This product includes a 2km * summer mushing experience * by quad or trollcart and a farm tour. It is a very hands-on activity in which you will interact with the dogs a lot as well as gaining an insight into how much the dogs love to work whenever they get the chance. You will see, first-hand, some of the thrills and excitement involved in running with the dogs as well as the challenges involved in training them to behave well in the line.
During the hot months of summer, 2km will be the maximum that the dogs will run. Please be aware that if you are a fairly large group and if more than two rounds will be needed for everyone in the group to take a turn on the quad, we may need to change the running dogs between the rounds to ensure that they do not get too hot.
If you are on a troll cart, very small children can sit on the knees of parents but as soon as they can hold on for themselves, this is preferable and we can place children from c.4 years upwards onto seats beside adults. If you are on a quad, we can take a child in front of the guide (so that they can see), so long as they can be trusted to sit still or between the guide and the parent.
Seating Options:
1-seater cart: 1 driver & 1 passenger (adult or child).
2-seater cart: 1 driver & 2 passengers (1 adult + 1 child or 2 children).
When the round is finished, you can join us in saying thank-you to the dogs by giving them a well-earned cool drink before walking them back to their individual kennels.
Pre-booked 2km quad, troll, bike or kickbike tours cost €52 per adult, €32 per child. Children's prices apply to children under 12 (as is standard for all of our husky-products).
NB: If you would like to go around 1 more time for an additional 2km, this will only cost an additional €10pp (so long as it is cool enough for the dogs to do this).Duration: The 2km ride itself probably only lasts from 10 - 20 mins (depending on whether or not we have a obedience / temperature regulating training stop half way) but when you add on the time needed for the farm tour and to potentially help with preparing and/or dismantling the teams, you will need to allocate 1 to 1.5 hours for this activity.
NB: Although it is sometimes possible for small groups to add a ‘quad-bike safari’ or troll cart taster ride on to the back of a standard farm visit - so long as the temperatures are not too high for the dogs to run - we prefer to have had the time to really think through which dogs should run, or not, ahead of time and to have the drinks the dogs will need post running already down at the farm ready for their return. For this reason, spontaneous tour requests that have not been pre-booked incur an additional fee of €10pp.
Longer Mushing Options in Autumn!
As the temperatures drop in autumn we can increase the fitness of the dogs by increasing the number of 2km loops each 'set' of dogs runs. Hence, if you happen to visit us at this time of year and would like a real insight into what it means to get sleddogs ready for a winter of mushing, you are welcome to join us for a whole set (which might be anything from 6km to 12km) or even a full morning (multiple sets of different dogs) of Autumn training.
If you have a bit of time to spare, we very much recommend staying for the whole morning or afternoon - aka through multiple sets - since the most interesting part of autumn training is probably the building, take-down and souping of the dogs between sets.
If you would like to stay for a whole set (up to 12km), it costs €80 (adult) and €45 (child) and for a whole morning with multiple sets of dogs, including their 'in-between care'; €150pp.
FYI: Those staying for the morning may have the opportunity to drive the quads or trollcarts themselves. However, this will very much depend on the conditions since autumn tracks can be quite slippery and challenging. If we think it makes sense for you to drive, we will give comprehensive driving instructions before the second set of teams.
Fatmax-joring
As an alternative to trying quadbike mushing, it is possible to try our 2km summer loop with the dogs using a fat-max scooter or fatbike.
. The cost is the same. Hence, if you have a larger group, some people might want to go with a guide on a quad, whilst others try a fat-max or the go-cart.In terms of our maximum capacity for summer mushing, we have four quads, 2 double trolls, 3 single trolls, one 'go-cart-bike' contraption and 3 fatmax that can be utilised in taster rides.
In winter, of course, we use sleds!