Sunday, February 23, 2014

Horse-Drawn Ski Racing was Almost an Olympic Sport




This looks SO FUN!!  Too bad it wasn't an Olympic sport -maybe next year it will be!  If that happens, Skijoring is ALL I will be watching!! ~Declan




Horse-Drawn Ski Racing Was Almost an Olympic Sport 


By   As posted on Slate




skijoring
Skijorers in action in Leadville, Colo.
Wikimedia Commons/Kaila Angello
If you’re like me, you’ve been watching the Winter Olympics and thinking, All these ski events are great, but they’d be even better if the skiers were being towed by a team of horses. With that in mind, imagine how thrilled I was to discover the great sport ofskijoring, or, as I like to call it, “horse-drawn waterskiing on snow.” In skijoring, a skier hangs on to a rope attached to a horse (or a dog, or a snowmobile) and glides across the snow until she falls down or the horse gets tired. Eighty-six years ago, the sport was on the verge of becoming a full-fledged Olympic event. This is a discussion we need to revive immediately.
Skijoring is a Norwegian word that roughly translates as ski driving, or driving on skis; it’s taken from kjøring, which means driving, and ski, which means ski. In the following video, taken at a modern-day skijoring event in Montana, the skiers don’t look like they’re driving so much as holding on for dear life, but let’s not split semantic hairs:
Looks like fun, doesn’t it? As you can clearly see from the video, the sport of skijoring requires balance, agility, a talent for ring-grabbing, and a love for classic guitar-driven rock 'n' roll. In 2009 the Boston Globe reported that, these days, a “typical course runs 1,000 feet and features 12 slalom gates, six ‘jousting rings’ that a skier must grab, and three ramp-like jumps ranging from 2-6 feet in height." So, basically, it’s skiing meets the rodeo meets Medieval Times. Why isn’t this on every network in America?
Skijoring began in Norway in the 19th century as a way to speed the transmission of army dispatches, according to E. John B. Allen in The Culture and Sport of Skiing. It soon grew popular in many parts of the world among people with daredevil spirits and unfettered access to draft animals and rope. “Horsemanship was one of the aristocracy’s remaining differences from the urban masses, so the appeal of skijoring was a natural one,” writes Allen. “Children were pulled by dog and pony, British officers in India tried it behind a yak, Sami behind reindeer, and men from the industrial world behind motorcycle, car, and even airplane.”
Competitive skijoring was included in the Nordic Games—a nationalistic celebration of cold-weather sport that was the predecessor to the Winter Olympics—in the first decade of the 20th century, where it caught the eye of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics. Coubertin was a fan of weird sports with militaristic overtones—he invented the modern pentathlon, a Summer Olympic event involving gunplay and horsemanship, as a test of skill for cavalry officers—so his appreciation for skijoring came as no big surprise. He expressed his hope that there might one day be room for skijoring in the Olympic Games. (Coubertin was not a huge fan of non-horse-drawn skiing, apparently. According to an essay in The Olympics at the Millennium, he thought downhill skiing “was hardly a sport to uphold his Olympic ideals of international peace and reconciliation shrouded under the auspices of antiquity.” I shudder to think what he would say about ice dancing.)
Coubertin eventually got his wish, as skijoring was made an Olympic demonstration sport at the St. Moritz Games, in 1928. These were the days when getting towed on skis by horses and/or dogs was a primary mode of transportation for much of the world, and yet only seven people competed in the mass-start skijoring event. And it was sort of boring. (Skiboring, you might say.) The event, which was held on a frozen lake, included no jumps or slaloms—just seven dudes on skis getting pulled behind riderless horses. When the race was concluded, apparently no one even bothered to write down the victors’ first names.
That was the end for skijoring at the Olympics. But it wasn’t the end for the sport. Skijoring is still practiced in Scandinavia, Switzerland, and in other remote northern regions where they apparently don’t have satellite cable. The sport has gained niche popularity in America, too, in places like Whitefish, Mont., home of the World Ski Joring Championships. Skijoring first became popular in Whitefish in the 1950s, apparently, “with just four guys in a bar talking about who was the best skier, who was the best drinker, and who was the best horseman.” But isn’t that how everything good in America got started?
Today the North American Ski Joring Association sanctions races across the country, and while modern skijorers still dream that the sport might one day return to the Olympics, this does not seem very likely. Even so, I’m willing to put in some work to make this happen. Just tell me whom to call, or provide me with a form letter that I can sign and mail, and I’ll do my part.


