GROWING SPORT

TRUMBULL TOWNSHIP - - Cowboy mounted shooting is becoming one of the most rapidly growing equestrian sports in the U.S.

Ashtabula County residents got a taste of what it's all about Saturday at Spinning Wheel Farm as the Northern Ohio Outlaws Cowboy Mounted Shooting Club of Wooster conducted a demonstration.

The sport started out west in Arizona and has rapidly been making it's way across the U.S. Mounted contestants ride in the fast-action, timed event using two .45 caliber single-action revolvers loaded with five rounds of specially prepared blank ammunition.

Courses are set in a variety of patterns, requiring the rider to guide the horse and shoot the gun at the same time. The first five targets of a course of fire will vary with each go and requires the horse and rider to stop, turn, change leads and accelerate rapidly. The last five targets, called the "run down," is a straight course with targets set at 36 foot intervals.

Typically, a competitor crosses the timing beam at a full gallop and engages the first pattern of five targets. After the shooter fires the fifth shot, he or she returns the empty revolver to a holster and then races to the far end of the arena while drawing the second revolver. At the far end, the horse and rider turn another barrel and then engage the five remaining targets of the "run down" at full speed.

Scoring is based on elapsed time plus a five second penalty for each target missed or barrel knocked over. Contestants dress in 1800s clothing to add an extra bit of flare to the event.

"That's one good thing about it," said Elizabeth Phillips, who organized Saturday's event. "It draws attention to us."

There also are different levels of shooting. After competitors achieve so many wins in one level, they move up to the next. Contestants start out as a level one shooter. If there are three or more shooters in the class a win will move the shooter into the level two class. After three wins in level two, the shooter moves onto level three, and so on, all the way up to level six.

There are 54 different courses. Any breed of horse can be used in the sport but the horses must go through training to become acclimated with the sport, Phillips said.

Phillips is trying to start a club in the county and will hold a clinic on June 3 at Spinning Wheel Farm. Participants will bring their own horses, but guns and ammunition will be provided in the cost of the clinic. Joe Coalter, director of the Northern Ohio Outlaws, will conduct the clinic.

"When we have clinics, the first thing we do is go through gun safety," he said. "We go through gun safety before every shoot out."

Other than the safety part, there is no other gun training, it's up to the individual to get comfortable with using the revolvers, he said. Horses are also trained at the clinic.

"There's a lot going on for the horse," Coalter said. "There's gun fire, balloons, gun smoke, that's a lot for those horses to get used to."

Just like any other sport, Coalter said cowboy mounted shooting is an investment.

"You have to get a good horse, a good gun and a saddle," he said.

The first cowboy mounted shooting club originated in Cincinnati. The Northern Ohio Outlaws started as an affiliate of that club and is trying to bring the sport further north, Coalter said.

"There's a lot of horse country up here," he said. "Even though we use guns, it's a family sport."

Coalter and his wife both compete in the sport as well as their daughter. Kids run patterns without using guns, he said.

"It's something we can do together," Coalter said.