In an evidently non-canonical portion of the recent movie of Tolkien's classic The Hobbit, the wizard Radagast the Brown travels about on a sled pulled by rabbits. (Wait! Was that a spoiler I should have warned you about? Well, given that Radagast has the same rhetorical value as Jar Jar Binks, I'm going to go with "no.")
Anyway, over at The One Ring.net, Teanne Byerts, who goes by the handle "swordwhale" and is a recreational musher, actually thinks this is a great idea (also not surprising given that Ms. swordwhale's essay is, in fact, on The One Ring.net). BUT Peter Jackson et al. nonetheless failed by having Radagast's gangline attached to his brush bow, which, apparently, would surely tear his sled apart. He also rides his sled incorrectly and doesn't have a brake. Horrors! Verisimilitude in Tolkien fantasy movies has simply gone into the toilet. It's no wonder Christopher Tolkien hates the movies.
By the way, should your interest in mushing now have been whetted, there is a great series of photos over at The Big Picture (of The Boston Globe) covering this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Race now ongoing in Alaska.
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