 degrees!

Katie

 

[Tab]

I think it's a great idea! What can't you do with a mini?