Mounted shooting

We learned to rope, move cattle, tried team penning (harder than it looks!), went on some trail rides, and spent the whole of Thursday on mounted shooting. We strapped on holsters, and walked, then trotted the course, "dry firing" at the balloons, to get the hang of it, and the feel of the guns. You have to use single action Colt 45's or replicas, which means you have to pull the hammer back each time you fire the gun; this is tricky when you have small hands.

After lunch we took turns riding 3 horses (only a few are trained and able to handle the loud noise) through the course at a lope; you have two guns with 5 shells each, to shoot the10 balloons on the course. So at the half way point you're putting the first gun back in the holster, getting the second one out as you turn around a barrel, and getting that hammer back to shoot the first balloon on the straightaway home. Those balloons come up quickly when you're loping!