Saw some pics of what looks like super fun on my FB feed, including sleigh rides and skijoring… Is it as fun as it looks?
I’ve been working on ground driving with my guy, wondering if maybe we should work towards something for next winter… It looks SO much fun!
Anyone do it? Pics?
It’s been a while since we had that kind of winter fun. Sure miss having a “good ole boy” kind of horse that put up with us. Too cold here for winter horse fun right now.
Last year someone local made a track with some jumps and hosted a day of it. I couldn’t go, but I guess a lot of people tried it. Our friend injured his knee. My friend’s son used his snowboard and loved it. I’d kill myself, there’s no way I’m skiing behind a horse. A dog, maybe. They didn’t drive the horses but had a rider up.
[QUOTE=My Two Cents;7353930]
It’s been a while since we had that kind of winter fun. Sure miss having a “good ole boy” kind of horse that put up with us. Too cold here for winter horse fun right now.[/QUOTE]
It’s cold here too! It may be early yet, but I’m sensing my recent OTTB acquisition is one of those “good ole boy” type horses… was exactly along the lines as what I was thinking when I saw the pictures. I’m sure considering doing it…
Cloudy18, I’ve seen them done both ways too - I think the rider up might be a little more fun/“safe” for someone who is new or not used to the theory… It looks fun either way!
We used to spend hours when the kids were little with them on a round metal snow disc. Then they graduated to skis with a water ski rope and snow mogels.
The best “good ole boys” are born that way. Either they got it or they don’t. 
I’m hoping you got one. They are hard to find.
I used to do skijoring with my first pony, back in the '80s before it had a name. I would hook a loop of my dad’s old belts around her neck, with a longe line for the tow rope, and hook another longe line to her bit to steer with (one in each hand). It was really a lot of fun! My pony was not the calm, quiet type, and would sometimes make sudden u-turns which knocked me right over, then I had to go catch her in my ski boots. Definitely not the safest set up, but it was fun.
I have a young horse now that could probably be trained to tolerate this, and my son would love it. I might have to ask my dad if he has any old belts he doesn’t need…
I was planning on giving it a go, as I have some friends who are mad enough to try skiing behind the horse, but we haven’t any snow yet! 
I’d love to try it some day, but not with my horse! I don’t have a death wish. She freaks out just looking at the ponies pulling the kids sleds 
I’ve ski-jored before with my hunter, I’m always the one riding though, never on skis or the board. I just threw a western saddle on with a breastplate, found places to tie a ski rope and voila. He was always really good about pulling them, walk-gallop no problem, the only thing he worries about was when we were stopped and no one was holding on to the rope. If it was taught he was happy, or if it was to the side like a lunge line he was happy, if it touched the ground behind him it was apparently a big snake lol.
It’s obviously more fun if you have a big area to get moving, you want the snow hard enough that it’s fast, but not icy, too much snow and it turns into a lot of work for the horse. My dad plows the runway since he’s got skis on his plane, it was perfect! Straight and level for almost a mile, we could really get moving!
Our b/o brought in a few of the local ski joring crowd a few years ago for a clinic. We had ideal snow conditions that year, so there was a well-groomed track out on the hayfield with a few obstacles, including a jump. The teenager who was part-leasing my gelding at the time had a blast hauling around one of her friends. But the horse? He was thrilled to death to gallop back and forth hauling that skier. I have some great pictures (one as my wallpaper at work) and I swear he’s smiling.
The little demo they did at the end was astonishing. Worth going to see if you have the chance.
One thing we did learn is to be careful what kind of saddle you use. I have a flex-tree western trail saddle and couldn’t use it because it would damage the tree. So we borrowed one from the barn. Definitely need a breast plate also.
[QUOTE=walktrot;7358906]
Our b/o brought in a few of the local ski joring crowd a few years ago for a clinic. We had ideal snow conditions that year, so there was a well-groomed track out on the hayfield with a few obstacles, including a jump. The teenager who was part-leasing my gelding at the time had a blast hauling around one of her friends. But the horse? He was thrilled to death to gallop back and forth hauling that skier. I have some great pictures (one as my wallpaper at work) and I swear he’s smiling.
The little demo they did at the end was astonishing. Worth going to see if you have the chance.
One thing we did learn is to be careful what kind of saddle you use. I have a flex-tree western trail saddle and couldn’t use it because it would damage the tree. So we borrowed one from the barn. Definitely need a breast plate also.[/QUOTE]
I was thinking of going sans saddle - pulling with a saddle wouldn’t be an option for me, don’t have a saddle can can appropriately shoulder the weight. Was thinking of contriving a “yoke” like contraption, maybe not belts but something that could loop across the chest into a surcingle to bear the weight easier. Ideas?
My guy is great with ground driving, but we haven’t done anything more than trot yet… Next year resolutions?!
I tried it for the first time this year towing my DH and we had a BLAST!! Just rigged up the rope to my western saddle and off we went. Wish I had video! My pony is an absolute saint and game for anything, so he just went with it. He bucked a couple times at the canter because the rope was pressing into his butt, but other than that he was amazing. Can’t wait to do it again!
We are not winning with the weather this year - ice, ice under too little snow, melting and more ice, sufficient snow to be safe on weekdays and then melting and ice again on weekends. At this rate my mare won’t learn to pull this year
bumping this up again… i know it’s a year old, but anyone doing it this year?
i didn’t get very far last year – we did some ground driving and i attached an elastic breast plate to a surcingle and had Horsey pull that around with a sled attached… never put any weight on it, I am not sure if the elastic breast-plate could shoulder the weight?
Any skijorer know-hows? What should I use instead? We just got four feet of snow… I’m thinking we should use it!
We had prime skijoring weather over the holidays, but January has been warm and dry. My gelding is ready to go, my son had to cancel out the one day we were going to go. But a couple of friends went to a nearby park and did it for the first time with both of their horses, and had a blast. Really pretty easy if you have a rider on board, driving is a bit more complicated. The one friend had a western saddle, the other English but attached the rope to her crupper ring on the cantle and it worked fine. I first tried it in the 70s, using a horse that was long listed for the 3 day team at the time (but it was ok with the owner’s sister!). The horse endured us admirably.
I did! North East Ski Joring put on a clinic near me, and I had a blast. They did a great job of walking everyone through how to attach the harness, get the horses used to ropes, and go through the course. We towed a mix of skiers and snowboarders.
The demo was amazing! The team really flew through the course with two jumps and rings for the skier to pick up.
Photo here (I borrowed hubby’s horse for the clinic) - https://www.facebook.com/296647860582/photos/a.309389110582.152735.296647860582/10152555420595583/?type=1&theater
I love doing this with my horse! Sadly, we haven’t received enough snow this year for me to get out
Not yet this year. See my fellow Ontarian’s post above.
Whare’s mah snow?
When we were kids we did it rider up a lot. I’ve only had one horse I would have tried driving with.
My sister had a neat little QH who used to make it tough for us kids by trying to work the rope. She must have been roped off of when she was young.
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