As a professional trainer, Why did I learn the sport of Mounted Shooting
I am a professional horse trainer. I’ve been training horses now for many years. A few years ago, I was approached by representatives of a local mounted shooting club and was invited to join them and try this new sport called mounted shooting. At the time, I was into reining and ranch horse type competitions and didn’t really have much extra spare time getting involved in another competition! Don’t misunderstand, I enjoy competing however, my passion is training, and that has always come first! So, the more I thought about it, from a trainer’s perspective, I knew the more things I could expose my horses to, the better! I then decided on a plan, I would bring a different horse each week, rotating them so each horse would get equal exposure to shooting a gun from the saddle. My “plan” was purely for training purposes only.
So, I show up with one of my own horses (Montana) and I was provided a very nice orientation to the world of mounted shooting. The first thing I noticed was the very welcoming and friendly atmosphere from all the members of this organization. So, I began my training sessions.
With each horse I would bring, I quickly realized that mounted shooting required a whole new set of skills that I had not used or even thought of as a trainer!
As time progressed, I became better and faster with each horse…..now, I’m really starting to have fun! After a few months I was encouraged to think about competing in a mounted shooting match. I did, and well, as the saying goes, the rest is history.
I still enjoy competing to this day. I have no doubt that getting involved in the sport of mounted shooting made me a much better trainer and made every horse I used along the way a more well-rounded horse.
Try mounted shooting, or really, most any level of competition in any discipline! It might just humble you a bit and more than likely improve your horsemanship skills. I firmly believe you will also come away with a much better horse in the process!