Now to our “NewsHour Shares”, something that caught our eye.While most of the country is ready for spring -- I know I am -- some extreme athletes out West are more than happy to savor the last bit of winter.Julia Griffin teamed up with Montana PBS for this report.In Big Sky, Montana, earlier this month, snow fell gracefully, and seasoned skiers readied for competition.But hold your horses. This wasn't your average ski race.Welcome to the rough-and-tumble world of skijoring.Skijoring is a horse and rider pulling a skier through a series of gates and jumps in the least amount of time possible.Scott Ping has been a skijoring rider for more than 20 years.My horse Kona is the best ride ever.I just sit there and go, yah. That's all I do. He does all the work.Riders like Ping tow their teammates through a 700-foot obstacle course at nearly 35 miles an hour.The skiers weave among slalom gates and launch from snow-packed jumps.Should they drop their rope or fail to stay upright, the team's run is disqualified.You want to go fast, but you don't want to go too fast as to where you lose your skier.Horse lover Melissa Ostrander ran the entire Montana skijoring circuit this year.You got to pay attention to your skier.You got to know your horse, and you got to control your horse.That's the hardest part about being a rider, is making sure that you don't hurt anyone else,your horse, your skier, your anybody around here, and making it fun for everyone.
