In horse country, the latest hot pursuit is cowboy mounted shooting, a competitive sport akin to barrel racing with guns. One of the biggest promoters in these parts is Payson Peterson of Avondale, president of Colorado Mounted Thunder (mountedthunder.com).
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What’s this all about? Well, it’s the fastest-growing sport in the equestrian world. You ride a course and try to shoot out 10 balloons with 10 shots, using two .45-caliber single-action revolvers, like those used in the late 1800s.
You mean blam-blam-blam, like in a B Western? Sort of. You use one gun to shoot five balloons placed in a random pattern, then you holster it and use your second gun to shoot five more in a row during the “rundown” back to the starting line. You need to cock the hammer for every round, and you’d be amazed at how fast people do it. The winner typically runs the course in 15 to 35 seconds.
What happens if you miss? There’s a 5-second penalty for missing a balloon or dropping a gun, so accuracy is as important as speed.
What do you use for ammunition? We shoot black-powder blanks, which pop the target with burning powder or unburned powder. They put out some flame but only carry up to 15 or 20 feet. If it was live ammo, we’d run out of spectators.
Where do you do this? Our Colorado Mounted Thunder matches are held in Pueblo West, primarily. I have also traveled to other clubs’ matches. In the last year I’ve been to competitions from Fort Robinson, Neb., to Ogden, Utah, and Spearfish, S.D., to Dodge City, Kan. Plus the world championships in Scottsdale, Ariz., which drew 285 entries last year. They used two arenas at the same time, with everybody running two courses a day for three days straight, competing against others at the same skill level. They also had many side matches such as mounted rifle shooting, pro and futurity classes and cavalry class.
Do you have to have special equipment? We try to be as authentic as possible. So besides the guns (which cost from $300 to $500 apiece), you have to wear pre-1900 clothing, which means shirts without collars, high-waisted pants with buttons and, for the ladies, skirts and blouses and vests. We used to not be able to wear jeans, but they’ve relaxed that now, to allow jeans as long as leather chaps or chinks are worn over them.
Since you normally have to pay an entry fee of $50 and might collect only $300 if you win, what’s the big attraction? Riding fast and shooting guns. It can’t get much better than that.
Hankerin’ for more? Read further about the sport online.
cowboymountedshooting.com.
