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Wild West Show back at Strawberry Festival BY SARAH MURRELL VOICE Staff “It’s easier when the horse is moving,” Tom Bishop Sr. hollers to the young woman hanging off the side of a horse. The young woman is Angie Wilson, hanging off the side of a horse at the Bishop’s 4B ranch to learn trick riding and join the Bishop’s Wild West Show. Just about a month earlier Wilson went for a trail ride with Tom Bishop Jr. ending up at the Bishop ranch where Bishop Jr. showed off his trick riding skills. “I saw him do a vault and it was so cool,” said Wilson, noting she immediately wanted to do trick riding herself. “He asked me if I wanted to try it and I got hooked,” says Wilson. “It is so much fun.” “You can have courage to do it and there’s a lot of muscle involved,” says Bishop Jr., adding you need more than simple strength. “Agility and familiarity with horses are needed.” Wilson has both. Growing up with horses, Wilson says her parents
ANGIE WILSON rides standing up on Gold while Tom Bishop Jr. and Tom Bishop Sr. lead her through a series of tricks she’ll be performing at this year’s Strawberry Festsival hosted by Pelham Station #3 firefighters. Sarah Murrell/Voice Photo were “pretty good” about feeding her addiction to horses. A degree in horticulture didn’t feed that addiction and Wilson changed her career path, taking a job as a carriage driver - which is how she met Bishop Jr. While the Bishops’ horse,
Gold, stands taller than Wilson at the shoulder she has no problem lifting herself off the ground to his back, dangling from one stirrup and rising to a standing position on his back. “It was very surprising with Angie,” says Bishop
Jr. of how well Wilson took to trick riding. “She’s making great progress,” says Bishop Sr. while Wilson goes through the routine of tricks on Gold. Wilson says she still has some strength building to do.
“There’s not a lot of workouts for hanging off a horse,” she says. “You drop your fear factor and at the same time you increase your strength and the muscles you do use,” says Bishop Sr. It does, he says, get easier when the horse is moving
because the rider can use the horse’s momentum for moving around, rather than relying on just their own strength. While Gold seems oblivious to the woman performing tricks on his back, Bishop Sr. points out the rider has to put a lot of confidence in the horse. While performing the rider does not lead the horse in any way, so they have to have faith the horse will maintain a steady pace and not stop suddenly or shy from people. Wilson has to put a great deal of faith in Bishop Jr. as well as in Gold. Along with learning to trick ride, she’s learning to act as Bishop Jr’s assistant in the knife throwing act. With just two weeks of training under her belt, Wilson’s first show with the Bishop’s will be on June 9. Her second will be on June 16 at the annual Shorthills Fire Association Strawberry Festival. Wilson’s ready, she says. “Have you ever been fabric shopping with two cowboys?” she asks in explaining her show attire has been chosen and is in the making.
See “Festival” page 2
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Soccer Fest! Page 10
Kids in Cop Cars Page 14 Niagara’s Only
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