By Jack Bantock, Patrick Sung Cuadrado, Frank Nunns O’Connell, CNN
(CNN) — On Friday, a highly-anticipated winter sporting competition with a rich history will get underway – and it’s not just the Winter Olympics in Italy.
Over 5,400 miles away from the opening ceremony in Milan, thousands will flock to the Ford Idaho Center in Boise, Idaho to watch skiers hurtle around a course of jumps, rings, and gates.
Some of these competitors will reach speeds of 40 miles an hour – an impressive feat given they are essentially racing on a flat course. Though these skiers have a trick up their sleeve – or, more accurately, a trick galloping at the other end of their rope.
Yeehaw! Don your cowboy hat and canter into the wild world of western-style skijoring – otherwise known as “Ben Hur on snow.”
History
Exhibited at St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1928, skijoring holds the honor of being the first ever demonstration sport at a Winter Olympics, yet the discipline’s origins extend well beyond its Games debut.
Practiced differently across continents, the history of skijoring is a complex one. Fortunately, there exists a one-woman fountain of knowledge for all things skijoring in Loren Zhimanskova, President of SkijorUSA and Skijor International.
A key coordinator for American skijoring and central to the sport’s growing reputation in the region, Zhimanskova’s passion for skijoring is matched only by her seemingly endless knowledge of its history and its people.
Born in Europe, skijoring has taken many forms over the years. It began with skiers being pulled by reindeer in Lapland, before trying their hand behind horses, dogs and – popularized in the 1950s – behind motorcycles and cars.
Zhimanskova has even heard of skijorers being towed by airplanes, though she insists that riders let go before take-off.
St Moritz’s frozen lake – host to the glitzy annual White Turf event since 1907 – has been described as the sport’s spiritual home, but skijoring took a trip across the Atlantic not long after and has since blossomed into an ever-growing discipline in America.
To rider or not to rider?
The central difference to the European version of skijoring is that in the US, the horse has a rider.
While in Switzerland many competitors grow up on horse ranches and ski, in the US most are either very accomplished horse riders or very accomplished skiers.
For many American riders and skiers, the start line will be the first time they meet each other.
“They just put their talents together and give it their best shot – it’s fun that way,” Zhimanskova told CNN Sports in 2022.
At White Turf, competitors race twice around a full, flat, oval track – leaving gates at the same time – whereas the Western style sees skijorers navigate an obstacle course spotted with jumps, hoops to collect, and gates to pass through in a time-trial format.
White Turf has been described as the “playground of the rich and famous,” with sponsors ranging from BMW to Credit Suisse, and Zhimanskova finally realized her dream of experiencing the glamor first-hand in 2016.
“When I walked onto that frozen lake, I felt like this was hallowed ground,” Zhimanskova said.
“As a historian, I’m really here and I’m really going to see this. And it was every bit as spectacular as I had imagined.”
It also gave Zhimanskova the opportunity to share with locals how the sport was being done differently in the US.
Their reaction? “You’re crazy.”
“They had no idea how we were skijoring here,” Zhimansk