The high-adrenaline winter sport of skijoring, derived from the Norwegian word for “ski driving,” takes so many forms that it even defies uniform pronunciation. At its core, skijoring is a winter sport in which a skier is pulled across the snow by a horse. From winter work to winter sportLong before skijoring became a competitive sport, it was a practical form of winter transportation. In Lake Placid, New York, skiers hold tight as horses pull them along on a frozen Mirror Lake on December 26, 1936. “Skijoring races have always resisted a governing body because people involved in the sport are so inherently independent,” she says.