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Many people ask, “Has skijoring ever been in the Olympics?” and “Where do people skijor?”  The short answers are, “Yes. It did make an appearance at the Winter Olympics in 1928.” and “People ski behind horses in about 12 countries currently.”

By Loren Zhimanskova  

Many people ask, “Has skijoring ever been in the Olympics?” and “Where do people skijor?”  The short answers are, “Yes. It did make an appearance at the Winter Olympics in 1928.” and “People ski behind horses in about 12 countries currently.”  The devil is in the details, however, so let’s take a trip through the fascinating journey of equine skijoring together, shall we?

Equine skijoring was inspired by the age-old tradition of indigenous people, namely the Sami, skiing behind reindeer north of the Arctic Circle.  Some argue that skijoring began as early as 2500 BC as evidenced by rock art.  The equine version grew popular and formed its strongest roots in Continental Europe’s nordic and alpine regions in the early 1900s.  Shortly thereafter, the horse-centric sport moved to North America where it has been thriving in the 21st Century.  

Today there are over 30 competitive events in the United States and Canada and the tradition of skijoring in Saint Moritz, Switzerland still continues after 115 years.  Poland continues to have a rich history of skijoring, and a handful of other countries such as France, Germany, Austria, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia, the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Finland dabble in the sport, often experimenting with different versions, making the skijor community a patchwork of eclectic equine and ski enthusiasts worldwide. 

Check out the videos after each section below to witness this high-speed, exhilarating and broad international sport!  

THE ARCTIC

Imagine endless snow covered expanses under the Northern Lights dotted with squat tipi-like structures called goahtis and lavvus.  Add reindeer and indigenous people to the mix and imagine these men and women wrapped in hides and fur herding and taming reindeer to the degree that they accept a harness and pull not only supplies on sleds for practical purposes, but also daredevils on skis for entertainment during tribal festivals.  The tradition of reindeer racing continues today in places such as Tromso, Norway, Inari, Finland and Nadym, Russia. 

NORTHERN EUROPE

This competitive sport of skijoring behind reindeer was first showcased among other winter sports and, thus, introduced to the world at the Nordic Winter Games in 1901 in Stockholm, Sweden.  It should be noted, however, that horses did not pull skiers at these events.  Horse-driven sledding was included as were military sports, car and motorcycle racing and kick-sled and polka racing.  It would take some time for the equine version of skijoring to make its debut.  

The Nordic Games are credited with being the precursor to the Winter Olympic Games as we know them today.  They were organized by the Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of Athletics and more specifically by Viktor Balck, a member of that association and one of the five original members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  

The Nordic Winter Games were a celebration of everything Swedish, not just the winter sports in which the population excelled.  Theater, opera and folklore were also included.  The games were held in 1901, 1903, 1905, 1909, 1913, 1917, 1922 and 1926.  Similar games were held in Helsinki, Finland in 1907, but it is unclear as to whether they were also called Nordic Games.  Reindeer racing began officially in Finland in 1932.

The games in Stockholm came to an end due to several mitigating factors: political differences between Sweden and Norway causing the Norwegians to drop out, the death of Viktor Balck in 1928 and the cancellation of the games in 1930 due to lack of snow.  Finally, the international appeal of the Winter Olympics overshadowed the highly Nordic focus of the other games making them the clear frontrunner when it came to choosing between one or the other.  

So when did people start skiing behind horses?  

Evidence of skijoring with horses can be found in some rare historic photographs taken as early as 1903 in Norway.  Whether this style of skijoring ever entered the Nordic Games replacing the reindeer is yet to be determined, but at least we know that people were skiing behind horses as well in Nordic countries at this time.  Skijor Internațional haș vintage photographs of people skiing behind motorcycles in Norway in 1906, so the motorized version of skijoring also runs deep.  We’ll touch more on that later.  Also, to reinforce this timeline, the White Turf event was established in Saint Moritz, Switzerland in 1907 in which skiers reined their horses from behind competing in one heat on the oval track built on the frozen lake.  This event, still held to this day over three Sundays in February, attracts over 35,000 spectators.  
A trip, led by Claudia Around The World Tours and promoted by Skijor International, is planned from February 15-24, 2024 and will include tickets to White Turf’s final Sunday.  For info go to www.claudiaaroundtheworld.com or call (218) 513-8922. 