Monday, February 17, 2014

Cappy and Augusta - Partners to the End


This is a great story from my friend Susan Salk and her blog Off-Track Thoroughbreds, of a brave and loyal horse and his owner, who took the time to really listen.  ~Declan


Riding out rough storms with Capt.’s Reddie

There's nothing but blue sky ahead for Cappy and Augusta Lord
There’s nothing but blue sky ahead for Cappy and Augusta Lord
The Capt.’s Reddie, better known as simply Cappy, never let on he was in pain.
In show after show, the 7-year-old bay Thoroughbred carried his young owner higher and higher, wrapping up their 2010 dressage season with a prestigious finish as reserve champion.
Even after Augusta Lord packed up the ribbons and had begun training her fine horse for more, Capt.’s Reddie seemed only a little stiff and mildly unhappy.
“We started to have minor training difficulties,” Lord says, “and everyone suggested I start injecting him. But, I just wasn’t comfortable injecting such a young horse without knowing what was causing his stiffness. So, I took him to the MidAtlantic Equine Clinic, and the vets there were baffled too.”
Veterinarians gave him every lameness test in their arsenal. He passed with flying colors. Then finally, they trotted him in a 10-meter circle on a lunge line and concurred: “Something looked a little funny in the right hind.”
The Capt.’s Reddie
Barn name: Cappy
Sire: Saint Reddie
Dam: Capt Golden Girl
Foal date: April 10, 2002
At this point, months had passed since horse and rider had concluded a show season so successful that he was pinning as high as sixth in rated shows. And it wasn’t until spring of 2011 that veterinarians discovered what the stoic young horse had been hiding.
A chronic hole in his suspensory tendon, upper hind, showed 30 percent of the ligament was gone, Lord was told.
“The vets told me he shouldn’t even have been walking sound on an injury like that, and he carried me through a whole show season!” she says. “It made me feel awful. I had no idea.”
And from that moment on, the young rider, who was just a teenager, resolved to do everything she could to ease the pain in her beautiful and courageous horse.
Beginning with shockwave therapy to boost circulation and stimulate blood flow in the area, Capt.’s Reddie was ultimately treated with stem cell replacement therapy, she says.
“The vets made an incision in the upper fatty part of the hip and spun the fat cells down to stem cells and inserted them into the hole in the ligament,” she says, noting that expenses were covered by her very supportive equine insurance company, Hallmark Insurance, who were “fantastic” as she and her horse endured months of testing and procedures.

Cappy and Lord show in their recent 2010 heyday
Cappy and Lord show in their recent 2010 heyday
After the surgery, Lord and her OTTB embarked on a two-year recovery. The young rider never left her horse’s side. She graduated high school, deferred college for a year, and in the winter of 2011, she packed her bags, loaded her horse onto a trailer, and traveled to Massachusetts to serve as a working student for Olympic dressage rider Dotty Morkis.
“I lived in the hayloft of the barn and I spent my off hours rehabbing him, every day,” she says. “I had no family in Massachusetts, I didn’t know anyone, and being a working student can be brutal. There were times I found myself sitting on the floor of his stall, crying.”


<CLICK HERE> to continue reading Cappy and Augusta's story and about their amazing partnership.


Sunday, February 2, 2014

Meet Thunder the Broncos Mascot




Not only is today Feel Good Sunday, but it's also Super Bowl Sunday!!  As much as I like the Seahawks, I want the Broncos to win - how could I not when this is the Year of the Horse - right?

Thunder, the Bronco's mascot, is going to the 2014 Super Bowl.  Thunder's job is to lead the team onto the field, and run across the field every time the team scores a touch down or field goal.  Before each game, Thunder gets an extreme make over that includes clipping, blueing shampoo to make him extra white, and he gets his mane and tail brushed out and made nice.


Thunder was flown to the Super Bowl on Fed Ex!  Thunder arrived in New Jersey on Thursday and will be staying on a farm with plenty of room for him to around and he has a nice big, and clean stall.  Thunder was flown because his owner and trainer were worried about the cold conditions and what might happen to him if he was driven to the Super Bowl.  Fed-Ex sponsored the flight that would normally cost around $20,000.























There are actually 3 horses who serve as the Broncos mascot.  Thunder I first appeared as the Broncos mascot on September 12, 1993 and was retired in 2004.  Since Thunder II is 20 years old, Thunder III (who was foaled in 2000) will be appearing at this year's Super Bowl.  All three horses are purebred Arabians.


