which will presumably go unnoticed by the animals, but for the reindeer racing season, which starts in January and culminates with the King race in Inari in April.
Reindeer racing takes place along a 1,000-metre track, often on a frozen lake, towing a jockey on skis. The races are fast and occasionally rough, and while many take place in small villages in front of modest crowds of locals and reindeer enthusiasts, the final race in Inari, which offers a €3,000 prize, can draw crowds of up to 2,000 people. For Erkki Orre, 72, and his reindeer, training is under way. Orre, who lives in Rovaniemi, has been working with the animals since 1988 and has had some success in the large championship races, with his stable twice placing second and once third in the King race. Reindeer racing in Finland Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reindeer are notoriously skittish and instinctively run from humans. Photograph: Carol Brown-Leonardi But for the average reindeer trainer, the challenges and hazards are very different from those facing a racehorse stable. For one, a champion prospect might simply wander off into the Arctic summer if his owner is particularly unlucky. It’s a disappointment that Orre is currently facing. This year he had hoped to submit two contenders for competition. Tumma is ready to go, but Muksis will only compete if he can be located. Reindeer, which are mostly raised in Lapland for their meat, are released into the forests to forage during the summer months and then rounded up for the winter. This year, Muksis, who last year came in second in the King, did not return during the autumn round-up. Advertisement The semi-wild nature of reindeer makes training and racing them tricky for their owners. The animals are notoriously skittish and instinctively run from humans, so they need to be domesticated before they can be trained.