ALPINE EUROPE

Perhaps the most influential person when it comes to bringing equine skijoring to the forefront is Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games.  De Coubertin was aware of the sport due to its inclusion in the Nordic Games and newspapers such as The Times, a British Daily based in London, which had also given the sport some press.  De Coubertin would step down from his role as President of the IOC in 1924 after the Paris Olympics and the 1924 Winter International Sports Week (later given the distinction as the first Winter Olympic Games) in Chamonix, he insisted on including a skijoring competition in the inaugural Winter Olympic games in Saint Moritz in 1928.  That year, skijoring  made ONE appearance on the second day, February 12, 1928.  To be clear, there were no riders on the horses, no jumps and the athletes competed in one heat racing on the frozen lake of Saint Moritz.  Three Swedish athletes swept the event, but the results are not listed in the Official Report.  

De Coubertin, a French aristocrat, educator and historian who was born in Paris, but spent much of his adult life in Switzerland, would also have been aware of the White Turf event where skijoring was a sport from its inception in 1907.  Flat racing on horseback was added later.  A sportsman all his life and proponent of physical education, which he believed helped better condition men for fighting wars, de Coubertin would have been an admirer of a sport like skijoring which also had ties to military exercises, and Military Patrol was an event in the 1924 Olympic Games.  De Coubertin also saw the value in encouraging competition between amateur athletes not just professionals and thus, embraced the ancient Olympic mantra.  He also created the modern pentathlon for the 1912 Olympics which, of course, included horseback riding.   

Even before skijoring made its debut at the Winter Olympics, by 1912, the sport had become popular in the Alps as well as in the Tatra Mountains of southern Poland.  Skijor International has countless vintage postcards and photographs in its collection illustrating this fact.  Skijoring had become a popular pastime on ski vacations in resorts like Chamonix, France, Oberhof and Eibsee, Germany, and the Engadin region of Switzerland which includes Saint Moritz. 

EASTERN EUROPE

In the region surrounding Zakopane, Polish winter carnivals have been featuring skijoring as well as horse-drawn wooden sled racing for decades.  In Poland, there are two forms of skijoring, one which is riderless and the other which includes a rider.  During the months of January and February every year, snow permitting, seven picturesque villages in the Tatra Mountains, or Podhale Region, hold events where residents dress in traditional garb and showcase their horses’ skills.  Russia and Ukraine remain on the fringes of the sport, but there has been some skijoring in both of these countries as well.  

NORTH AMERICA

In the early 1900s travel to Europe by Americans was limited to the wealthy and elite since one had to cross the Atlantic by luxury steamship, but those that did visit the Swiss Alps sent many postcards home showing images of people skiing behind horses at either the prestigious race called White Turf or at resorts as a leisurely activity.  It didn’t take long for North American resorts like Lake Placid or American colleges like Dartmouth to embrace and adopt the tradition across the Atlantic.  At this time, skijoring expanded into Quebec, Canada as well.  

For many years, equine skijoring remained a recreational activity or holiday pastime in America.  It wasn’t until the 1930s that we see evidence through photographs of cowboys towing skiers down main streets in ski towns like Steamboat Springs, Colorado and Jackson, Wyoming.  Then in 1949, the first skijoring race, which required a team of horse, rider and skier to navigate a course with gates, jumps and rings, was held in Leadville, Colorado at 10,000 feet.  The fact that nearby Camp Hale was used as a training facility for the elite Tenth Mountain Division which, most likely, used horses during WWII to transport supplies and arms, is not lost on the author.  While we cannot make a direct link between the two, it is fitting that the competitive form of skijoring in America had its beginnings so close to training grounds which used horses in a similar manner and required soldiers on skis to possibly be towed by their trusted steeds.  

The number of competitive races ebbed and flowed from decade to decade and the sport never found a central organizing body that lasted.  Today Skijor USA serves as an organization that unifies the sport and publishes a calendar with reliable information and links to all events. Skijor USA held a national finals in 2019 in West Yellowstone, Montana and efforts will continue to organize and expand the sport further under a new brand, SKIJOR.  Roughly 1000 riders, 1000 skiers and over 1000 horses competed in North America last season.  Our hope is to have equine skijoring recognized for its 100th anniversary at a future Winter Olympic Games.    

We are encouraged by the fact that had the Winter Olympics gone to Denver in 1976, skijoring was approved as an exhibition sport for that venue.  Sadly, Denver withdrew its bid in 1972 after voters rejected funding for the games (the first and only time a city had rejected them), and the Games went to Innsbruck, Austria instead.  Along with this rejection went the chance for skijoring to make an Olympic comeback.  We are now pinning our hopes on Salt Lake City in 2030 or 2034.  Skijoring has remained strong for over 100 years internationally, and it deserves to retake a place in history.  Vive le skijoering! as de Coubertin would certainly say.  

