Cowboy mounted shooting debuts at Fort Worth Stock Show

By Punch Shaw

Special to the Star-Telegram

Editor's note: This report has been updated to reflect that the event has occurred.

FORT WORTH -- Cowboy mounted shooting, a relatively new equestrian competition, made its debut Wednesday at the Fort Worth Stock Show.

"It's a combination of horsemanship and hand-eye coordination," said Mike Males, a mounted-shooting enthusiast from Granbury who produced this event.

Competitors speed around a course in the arena while shooting balloons attached to 4-foot poles marking the path. That may sound like a dangerous sport to watch, but Males said you can leave your flak jacket at home.

"All the riders use Colt .45s, and the [blank] ammunition is loaded with black powder. The hot embers are what pops the balloons," Males said. "They are safe. No projectiles come out."

He said lever-action rifles would be used in the event, which includes a variety of classes with male, female and senior (over 50) divisions.

Males said earplugs will be provided to spectators by request.

The competition was held in the Justin Arena.

The sport was begun "on a whim" in Arizona by some shooting cowboys and was formalized into a competition about 17 years ago, Males said.

The national headquarters of the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association is in Columbia, Tenn., but competitors come from all over, he said. One of the 100 riders in today's event, Konrad Cartini, came all the way from Germany.

Males, who has been competing for about seven years, said the popularity of the sport is growing rapidly with both cowboys and cowgirls.

"There are over 10,000 contestants registered in the CMSA today," he said, estimating that 1,500 are from Texas. "It attracts every kind of person, from truck drivers to heart surgeons to attorneys to preachers to grandmas. There's a place in this organization for anybody who wants to have fun."

A winner is chosen based on the time it takes to run the course and on the number of balloons burst. So what matters most -- a fast horse or a sure shot?

"If you miss a balloon [which results in a time penalty], it's hard to make it up. The competitors at the top of the stack are the ones who shoot clean," Males said.

He added that the better riders rarely miss any of the 10 balloons that are part of each pattern or take penalties for other infractions, which include dropping your gun or falling off your horse.

"Those that win are the ones who throw caution to the wind," he said. "You learn to shoot as fast as your horse can run. Smooth is fast. That's the way it's done."

But it is not just a barrel race with guns and balloons. The courses are drawn from a pool of 60 possible patterns on the day of the event, so the horses and riders cannot lapse into the comfort of a familiar route, Males said.

That is obviously a challenge for rider and steed, but the rewards can be handsome. Males said that a total of about $30,000 in prize money will be paid out at today's competition and that the winners will walk away with "a few thousand dollars."

Given the athletic demands and the noise involved, you would think that a special type of horse might have to be trained (or even bred) for success.

But Males said you never know what kind of equine might turn out to be a fine shooting horse.

"We have all breeds of horses. Quarter horses, paints, even mustangs," Males said.

"Some horses will take [the shooting] and love it. Some horses will take it and don't like it. Some horses never want to do it again, no matter how long you ride 'em."

But Males said one adage guides all cowboys in choosing a mount.

"You can shoot off any horse -- once."

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