The cowboy drew his 0.45mm Ruger Vaqueros as he rode towards his target. Once he got in range, a loud bang reverberated. As the balloon popped, he sped to his next target.
Lucas Thiessen of Humboldt was one of six riders demonstrating the sport of cowboy mounted shooting at the Tisdale Rambler Rodeo April 7. The others were his wife Kristy Thiessen, Barbie Harder of Carrot River, Kristen Wiens of Tisdale, Chris Epp of Rosthern and Marissa Epp of Rosthern.
The goal is to shoot all of the balloons, which are placed in an arena in a random order, within the fastest time.
Lucas told the Humboldt Journal he’s been doing it for three and a half years.
“This crazy guy named Cain Quom and my dad are good friends and they invited us to try it out one time. He trains and breaks shooting horses,” he said. “We did it one time and we were hooked. We went home that day and ordered a set of guns.”
Kristy started the sport after Lucas.
“I just learned from my husband. I started last year, so this would be starting my second year of shooting. My first shoot was Agribition,” she said. “They say it’s not the first balloon that you hit, it’s the first balloon that you miss that keeps you coming back for more.”
The sport requires participants use the same type of weapons that would be found in the wild west.
“A lot of people, when they haven’t seen it before, wonder if we’re shooting live rounds or what’s coming out of there,” Lucas said. “We shoot black powder. It’s coarse grain black powder.”
There’s no projectile coming out of the gun. It’s the burning embers of the powder coming out of the gun that pop the balloon. The range is about 17 feet, but, if they’re feeling lucky, riders could shoot a bit further away from the balloon to go faster – at the risk of not popping the balloon.
As well, there are competitions that use shotguns and rifles.
“That’s my goal to do – super fun – but at some point you drop the reins and you just hope your horse runs straight and you somehow shoot this rifle with both hands,” Kristy said.
The horses have to be gun broke to compete. That process begins with a bull whip and as the horse gets used to the sound, they’re then exposed to successively larger bangs. There’s also safety equipment for both the rider and the horse.
“We put horse earplugs in the horses,” Kristy said.
Competitors also have to be dressed up like a wild west cowboy, with a hat, long-sleeved shirt as well as chinks or chaps.
There’s six levels, beginning at level one. As a competitor wins four of them, they move up to the next level.
While he’s been active in the sport, Lucas has seen some successes.
“Last year, I won Canadian finals,” he said. “In my first year of shooting, I went down to Texas for world finals and I won my class, the Men’s I class.”
To be successful, lots of practising is a must.
“It’s an awesome sport,” Lucas said. “Too much fun.”