THE OUTLIERS

MOTORIZED SKIJORING

Skiing behind either an automobile or a motorcycle has had a somewhat parallel history with the equine sport.  Skijor International has a magazine photograph from 1906 from Norway in which a motorcycle is towing a skier.  The motorized version of the sport was popular in the 1930s and made a resurgence in the 1950s.  Skiers threw caution to the wind speeding behind sports cars and motorcycles with studded tires sharp enough to grip icy tracks.  The vehicles raced in packs or heats so the drivers and skiers were constantly maneuvering just to remain in the running.  Skijor Internațional haș pins and badges in its vintage collection from Latvia and the USSR which were given as awards to the champions surviving these races intact.  

Today, motorized skijoring is making a comeback in Austria with an event called GP Ice Race, organized by the great-grandson of Ferdinand Porsche and Vinzenz Greger, a German Nordic combined skier.  It is the reimagining of an event the town of Zell am See hosted intermittently from 1937 to 1974.  Now only two pairs of cars and skiers race at a time whereas in the past numerous cars hit the track simultaneously jockeying for position with skiers streaking behind.  

It seems that in Latvia, however, old ways die hard because at Red Bull’s event called Twitch ’n Ride, motorcycles take to the track in droves towing their skiers only several feet behind.  The need for speed and the thirst for danger seems to be alive and well in some European countries and the closest thing we have found in North America is skiers being towed behind snowmobiles at nearly 100 mph during the Arctic Man competition in Alaska.  

UK, THE NETHERLANDS & DENMARK

Horseboarding is a sport that is being promoted primarily in the UK.  It is similar to skijoring since it involves a horse, but instead of snow, you are gliding on turf or dirt.  Skijor International has uncovered videos of equestrians pulling athletes on turf boards, inline skates and roller blades.  Some have more luck than others staying upright, but they all seem to be having fun!

INDONESIA & THE CARIBBEAN

People have also begun to skijor on the beach.  Recently, a video shows a husband (surfer) and wife (horseback rider) experimenting with skijoring in Indonesia.  We have also heard of people water skiing behind horses on beaches in Aruba.  Ditch skiing is also a “thing” in some rural states during the summer.  Saddle up a horse, attach a line to the saddle, throw it to your buddy in the ditch and tug him along on waterskis.  If there’s a will, there’s a way, it seems!  
For more information about SKIJOR, go to www.skijorusa.com or www.skijorinternational.com or contact Loren Zhimanskova at loren@skijorusa.com 646.209.0229. 

READ MORE ABOUT SKIJOR:

A Dynamic and Unusual Equine Sport 

RAISE ‘EM UP: From Babies to Buckles & Beer to Boom Towns

A Diverse Equine Sport Combining Three Heartbeats

A Sport of the American West in Which Patriotism Thrives

About the Author

Loren noted the potential to bring skijoring to the forefront of the  sporting community while volunteering and spectating at numerous  equine skijoring events in the winter of 2012. She established Skijor  International that year, building the first website with a comprehensive  and encyclopedic presentation of the sport. Loren organized Skijor  USA in 2018 with the goal of structuring and expanding the  competitive circuit. In 2023, she launched SKIJOR, which seeks to  expand skijoring as a recreational activity drawing upon the sport’s  100 year old roots focusing on the “driving” or “riderless” style.  

In a relatively short period of time, Loren has become well acquainted  with the sport’s past and present participants, both skiers and  equestrians alike, the organizers and dedicated operational staff.  The  relationships Loren has cultivated over the past decade are a key  component to the success of Skijor USA and SKIJOR. She aspires to  see skijoring recognized as an international sport which may  eventually play a role in the 2030 or 2034 Winter Olympic Games. She has established a Skijor Hall of Fame and is organizing an  exhibit on the history of the sport for European and US ski museums. 

Loren is a graduate of Yale University (B.A. ’86 History of Art) with a  background in building and managing businesses as well as  spearheading and executing sales and marketing plans for companies  such as Ralph Lauren and Tiffany & Company. Her professional  experience lies in the fields of fashion, photography and history of art  as well as in marketing resorts focused on skiing, horseback riding,  tennis and golf. For the past five years, she has worked for the USTA  (United States Tennis Association) during the US Open Tennis  Championships in Flushing Meadows, New York. Loren built and  owned her own publishing business, is an author and an experienced  photo editor. Loren divides her time between the Rocky Mountain  West and New York City. She is a skier, loves equestrian sport and  international travel and is conversant in French, German and Italian.