Published:
January 10, 2011 03:17 pm EST
If you were planning on skiing behind a standardbred at some point this winter, driver Stephane Bouchard has beaten you to it
.
A video posted to YouTube by Goshen Historic Track General Manager Chris Tully shows Bouchard skiing behind White Hot Cards.
Bouchard, who also trains, drove in 2,178 races in 2010 and recorded 216 wins, 284 second-place finishes and 299 thirds. Horses he drove during the '10 campaign banked over $4.8 million in purses.
White Hot Cards, an eight-year-old son of Cams Card Shark, has won 19 career races and paced to over $357,000 in purses.
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Thanks for the note,
Thanks for the note, Stephane!
As an update to the story, Stephane will appear on ESPNews’ segment, “The Beat” airing tonight at about 6:25 pm in the show, which starts at 6 pm (Eastern).
Very cool!
Very cool!
Great idea, and if you
Great idea, and if you didn't know, "ski joring" (skiing behind a horse or dog) is a sport that is already popular in other countries in the world. I did have one concern with this post, however: the driver in the video and photo appears to be pulled by the lines, which means that this horse is being EXTREMELY generous - he is pulling the driver with his mouth!! Most times when people are ski-joring, the horse is wearing a breastcollar-type harness with traces, and these attach to a mechanism around the person's waist so that the weight of the load (the skier) is pulled by the horse's body (or chest). A horse has an extremely sensitive mouth and I feel that it is unfair to the animal to be asked to pull with it!! In addition, this horse is also wearing an overcheck, so he cannot get his head down to better balance this load he is carrying. I do not mean to be negative here, as I feel that any new ideas in this sport are much needed and it is great to see people taking an interest. I just felt that as far as the welfare of the horse is concerned, this needed to be said.
In reply to Great idea, and if you by Erin Hackney
Hi Erin, If you look closely
Hi Erin, If you look closely to the video you will see the line plus 1 rope, was attached from the over check harness hook. So I was pulled by the harness and not by the mouth. I put the over check to have a little more control in case the horse got a little excited. thank you
Now this is something that
Now this is something that would bring bettors to the track. A crazy race with the drivers on skis behind horses. I can see Jody and Randy pulling tight eights behind their steeds with Mario and Jack still trying to figure it out at the half. Get the judges involved. The finish line would not be everything - points for style too -
"Oh heavens, the judge from Campbellvile gave Randy a 9.8 for style". "Was it the good moves or the svelt blue/yellow jersey?" What a blast.
Now that looks like fun!
Now that looks like fun! Nothing seems to bother that horse.
Cute video, but did he get
Cute video, but did he get days for putting the reins in one hand?
OK, I have seen it all.
OK, I have seen it all.