Now THIS is what it's all about, part 2 - Skijoring

[Gail P]

After school the other day my daughter took Flurry for a spin around the trail, practicing to hopefully enter a skijoring class at one of the races we'll be attending. There are skijoring classes at most races but some of the courses are more difficult. She's going to start with one of the easier ones (hopefully, if she's eligible - it will be at the race marshal's discretion because of her age) She's done a bunch of skijoring before, mostly with Flash and she's also tried Thunder, but this was the first time with Flurry. Sorry the pictures aren't great, it was starting to get dark and the sun was already down behind the trees.

[Gail P]

a few more

[luckypenny]

Does that ever look like fun!! she can get in on those classes .

[hazelrunpack]

That does look like fun!! Way beyond hazel's skill level, but fun! I hope the race marshall is lenient!

[breeze]

that looks like so much fun!!

I hope your daughter gets to compete

[Tundra_Queen]

That looks like tons of fun!! Gee maybe it's time I dust off my skis and borrow Tegan from hubs for a while.

[Marcha]

I think, if ever there was a sport for Bodhi, it's skijoring.
Wow. Looks like great fun, for all!

[growler~GateKeeper]

Looks like your daughter & Flurry are a good team for her getting into the race

[Gail P]

Skijoring's a great sport for anyone who wants to get active in the winter with their dog(s). Any medium-large kind of dog can do it and you don't need a whole team. 1-2 dogs is common, though some people even use 3.

I just got a Christmas email from the race marshal's family so I sent a reply and asked about my daughter's eligibility. I think that normally it's age 14 and up (same as for some of the limited class racing, and 16 and up for the bigger classes). They do make exceptions though, I've known of kids only 14 going out in the 40 mile mid-distance class with a bunch of dogs, and others in the limited classes going out with reduced teams (eg. starting with 6 dogs in the 8 dog class so they can handle the team size). Even in the kid & mutt classes that are supposed to be 8 and over there are always kids younger than that, heck my daughter's been doing them since she was 4. The rules are there for safety, but if the marshal feels that the kids are of a size/stature to handle the dogs, experienced enough, can handle the number of dogs they're using and that the dogs aren't going to be difficult for them (i.e. ones with not enough training or bad attitudes around others etc.) they'll make exceptions. My daughter will be turning 11 the weekend of the race she wants to skijor at, and she's been working with the dogs for years now. She's not yet a super cross-country skier, but she's been doing some skijoring for the past couple of years and she's better at it than I am, I prefer to stick to my sled

[Ryan48]

WOW, who's having the most fun here? I think dogger is having a riot! I'd love to get my grandson into that....wow.

Rm