Brush bows

My first year mushing dogs I think I left a face print on every rock, tree and stump in Alaska. The sled made out fine through all that abuse, because it had a good, stout brush bow.

The brush bow, at the front of the sled, is basically a bumper. It takes the abuse so that the sled and sometimes the musher doesn't have to. I didn't much like the brush bows on my two most modern sleds, so one of my sick-bed projects was to replace them with ones of heavier plastic.