Friday, January 24, 2014

INSPIRATION

25 years ago, while still roaming the mountains with my dogteam, this particular wolf taught me the differance in locomotion of a superior sleddog and the wolf.  The sleddogs could run at considerable speed and pull for hours knowing that the musher would provide a good meal at the end of the day.  The wolf had developed a most effecient gait wasting the least amount of  energy at any time to conserve its calorie storage for possible prolonged fasting and energy shortage. The anatomical differances in the sleddog and the wolf, although both species are extremely efficient in their locomotion, fascinated me and made me watch this wolfs gait for hours to learn the nuances.  I remember observing the similarities with my sleddogs and a good icelandic horse.  The wolf on the other side, could easily be compared to the wild reindeers on their move.  My wolfdogs exhibit a gait somewhere in between the wild wolf and the sleddog.  Running my dogs always remindes me of this old wolf. His apparition appears somewhere in the back of my head as a reminder of form and function.   If making another attempt at dogbreeding, my ambition is to improve this particular wolfgait in a future litter.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

BRAKING TRAILS


Being consistently patrolling our trail every day now, I hope its surface soon will resist braking through it while jogging.  The cold, soft, dry and buoyant snow mutes all sounds in the forest.  The silence is absolute.