Cowboy Mounted Shooting is now the fastest growing equine sport in the country! Cowboy Mounted Shooting began with a small group of folks in Arizona back in 1992. It is a little like barrel racing with a .45 pistol. All the competitors are required to dress “cowboy style”. We do NOT shoot live ammunition, we only use black powder blanks (we have found this to be easier on the spectators). Each rider will engage a course that contains ten targets (balloons).

The pistols we use are .45 Long Colt single action pistols. These are the old six-shooters you see in movies. Fastest time wins. If you miss a balloon, five seconds is added to the time. Typically, the first five targets are set so the rider must maneuver their horse fairly hard. The last five targets are usually in a straight line. Ride as fast as you can shoot!

There are over 50 different patterns that are used for Cowboy Mounted Shooting. At a normal match, four different patterns are drawn at random, and those are the ones used for the match. Each shooter rides and shoots each of the four patterns, and the one with the best combined time wins!