White Horizon 2023 - Day 1

On the first day, we had breakfast at 9 o'clock and our first sled excursion started at 11 o'clock, covering about 18 km in 1 1/2 hours. The first part of the route was around the first 3 loves and the road, with each person accompanying us. Sledding surprisingly involves a lot of braking. Depending on the leader/team, you also have to brake uphill. If your own dog team doesn't have enough strength to pull uphill, you will receive some disapproving glances if they think you're applying too much weight on the brakes. However, I would probably do the same in their place, except that I wouldn't even start running in the first place.

After we returned, we were greeted by a welcoming committee. The dogs were pampered (= petted, praised, massaged). Then we had lunch and were invited to help with the Puppy Walk. They currently have 4 self-bred puppies. Cypress, Elm, Oak, and Maple (only female). They are slowly getting used to being sled dogs by taking daily walks with them. They are fitted with a pulling harness and attached to an experienced (sometimes retired) sled dog by the waist belt. This is to help them get used to the resistance while walking and to learn from the focus of the larger dogs over time. The dogs have a lot of strength, and in combination with the icy ground, it was pure luck that none of us were dragged along on our backs. However, the walk surprisingly ended quickly.

We had dinner again at 7 o'clock.

(There are no pictures of sledging, nor were we overwhelmed at that time)