ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff

[jplife]

Hi Hugh from Alberta.
2 Questions
1. What breed do you use the most for your teams,and are they a mix breed for speed.
2 When talking in schools,do you ever make any trips close to Alberta.

Have a great race and be safe.

[Hugh Neff]

Hi Hugh! *waves to Tamra*

Will ask more questions after the Irod, but for now ..

What has been your most visually spiritual, mind blowing moment on the Iditarod trail over these many years?

Give all the tailwagging furbabies a big smooch and belly rub from me .. blessings, good health, Godspeed and an awesome magic ride for Irod XXXVII

Most mind blowing moment was just outside of Nulato in my rookie year in 2004. A snowmachiner was sitting on his sled watching us go by. I stopped to talk to him. Asked him his name. He relied Hugh Kriska. I then asked him what his son's name was. He replied Hugh Jr. There we were 3 Hugh's out in the middle of the Yukon River. The moment was surreal.

Most visually spiritual. There's nothing that compares to the Auroras. Coming into Circle in this years Quest they were amazing. The Doors, 'Come on Baby Light my fire' was on the Ipod.

[Hugh Neff]

Hi Hugh:

Very nice to meet you. It's really great to be able to visit with you and the others that have shared their time and experience here with us. The media shows us one aspect of a person; coming here and chatting, sharing stories and info, exposes a component the media often misses. Thanks for taking the time from a very busy schedule to do this. And thanks to Tamra for popping in here during the Quest to clarify a bit of rumor.

Okay. Dogs. You've named some of your Quest dogs who will be on the Iditarod trail too this year. How many dogs in your kennel, and how many of them are ready and able to hit the Iditarod trail, conditioned enough to expect them to finish smartly?

You ran one heck of a Quest. Your finish, despite the penalty, was amazing. Honest answer now: All things considered, do you expect to win Iditarod this year? (Your answer will affect my Top Ten Picks!)

70 dogs in our kennel including retired dogs. Started training 50 this fall. The yearlings trained with the main team until November, then we were at 35. We had 14 in the Quest and 12 in the Quest 300 so we were at around 28 by then. Right now we're picking from 18 for 16 spots only because that's whose on the truck. Tamra picked up the Iditarod dogs after Dawson so there may be a few at home I'm not thinking of. Besides the ones I listed before the remainder of the team is Tyler, Tolliver, Spencer, Colby, Shifter, Kodiak, Amos, Wonka.

Yes. By far the best team I've ever brought to Iditarod. However I would caution against betting on Hugh Neff. I always manage to screw things up

[Hugh Neff]

Hugh...

Howdy from Illinois..."where our governors make our license plates" !

I just wanted to stop by and that you for all you Tamera and your team does for promoting Long Distance Mushing.

here's a few ?? kinda off the cuff:

1. Whats you "always in the sledbag" no essential item? could be a particular food, trinket or MoJo...

2. Do you take music? Radio? or any other time killing items?

3. Is your School tour brining you anywhere close to St Louis area in Illinois?

Thanks for participating....making up the time in the quest seemed like a "don't get mad;get even" situation. In my humble opinion you did the only thing you could, call up the team and Haul Butt to Fairbanks.

ThisSpaceForRent

1. cough drops. I send out about 20 bags of cough drops per race. In this years Quest I carried in my sled bag a candle that my aunt sent me from my Dad's funeral.
2. I bring a mp3 player. I get really sick of the music on it though by the end of the race. I need Tamra to reload it before the Iditarod.
3. School tour. I go where people want me to go. We take down everyone's name who interested. When it gets closer to the time we figure out a route and a schedule and try and make it work with as many schools/groups as possible. Next one's in May if anyone's interested.

[Hugh Neff]

Hi Hugh from Alberta.
2 Questions
1. What breed do you use the most for your teams,and are they a mix breed for speed.
2 When talking in schools,do you ever make any trips close to Alberta.

Have a great race and be safe.

1. The actual breed is called an Alaskan Husky. We've bred in part Pointers and Hounds into the more typical Husky for faster dogs. I started out getting dogs from Lester Erhart, a great dogman and sprint musher from Tanana, AK. About 5 years ago we bought 8 dogs from Lance before he'd won a race. One of the girls, Omen was one of my leaders until this year. We believe in having trying to have only one litter of pups a year. We spend all our time on these pups and seem to get a high percentage of the litter work out. In this years team we have 2004 litter: all 3, 2005 litter: 3 of 5, 2006 litter: 4 of 6. Then there's some dogs that we previously bought to round out the team. In the last couple of years we've been moving away from buying dogs to using our own breedings.

2. So far I've only talked at schools in Alaska and the lower-48.

[dashdel]

Hello Hugh.
Will the deep snow trail conditions change any run schedules you have planned up the trail?

[Hugh Neff]

Hello Hugh.
Will the deep snow trail conditions change any run schedules you have planned up the trail?

Most definately. No reason to be in too big of a hurry with these conditions. Sounds like its going to be a slog this year. Oh well here we go again.

[jplife]

Check out your web page.
where you train up there,I would move in a minute,Love that country .Use to live in Northern Saskatachewan.
Have a great race Hugh,and thanks for your time.

[Snodogs]

with the deep snow this year . What pos. are you hoping to draw?

[libby the lab]

Good Luck Hugh and thanks for taking time to talk to us so close to the race. I don't think you will screw up this year . I read the article about the trail conditions in the Anchorage paper today and it sounds like the trail could be an equalizer!!

Cindy, Libby and Hank