Skijoring, a mashup of rodeo and skiing, grows in popularity

By OLIVIA PRENTZEL
The Colorado Sun

SILVERTON, Colo. (AP) — The Wild West spectacle called skijoring challenges even the most experienced skiers as they’re pulled by a horse through an obstacle course of sorts. The Colorado Sun reports the sport, anchored in the northeast and in mountain towns in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah, is attracting a growing number of fans. Skijoring, which literally means ski driving in Norwegian, started hundreds of years ago when indigenous people in the Arctic region harnessed reindeer and strapped on Nordic skis to travel across snowy expanses. It became a sport in the American West in the 1930s. Skijoring hasn’t broken into the mainstream, but social media is helping the extreme sport grow.