My style of sledding
Oct 29, 2012 13:27:04 GMT -5
Post by ioreth on Oct 29, 2012 13:27:04 GMT -5
I was talking in-game to someone who couldn't believe I used to have a sled team. These are shots taken the first couple years I had one. After these my kennel was at its highest 27 dogs (14 huskies) My husband got a job in the middle east and they sold our rental out in the country so now I don't have any at all. Someday I want to get a team again, before I am "too old".
My very first team - all borrowed dogs.
My next team, mostly my dogs. As you can see they were not all huskies but they were all sled dogs.
One of my better teams at the beginning of when I was first running. We are participating in a Rally type event called a "mail run". It was 90+ miles over 2 days.
Rest time. The end of the longer first day (~40 miles) That is my mom leaning over and I'm putting "booties" (working dog socks) on the dogs that need them. Next we ran a mile into town to impress the people and then tied off for a while for the dogs to be cuddled.
The second year I ran the mail run. You can see everyone is much more seasoned and on the job. Yes, there is a husky riding. A couple of the old ones got rotated to save their energy. Any teams after this I did not get pictures. I never ran in the mail run again. The event is now extinct.
We did get to play on the snow as well (about 2 hour drive) The only time I neatly got killed was way up on the snow and running 14 dogs (the max for the Iditarod is 16) Dumb me. I got drug and got road rash on my tummy. Had to let go of my dogs (bad thing - dogs get drug and killed) Had to get in my truck and follow them down the road about a mile and there they were all safe, although some harness and lines were damaged. Loaded up to head home. The frozen road had quite a crown and the truck and trailer slid off into a big ditch. I could not get the truck free and I was above anyplace where people might be. And nobody had a clue where I was running. I couldn't get some of the dogs out of the trailer so with what I had I harnessed and headed down, dropping off sore footed dogs and tying them to trees as I went. Finally with 4 dogs still in harness I got below where a logging show was. The first log truck driver I saw thought I was crazy when this woman with a dog cart came running in front of his full log truck waving her arms. I tied off the last four and left my cart while the truck driver took me into town (nearly 30 miles) and dropped me off at a tow-truck place so I could make arrangements to go back up. We didn't have credit so a friend called in his credit card (he was from that small town) So, back up we went. Big tow truck hauled poor pickup and trailer from the ditch. I stood on the tow truck's running board to see dogs I had dropped along (it was midnight now) and finally all was fixed.
A couple BIG boo boos I did that weekend that nearly cost all of our lives. First, I didn't tell ANYONE even the generic location where I was running. Second, I went to a place I had never been before. Third, I ran all of my team together for the first time when common sense would have been to split them. Don't mention cell phones, those worked mostly in town and were very expensive. It probably wouldn't have worked anyway as there were few towers and mountains especially block the signal.
Two days later my mom calls. She said something along the lines of, "You didn't tell me you got stuck above Oakridge." Turns out my mother works with the wife of the log truck driver. Seems like when he got home that evening he said something like, "You wouldn't believe what I picked up along the road." How many mushers from Coos Bay were there running their team near Oakridge while their husband was at National Guard drill? Mothers know EVERYTHING you do and if you don't believe me just ask them.
My very first team - all borrowed dogs.
My next team, mostly my dogs. As you can see they were not all huskies but they were all sled dogs.
One of my better teams at the beginning of when I was first running. We are participating in a Rally type event called a "mail run". It was 90+ miles over 2 days.
Rest time. The end of the longer first day (~40 miles) That is my mom leaning over and I'm putting "booties" (working dog socks) on the dogs that need them. Next we ran a mile into town to impress the people and then tied off for a while for the dogs to be cuddled.
The second year I ran the mail run. You can see everyone is much more seasoned and on the job. Yes, there is a husky riding. A couple of the old ones got rotated to save their energy. Any teams after this I did not get pictures. I never ran in the mail run again. The event is now extinct.
We did get to play on the snow as well (about 2 hour drive) The only time I neatly got killed was way up on the snow and running 14 dogs (the max for the Iditarod is 16) Dumb me. I got drug and got road rash on my tummy. Had to let go of my dogs (bad thing - dogs get drug and killed) Had to get in my truck and follow them down the road about a mile and there they were all safe, although some harness and lines were damaged. Loaded up to head home. The frozen road had quite a crown and the truck and trailer slid off into a big ditch. I could not get the truck free and I was above anyplace where people might be. And nobody had a clue where I was running. I couldn't get some of the dogs out of the trailer so with what I had I harnessed and headed down, dropping off sore footed dogs and tying them to trees as I went. Finally with 4 dogs still in harness I got below where a logging show was. The first log truck driver I saw thought I was crazy when this woman with a dog cart came running in front of his full log truck waving her arms. I tied off the last four and left my cart while the truck driver took me into town (nearly 30 miles) and dropped me off at a tow-truck place so I could make arrangements to go back up. We didn't have credit so a friend called in his credit card (he was from that small town) So, back up we went. Big tow truck hauled poor pickup and trailer from the ditch. I stood on the tow truck's running board to see dogs I had dropped along (it was midnight now) and finally all was fixed.
A couple BIG boo boos I did that weekend that nearly cost all of our lives. First, I didn't tell ANYONE even the generic location where I was running. Second, I went to a place I had never been before. Third, I ran all of my team together for the first time when common sense would have been to split them. Don't mention cell phones, those worked mostly in town and were very expensive. It probably wouldn't have worked anyway as there were few towers and mountains especially block the signal.
Two days later my mom calls. She said something along the lines of, "You didn't tell me you got stuck above Oakridge." Turns out my mother works with the wife of the log truck driver. Seems like when he got home that evening he said something like, "You wouldn't believe what I picked up along the road." How many mushers from Coos Bay were there running their team near Oakridge while their husband was at National Guard drill? Mothers know EVERYTHING you do and if you don't believe me just ask them.
