Shoeing for Skijøring: Yes, Skijøring.

Skijoring, American Style (so without the ø)

What gives American skijøring its peculiar charm? In its current state, it’s like someone took the Laplands, smothered them in barbecue sauce, and said, “You know what this needs? A cowboy hat.” It’s not enough to simply ski, no. Here in the frontier of restless energy and oversized ambitions, we look at the serene elegance of gliding across snow and think, Let’s tie ourselves to a galloping horse and throw in a few jumps.

In short, what’s not to love?

American skijøring has inevitably been seasoned with an additional bravado, cranking it up into a full-blown spectacle. The courses are strewn with obstacles: slalom gates, rings to grab, ramps that throw skiers into the air, as though the goal is not merely to cross the finish line but to see how many laws of physics can be challenged along the way.

Then there’s the sheer audacity of the horse element. It’s not enough to rely on dogs or snowmobiles; no, we had to bring in the quintessential symbol of the American West. And of course, we’ve accessorized it. Riders often wear cowboy hats, fur coats, and fringe because nothing says “I’m in control of this 1,200-pound animal hurtling over machine-made snow” like dressing for the Rodeo, Sundance Film Festival, and Apres Ski all at once. The skier, meanwhile, clings to a towline as though auditioning for the role of “least prepared stunt double” in a low-budget action movie.

There’s something deeply endearing about it. It’s a sport for the kind of people who look at a snowy field and see a stage, where the absurd and the athletic collide in a spray of snow and joy. The horses seemed to love it, too. Let’s make sure that their safety and happiness is a factor in what we consider success every time.In our latest video on YouTube, Principal Farrier Seth Noble gets horse Festus ready for his first Skijøring Event. Rider KC Letterman was invited to participate in this event by a former resident of her facility, Skyland Ranch, which helps men struggling with addiction by creating a sober environment where they learn practical skills and experience the healing power of equine therapy. This is Letterman’s first time, too, so everyone involved is new at this.

So let’s talk about the Skijøring itself.

Where and When Did Skijoring Skijør Onto The Scene?

At first, skijøring seems like the kind of activity that was born out of sheer boredom. Picture it: a rancher in Montana, snowed in and growing tired of the same four stories from his neighbor Ed. “What if,” he muses, staring out at his frosted pasture, “I strapped on some skis and tied myself to Nellie?” And before anyone could tell him this was a terrible idea, there he went, hurtling across the snow with the joyful abandon of a person who hasn’t fully considered the concept of broken ribs.

In fact, the term Skijøring hails originally from Norway (literally meaning “ski-driving”) and the original propulsion system was canine, not equine. It was not a sport at first so much as practical Scandinavian utility (pulling skiers behind dogs to get from one snowy village to another). However, as skijøring spread to other snowy regions of Europe, horses and cars replaced dogs and it became a leisure activity for some. Humans can make anything a competition, of course, so skijøring races have also long been a thing in the old country.

Speaking of the old country, The Nobles have an extensive crew of Norwegian cousins living in Oslo, so maybe it’s Seth’s fate to shoe skijoring horses, although, he is constantly conflicted when working with horses whose best interests may not be or aren’t t top of mind for horse owners, so not knowing anything about the Skijøring culture, he wasn’t sure what he was getting himself into.

As for us as a company, we’re most concerned with how well the horses are prepared before and after any work or competition. In our YouTube channel to see the special fitting Seth did for the horses that KC Letterman took to her skijoring events this winter. His custom shoes added additional protection and tread for those icy surfaces.

But preparation can’t stop at the fetlock. We would love nothing more than to see this relatively new equine sport assert standards of care and horsemanship for everyone involved and make it part of this wild new culture forming around it.

With some reluctance, Seth agreed to shoe a pair of horses for the Estes Park event in January, but the choice was made easier by two factors. First, KC Letterman, is an ethical and heart-centered rider. Second, Chief of Operations Sarah Caples-Noble saw this as a good opportunity for Noble Farriery to support a rider with a horse-first ethos in a sport that is growing in attention in the US and has a chance to make conscious decisions on behalf of horses as it becomes more popular and formalized.

We at Noble Farriery are always down for a good time—for horses and humans—and we have become fast fans of skijøring.