Radagast's Racing Rhosgobel Rabbit Ride
(a musher explains how to build your own bunny sled)
For the full article that I wrote for theonering.net, (Best Tolkien fansite ever!) click here: http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/01/03/67872-radagasts-racing-rhosgobel-rabbits-a-recreational-musher-looks-at-the-realities-of-bunny-sledding/
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or download this PDF...
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One of the more hilarious moments of Peter Jackson's excellent Hobbit film trilogy is when the rather obscure (in the books) brown wizard, Radagast, dashes through the forest on a sled pulled by...
...bunnies. Yes, bunnies. Specifically, Rhosgobel Rabbits; larger, faster, more enduring, and able to run in straight lines in a team, as
opposed to the normal way rabbits zigzag to avoid predators, like the nasty orcs on wargs that are chasing them in the film. The Hobbit is a bit quirkier than Lord of the Rings (the other Tolkien epic, for the uninitiated), a bit more fun. It was written to be read aloud in the oral faerie tale tradition, so wizards riding bunny sleds isn't really out of place. In fact, an Istari (Middle Earth's wizarding class) whose mission is to protect the "kelvar" and "olvar" (fauna and flora) of Middle Earth would not likely keep a kennel of sleddogs... they eat too many rabbits. A sled also makes more sense than wheels: a good team can pull a sled over grass or leaves or mere frost! A sled is easier to mend, less likely to bog down than wheels. And in that forest, rabbits can hunt their own dinner. Also, sled dogs work best in the cold, they can't run far or fast in heat. Bunnies may be better at that!
Here's my version of a bunny sled. I didn't copy the film's exactly; (you can likely buy that one when they make the action figure). these particular rabbits and sled are the right size for the Legolas 12" action figure. You can probably find items to work with any size figures.
Click on the pics for a larger view.
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A typical team hookup looks like a pinnate leaf; a long line (gangline) with short lines (tugs) coming off of it. This is the hookup used in the film. It's very flexible (compared to a cart with shafts) and allows the team to go on narrow woodland trails and over rough country. A fan hitch (looks like a palmate leaf) is used in wide open reaches of the far arctic.
I modified this thrift shop find with a driving bow (where the driver hangs on) and brush bow (in front, to bounce off brush and obstacles). I used vines ( you can also use twigs or other natural materials). The sled originally had curly toed runners; I pulled those apart and tied them together as a brush bow (front). The long runners (placed under the short original runners) were made from thin strips of balsa wood from a craft shop.
Here you can see the "bridle", the ropes looped around the vertical supports (stanchions) between sled and runners. Radagast's sled had a major goober: the gangline was attached to the brushbow; this would cause your superpowered Rhosgobel Rabbits to pull your sled apart! The gangline attaches to the bridle, which distributes the stress along the entire sled.
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I used two plush bunnies from my local park's gift shop (supports environmental
education!). The sled is easy to find in thrift shops or anywhere they sell baskets for crafts. 
Here you can see the claw brake I made of a few pieces of balsa wood (in the middle of the back of the sled: you step on it to dig in and stop the sled). Radagast's sled had a platform he stood on. With most sleds you stand on the runners.
Always remember......to use a snowhook, or maybe a mudhook, if you're mushing through the forest, as well as teaching your sledbunnies to WAIT. This will prevent that awkward moment in the film, when Radagast has to run to catch up with his departing rabbits. I howled... been there, done that. Which is why I run with a safety line attached to my leaders...
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This "two-dog line" is the shortest version of the gangline. We recreational mushers use this hookup a lot. You can add dogs, er, bunnies in front of these by adding another line. Radagast's hookup used one long gangline with, um, maybe a dozen 40 or 50 pound bunnies. The typical Iditarod team is 16 dogs weighing from 30-70 pounds. I've mushed two dogs on a sled, bike or rig.
Sled bridle, from the front; note how the line is wound around the sled's stanchions. The line goes UNDER the brush bow.
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And Now, a Word About Harness
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Which is why there are no sled cats...
This is a typical siwash, or X-back harness, used to pull light weights over long distances at a medium speed (a trot), or for racing full speed for short distances. I have heard it is based on Native arctic designs. It is one piece, sewed together, no buckles or adjustments. (This one was made for Max the Schipperke, here, Sindarin the cat shows us why there are no sled cats). |
X-back: topside...
a classic wooden dogsled...
Radagast the Brown Wizard and Bofur the Dwarf apparently shop at the same hat emporium. This is style used by various cultures who spent a lot of time with frostbitten ears; Germany, Scandinavia, Mongols, Scythians... in Russia it is a ushanka.
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X-back: bottomside...
view from the rig...
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X-back: front...
For a closer look at Radagast's Racing Rhosgobel Rabbits vs the realities of mushing; download this PDF. This appears as an article on www.theonering.net, the finest Tolkien fan site in Middle Earth.
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click on the pic below for more stuff: mushing 101
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