SHOOTING

What drew you to the sport of mounted shooting? How did you get started?

I remember going to the National Western Stock Show when I was a kid and seeing cowboy mounted shooting. I thought it was just the coolest thing ever, but it was never something I thought I could do. In my head, those riders were like celebrities and my little 4-H pony and I were nowhere near that level of awesome. But sometimes the world has a funny way of putting you in the right place at the right time because when I was in high school, the Colorado Mounted under hosted a new shooter clinic at my home arena in Castle Rock. I took my show pony, and we learned about mounted shooting and even took our rst shot. From then on, I was hooked. I wanted so badly to be a shooter. However, mounted shooting is tough to get into if you don’t have the background and I was crazy busy with all my other activities and graduating high school at the time. It wasn’t until college that I had a close friend and mentor of mine who got involved in mounted shooting, Lea Anne Russell, who later helped me become a competitor.

How long have you been competing?

As far as mounted shooting goes, I am a bit of a late bloomer in the sense that I started shooting after I became an adult, which isn’t unheard of, but a lot of the great shooters started when they were kids. I competed in my rst shoot in November of 2020 when I was 20 years old and although I have been riding horses my whole life, it was a huge step in my horsemanship and riding career. I recall that I wasn’t even intending on competing that day, I just wanted to bring my horse and watch, but lo and behold, Lea Anne signed me up and encouraged me to get out there and shoot because “there was no better time than the present.” It was the greatest thing that could have happened because I fell in love with the sport. I am now 22 and am in my third season as a mounted shooter. I have been competing consistently ever since and I still jump at any chance to get to a shoot. e Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association (one of the governing organizations of mounted shooting and the sanctioning body for the Colorado Mounted under) uses a level system which allows shooters of all divisions to have a chance to win. Essentially, everyone starts as a Level 1, and you advance levels by winning your class four times as long as it is considered full. Level 6 is the highest and the levels are split into men’s and women’s as well as an age split for seniors (55-plus). So, I currently compete as a Ladies Level 2 which falls into Division A (Ladies Level 1 + 2 combined).

How does leveling in the sport work?

What awards have you won?

In my rst season I was very fortunate to have an amazing rookie year. To understand how successful, I have to brag on my horse a little bit. is sport is hard, and it takes a very special type of horse to be successful at it. My very special horse is Flynn. In November of 2020 when I did my rst shoot, Flynn and I had only known each other since August when my family purchased