Mrs. K, the Musher

This is a story that the woman who rode in my sled wrote...

This morning I found myself in the Artic Circle in Finland with a foot in much pain. I needed to ride back to the main house in a dogsled, but I couldn't drive the sled and ride at the same time. I asked if anyone could help me and this wonderful lady came running up.

Her name was Mrs K, and she told me that she was confident that she could drive the sled and handle the five Siberian Huskies that were in front of it. I looked at the Huskies and the way they were tied was that there were two in front one in the middle and two in the back. The Huskies were very playful and I was wondering if she could really do it as they were nipping at each other. She told me not to worry that she knew what to do and that we would both be fine.

We learned that we needed to be sure to brake and keep the lines that the Huskies were tied with tight so that they did not start to play with each other instead of paying attention to the sled. I sat down on the sled and Mrs. K stood in back with both of her hands on the top rung of the sled to guide us. She had the foot brake and at times she had to have both feet on the skids that were stuck out of the sides of the back.

Away we went. The dog started playing immediately and got twisted. We had to stop and another person who handles the dogs came, untwisted them, and fixed the harness. Mrs. K said "we'll be fine", and away we went again. She took us on a long path that was a few miles with curves and downhills in the middle of the trees and the beautiful white snow. It was so quiet that all you could hear was the dog's feet  and the runners of the sled against the snow. When we had to turn we both moved slightly to the right or the left of the sled and it stayed upright. The dogs behaved perfectly for the way Mrs. K was driving. We got back to the main house safely without any incidents.

Mrs. K was a terrific musher and I was so lucky that she came to my rescue today. Anybody who knows Mrs. K is a very lucky person.