A look back

Jenny with Scuba's pups, training for her first race. Scuba, T. Bear, Stardust and Geronimo.

This race started at minus forty degrees. We stood with our teams by the bank thermometer until it reached minus twenty before the race could start. That was a WI Trailblazers race in Land O'Lakes, WI. In 1994 we received Scuba and shortly thereafter her pups were born. We didn't know we would get into racing at that time, but Scuba patiently taught us as we stumbled along as novices.

She patiently pulled our large sled by herself as we took our first runs on Millie Hill. On our first run with her, we hit a boulder , dumping me. She was laughing, I'm certain, as she hightailed it back to the truck. There the well experienced dog just sat down and waited for me to hike back.Never was I more grateful to see a dog as she had miles she could have run in that vast land , but she had headed back to the truck.

Jenny Van Marter, skilled young horsewoman, was the first trainee at SPK . She arrived every day before going to her job , hooked up a four dog team, ran out toward Florence and returned. She was steadfast in her training as well which led to her first race being her first victory on sleds. Jenny now raises her children and horses, but she's welcome to come and run sleds again, any time.

The link to our first story on kennel history is the following: http://www.seniorcorrespondent.com/