As anyone who has shushed through freshly fallen snow, traditional winter sports like skiing and snowboarding can be addictive fun, but why not kick it up a notch with some third-party propulsion?

Enter skijoring, a maddeningly simple hack on snow sport staples. Essentially, a person on skis is pulled through a predetermined course of jumps and slalom-like gates by something else — a horse, team of dogs, snowmobile, almost anything — although it is almost always a horse.

Above (photo): Phillip Driggars and Janae Lukezech (atop Hawk) were the sole snowboarder/equestrian team at the Sandpoint Winter Carnival's skijoring competition in Sandpoint, Idaho. "It's awesome that they will let snowboarders compete in the event also," said Driggars, who competed both days at the town's inaugural event. He was disqualified in his first two runs because he fell and let go of the rope, but he was eventually able to hold on and register an official time of 17.22 seconds. "During practice, it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be," he admitted.

Below: Four-year-old Avery Smart stands inside the opening gates waiting to be the youngest skijoring participant in Sandpoint. His father, Matt, helped organized the skijoring competition and Avery was featured in the opening ceremonies.

"Skijoring brings together two of my favorite sports together at once," said the elder Smart, who also organizes trail rides at nearby Schweitzer Mountain.