Skiing and horseback riding combine to create Skijoring in Deadwood

By Taylar Perez
KEVN Black Hills Fox
2-3-17

Deadwood, SD What do you get when you combine a horse back rider a skier and a rope between the two?
Shawn Gerber, skijorer says, "Lace up on skis with a 33-foot rope behind a fast horse, go over a series of jumps around gates like a racecourse if you will, and then they give you a sawed-off ski pole as a joust and you joust rings out of the air."
If skiing or horse back riding weren't scary enough alone, 34 teams combined the two sports went head to head for Deadwood's first skijoring competition.
Gerber says, "It's a Scandinavian sport that use it as a method of travel way back in the day it's kind of become a sport over the years."
The event was organized by the Black Hills Ski Team as a fundraiser for their 44 skiers.
Courtney Schad, Black Hills Ski Team board president says, "We are having a fundraising event for the Black Hills ski team and we decided we wanted to bring skijoring into the state. It's a really big event in most western states and this is the perfect spot for it."
This skijoring event brought together beginners and pro's in the sport.
Richard Weber, Skijoring rider says, "As a skijorer I ride the horse. I've been doing this sport for about 7 years and so I travel around and go to races and have a good time doing it."
And the participants say it's more than just an adrenaline rush.
Gerber says, "You're not thinking about you're not thinking about what you're having for dinner it's real peaceful everything kind of slows down and all your thinking about is getting those rings and making those gates."
Blair Weathers, Skijorer says, "It's a bunch of like-minded people just looking to have a good time and play with their horses and do something and it's just a blast everybody is super nice."
Weber says "Whenever you go to a race, you're just trying to help everybody out so that they can do a good job and it's fun, it's great."
The winners walked away with over $2000 in cash and prizes and the organizers hope to make the event even bigger next year.
Schad says, "We hope to build this event make it a little bigger next year hopefully. It's good for the town of Deadwood and good for us as well."