February/March 2013 - Page 24
"The skijoring is insane, but very exciting to watch,"
Michelle says. "Most of the competitors are mad
skiers, rather than horse people. The race is three
laps of the course, and it's impossible to steer. In one
race it was windy and horses and skiers were going
everywhere. One man got tangled in another skier's
reins, and both horses were double-barrelling him. He
ended up very battered, with broken ribs."
Michelle loved the experience of racing on snow in
the famous and chic resort. "I'd love to go again, but
White Turf occurs in the middle of Australia's autumn
carnival, so it's difficult to get away."
As a sport, skijoring was demonstrated at the 1928
winter Olympics, also in St Moritz, and by the 1950s
its popularity had spread from Europe to the US, and
Canada. Today there are several sporting clubs in the
US. Competitions are generally
held at ski resorts, but anyone
who owns a horse and lives in
a snowy region could do either
kind of skijoring.
In the competitive sport there
are generally two types of
course, a long straight and
a horseshoe-shaped track.
The straight course is used
for timed sprints and races
where the skier must negotiate
slalom gates and/or jumps,
and perhaps collect suspended
rings. On a horseshoe course
the horse gallops on the inside
of the track, while the skier
negotiates racing gates and
jumps that may exceed 2
metres in height. Penalties are
The sport is popular world wide as shown by participation in the Tatra mountains, Poland, and below in Quebec, Canada.