I've always wanted to try ski joring, and there is finally a clinic coming up that I can go to.  My former roommate from 2 years ago is a great skier and said she would be my skier, but now that we're actually going to do it I'm getting scared out of my mind.

My horse is a 16h Thoroughbred who is extremely relaxed, we've met bears on trails without him taking off and he happily sleeps in the trailer inbetween classes at shows.  I'm often asked if I show AQHA with him.  I usually ride him hunter jumper and some dressage and have both a close contact saddle and a dressage saddle.  I'm not really sure how the rope attaches to the saddle, but I think it involves the D-rings, but I'm not sure if my saddles have d-rings in the correct places.  I'm also not entirely sure how my horse will take to it, and I know that when he does spook it's usually huge and while I can usually stay with him I know that I make it worse and will usually fall off when I'm nervous which is exactly what I don't want.  

I'm trying to decide if I'm better off using my mom's wintec western saddle instead of my english saddles.  The wintec western fits my horse, and he is trained western, though I'd still use his regular english bridle.  I was watching some videos and every horse had a breastplate.  Our western saddle has a breastplate that is for a full sized horse, but it doesn't fit my Thoroughbred since he muscled up.   So I'd either have to find a new breast plate that will fit him, but all the tack shops are english around me and I don't want to have to order a bunch of breast plates trying to find one that will fit, or I can get different straps to make the one we have fit.  I also have a breast plate for my huntseat saddle which goes over his head (it has the running martingale attachment that I've removed), but I don't know if that will even work with a western saddle.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?  I'm also planning on trying to talk my mom or my cousin into coming with me and just being there for support/possibly stand by his head in the beginning (mostly for me more than him) as I know once he understands/figures out it's a game/race he'll be perfectly fine.

**I'm planning on having him in his SMB elites that he always wears on his rear legs and then have polo wraps on his front legs for protection.  I have bell boots as well, but he's not really a fan of them so unless people really feel he should have them I'm going to leave them off (he's currently barefoot).

 I guess my question is what woud you do, ride in the english saddle or the western?

Here are a couple of links.  I think you would use an English saddle.

I haven't done any skijoring, but if it were me I would suggest that whichever saddle you use, make sure that the rope to the skier can be released by just letting go of it. I would NOT tie the rope from the skier to any part of the saddle or any part of the rigging. If the horse spooked, the skier could release her end of the rope but that would leave the rope dragging behind the horse, and that might spook him further. With a western saddle you can dally the rope around the saddle horn and if you need to all you have to do is let go of the rope to free the horse from any connection to the skier or equipment.

 (1)  You will definitely want a breastplate.

(2)  Make SURE your horse is rope safe first.  He needs to be fine with a loose rope dragging around him, wrapping around his legs, etc.  This is necessary training.  I obviously don't do skijoring with mine in NC (LOL!) but I still make sure they are rope trained.

(3)  Get some dee-savers for your english saddle.  http://www.smartpakequine.com/dee-saver-4153p.aspx   You do not wnat to have to replace a ripped out dee ring and these things work great.  You can attach whatever you need to the saddle without fear of destroying it.  

(4) I'm not sure how they usually attach the drag rope, whether it's a quick release knot on a horse or grab strap ) or what, but you can get creative.  If it's a clinic, ask clinician for suggestions.  

 

http://www.amazon.com/EquiRoyal-English-Nylon-Grab-Strap/dp/B002HJ89JQ (grab strap) -- again, attached to dee savers)

 I agree w/ Solaris - you need to find out his reactions to dragging a rope before you go. Just hold a long rope in your hand while you w/t/c (dont move up a gait until he's relaxed). You can just drop it if he doesn't like it.

Once he's good with that see if he will be OK if there is something attached to the rope. Start small - maybe tie the rope to the middle of a dressage whip. You will want to work up to something more substantial (but that might be part of the clinic). Which brings me to my main advice (Solaris mentioned it breifly) -

 Contact the clinician, or the person running the clinic. Tell them about your horse's training (or lack thereof), choice of saddles, and your fears.

Another option (assuming this isn't a once-in-a-lifetime clinic - I bet iof it goes well, they'll do it again next year or even sooner) is to attend as an auditor. Find out what happens during the clinic (this will reduce your fears), ask people who are doing it for only the 2nd or 3rd time or doing it on a new horse how they prepared the horse for the clinic. Ask questions of the clinician anytime s/he tells them to do something that you don't understand. Ask the clinician about your horse specifically ("I'd like to bring him next time, but he doesn't drive, and I've never tried to drag anything..."). Maybe even take notes.

 My Thoroughbred is rope safe, I drag sleds full of manure around with him all the time, mostly because I hate hicking through the mud to the manure pile in the springtime and it gives us some quick sessions on riding bareback back and forth.

We've also been on trail rides where he's gotten tree branches caught on his boots and will keep on walking without flinching on reacting at all.  I will practice with him when I get back home from school to make sure touching not only his legs, but his rump (usually his most sensative spot) and anywhere else I can think of.

I also know that he was trained for cattle work at one point in his life, though I don't know what his job was as he had pretty strong reactions to our cows when he first met them.

haha, you reminded me of my youth.  when my mom got me my first pony, i was 5 years old.  she got me a 3 yr old welsh pony.  he was totally untrained.  when winter came, she rigged up ropes attached to 2 tobogans behind him and all my friends and i piled on and that pony took off!!  if you fell off the front tobogan, you got run over by the second tobogan.  and whichever one you fell off, you went running to catch up, which wasn't likely, cuz that pony was running!!

it was so much fun.  omg, you couldn't get away with that today.  taking all your little friends out to get dragged behind a galloping animal.

we also tried the skijoring, but, we weren't very good at that at all.  fun, til you fell on your face.  course we didn't know it had a name or that other people did it

 Since it sounds like your TB is good to go as far as dragging stuff, I'd just address the rest of your questions to the people who are setting up the clinic.

If they say either saddle is fine, I'd choose the one that was most comfortable for my horse. That being equal, the one I/you feel most secure in.

 I actually had the same thought and emailed the people and asked them the same question.  They told me it would be difficult to tell how things would attach until I got there so my plan is, since I have a stock trailer and plenty of room, I'm going to bring all three saddles and see which one works best and which one my horse and I (and my friend who's skiing) are most comfortable in as a team.

I also just asked my mother if she'd come along and play videographer/photographer for the event (I want to show my dressage trainer) and she agreed, my dad also is going to come up with some obstacles similar to what he'll experience and we're going to go through it all with him first on the ground with me leading him and then again leading him with a sled with a little weight in it being behind him and then progress to me being on him and pulling things.  I'm hoping that prior to the clinic I can convince my brother (who is one heck of a skier) to just go out in his gear a few times and get him used to the look and then possibly pull him around if my brother will agree to it in the weeks leading up to the clinic.

 Sounds like you have got a great plan in place for making sure things go smoothly and you all have a great experience. It's that your parents are on board with it too - with your mom as videographer and your dad building some obstacles for you to practice with before hand.

I bet you have a blast.