FAQ

Ski Joring - A Fun Winter Equestrian Discipline

2008-11-24 12:00:00 - by Horsetype

[ SPORTS ] Ski joring is a sport and equestrian discipline combining skis and horse driving. There is also a canine form of this activity but it is much more exciting with horses, see the video at the end of this article to fully understand why.

The main equipment, the skis, should not exceed 1.50 meters or 60 inches as to not hit the horse. This sport is practiced on packed snow at the race tracks or more rarely in the streets. This discipline is fun for skier and rider.

The origin of the discipline goes back as far as 2500 A.D., date where we find the first traces in Sweden of "Shörekjöring", ancestor of the ski joring. It is at the time only a mean to move from point A to point B. This activity is practiced, at the beginning, by peasants who associate a need for work, displacement or leisure with horses and skis.

Ski joring first considered only as a mean of transport, slowly evolves in a competition. The Swiss, among others, develop this discipline as a tourist attraction at the beginning of the 20^th century.

Today, ski joring is practiced in competitions whose courses are composed of jumps, of doors to be opened, objects to be collected, etc. It also tests the skier, his control and flexibility. In a race, the horses can reach speeds up to 70 km per hour or 45 miles per hour.

The North East Ski Joring Association (NESJA) and the North American Ski Joring Association (NASJA) represent this sport in the United States and Canada.

Below are two examples which show the degree of difficulty and the sensationalism of this sport…

  Share on Facebook