World Equestrian Brands: Reindeer Driving

Okay, so it’s not a horse per se, but you can’t argue with the fact that trained driving reindeer are about to be on the forefront of everyone’s mind anyway next week…

I really went down the rabbit hole of the internet when researching some facts about reindeer for today’s Helmet Cam (okay, so it’s a Selfie Stick Cam, but you get the idea). As it turns out, humankind’s relationship to reindeer is nearly as complex as our relationship to the horse: a long relationship of hunting, semi-domestication and draft use is best memorialized in cheesy children’s Christmas songs, but humans living in the northernmost regions of the world have long relied on the reindeer (or caribou).

The reindeer’s modern draft uses are largely relegated to the tourist industry today (which actually sounds a lot like our uses for draft horses — very few of us are legitimately farming with them anymore) but it’s fascinating to watch this video and imagine yourself taking a step back in time, viewing a snow-covered landscape behind your hard-working reindeer pulling your sled.

Gives you a new appreciation for Santa driving eight of these creatures at a time!

Go driving.