Below are some videos and an article about Thunder (and the Seahawks mascot who's awesome too) for you to enjoy. 

GO BRONCOS and THUNDER!!  ~Declan







Denver Broncos' and Seattle Seahawks' mascots head to town for Super Bowl 

Thunder, an Arabian gelding who trots out whenever Denver scores a goal, and Taima, an augur hawk who starts Seattle's home games, will be in the area for the big game on Sunday. Thunder was traveling by plane and may make a few television appearances. No word if the same is true for Taima, who has the impressive ability to dart through rings of fire.


 Denver Broncos mascot Thunder is lead through Times Square in Manhattan by handler Ann Judge-Wegener, left and Sharon Magness Blake right Friday January 31, 2014. 

JOE TABACCA FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Denver Broncos mascot Thunder is led through Times Square in Manhattan by handler Ann Judge-Wegener, left and Sharon Magness Blake right Friday January 31, 2014. 

Super Bowl fans are going to be thunderstruck by the team mascots on Feb. 2.
Thunder the horse and Taima the hawk — whose name means 'Thunder' — are both flying into town ahead of Sunday's big game.
Fleet-footed Thunder, the white Arabian gelding who sprints across Mile High Stadium every time his team scores, is expected to touch down Thursday at Newark International Airport.
The 10-year-old departed from Denver early in the morning dressed in a dark blue, padded Broncos rug.
Sharon Magness Blake with her horse, Broncos mascot Thunder, which was transported into Newark Airport by FedEx plane.

KEN MURRAY/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sharon Magness Blake with her horse, Broncos mascot Thunder, which was transported into Newark Airport by FedEx plane.

"My bags are packed and I'm ready to go," said a post on Thunder's Facebook page.
The Bronco mascot is traveling first-class in a cargo plane, accompanied by his rider, Annie Wegener, and a special groom.
"For the Super Bowl, he's going to lead the team onto the field and every time the Broncos score he'll run across the end zone," said his owner, Sharon Magness Blake.
Annie Wegener rides Thunder during a home game at Mile High Stadium.

SCOTT CUNNINGHAM/GETTY IMAGES

Annie Wegener rides Thunder during a home game at Mile High Stadium.

"We hope he does it many times!" said the Broncos fan.
Meanwhile, Seahawk mascot Taima is going to swoop into town to lead his team into MetLife Stadium Sunday evening.
The 9-year-old augur hawk sports a distinctive black head with a unique cream-colored throat with a dark stripe.
Taima, the mascot of the Seattle Seahawks, stands on the arm of her handler during a November game in Seattle.

TED S. WARREN/AP

Taima, the mascot of the Seattle Seahawks, stands on the arm of her handler during a November game in Seattle.

The bird of prey — with its impressive 4 1/2-foot wingspan — is a familiar sight to Seahawk fans.
No game gets started until he unfolds his feathers and darts across the field — carefully watched by his trainer David Knutson.
Taima has to keep his nerve as he navigates 12-foot spires of flame, screaming cheerleaders, booming fireworks and thousands of crazed fans to his trainer's gloved hand.
Thunder trots around the field each time the Denver Broncos score a goal — which fans hope will happen many times during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

DOUG PENSINGER/GETTY IMAGES

Thunder trots around the field each time the Denver Broncos score a goal — which fans hope will happen many times during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Both mascots were handpicked for their ability to deal with loud noises and the super spectacle that is NFL football.
Thunder the horse had to take classes to teach him to run over the white yard lines on the football field.
"Thunder has had all kinds of special instruction to deal with cheerleader pom-poms, big noises, large crowds — he can even ride elevators," said Magness Blake.
‘My bags are packed and I'm ready to go — Super Bowl Bound!!’ Thunder captioned this picture on Facebook.

BRONCOS THUNDER/VIA FACEBOOK

‘My bags are packed and I'm ready to go — Super Bowl Bound!!’ Thunder captioned this picture on Facebook.

Taima, who began flying for the Seahawks in 2007, was named by the team's fans.
His flights are often accompanied by the Seahawks' drum line, known as the Blue Thunder.
Both mascots are fan favorites - and they're already generating huge interest ahead of the game.
Thunder's owner was busy Thursday arranging for a police escort for her horse to get him into the Big Apple for TV appearances the next morning.
"We need some help getting his trailer around those tight corners," laughed Magness Blake, who said Thunder will be on several network talk shows.