One of the scariest moments of my life.
By Ilse Haag
I can’t remember the last time I was this terrified about trying something new. 🥺
When I read in the trip notes that we would be dog sledding with a guide, I understood that to mean that my daughter, Ava, and I would be sitting in the sled, and the guide would be driving the dogs …
Nope.
We drove our own dogs BEHIND our guide and his team, who led us through the forest—for one hour!
We arrived at Kota-Husky (Finland) and met the owner, Lauri. He briefly taught us how to drive the dogs, and I thought I would vomit. I told Ava I couldn’t do it—would she be ok driving the entire time (instead of us switching)-?
She said, “No. C’mon, Mom. You can do this.”
How could I NOT do this, when this is exactly what I’ve been teaching my children their entire lives—don’t be afraid of trying new things. And this is exactly what I’ve based my travel business on—I’m in Lapland, and I have the extraordinary opportunity to drive a team of beautiful, happy, well cared-for huskies, who are used to beginner drivers. I’ve got this.
Ava drove first; my stomach was in my throat. The scenery was stunning. The ride was quiet and smooth.
My turn. I kicked the snow off the runners, where I was supposed to stand, and stood on one runner while Ava held the foot brake. I spoke telepathically to my dogs, asking them to be gentle with me, then I took the foot brake from Ava with my other foot.
And I did it! 🙌
(Click HERE and scroll to the second slide for a video of the run.)
The hardest moment was when we careened around a curve, the sled in front of us had stopped, so I had to put half my body weight on the brake, and lean the other half toward the opposite side, so we wouldn’t jump the run—doing two different movements requiring strength, in opposite directions, left me precariously balanced.
The most fun was when I had to help my team up some hills—I drove that thing like a kick sled!
What I realized about my terror of driving a team of dogs, is that I have a crippling phobia of making a mistake when it involves other living beings. By being able to help my team of dogs go up the hills, the fear dissipated, and I was 💯 in my physical body, 💯 in the present moment.
And when we got back to the farm, the dogs were let loose to run around and play, and they came right up to us for tummy rubs and snuggles. 🐾🤎
Click HERE to see our hosts (the owners of the farm) and the dogs. The dog I’m petting is blind and was rescued. The last slide shows the utter CHAOS in the staging area before the run—those dogs LOVE their job, but it made me even MORE nervous. Make sure to read my commentary in this link—it goes into detail about the quality of this dog sledding business and the integrity of the owners.
