Mike Duck is OK

A near tragedy was averted after CMSA competitor Mike Duck was asphyxiated in his living quarter trailer the night before the move in to the Amarillo Center for the Worlds. A malfunction with his generator caused carbon monoxide to penetrate his trailer. When he was late in getting up the following morning friends discovered Mike unconscious and he was rushed to the hospital. From what I heard it was touch and go while concerned friends and family stood by his bedside. Coming out of a coma it was reported that Mike was asked if he knew where he was. He responded he was in a hospital. When asked if he knew what happened he responded he figured he fell off a horse. Mike recovered fast and was able to join his friends and family at the Amarillo Center for several hours before flying home to fully recover.

Mike, we're all glad you made it through the ordeal. We were all praying for you.

Back From the Worlds

Got back from the Worlds on Sunday night after the awards ceremony. What an incredible event. Me and Chato finished 11th in the men's 3 class out of 35. I'm happy with that!

Charlie Little and Tammy Sronce won the overall titles. It was a tight race in the mens. Charlie was trailing Matt Sronce until the final stage where he clinched the win by hundreds of a second. It was a three lady run by the second day with Tammy Townsend leading the pack. On stage 5 she missed a turn and came off her horse putting Tammy Sronce on top with Kenda Lenseigne in 2nd. Kenda missed a target on stage 5 and Tammy went on to win in stage six by 1.8 seconds.

Congratulations to all the winners.

The Amarillo National Center Arena is a great facility. Stages 1, 3, 5 and 6 were run in the main arena with stages 2 and 4 run in a smaller arena located adjacent. The weather was great but got real cold on Thursday and Friday. The only draw back with the location was we were prey to theives who broke into several vehicles steeling valuable possesions including guns, camera equipment and personal items. Hopefully CMSA will hire their own security force next year.

All in all no one got hurt and everyone I saw had a great time.

Jim Rodgers was the high points winner who drew the lucky key that opened and started the Ford truck. I spoke with him last night and he told me he was putting the truck back in the pool for the group of high points winners to draw again. He told me that although he would like to keep the truck, he felt it best to let the others have a go at it. He mentioned a new drawing for the truck during the World Series of Mounted Shooting in Vegas in two weeks. Good move Jim!

New Mexico State Championship

Congratulations to Zane Runyan for winning the New Mexico CMSA Championship. No easy task with Jim Rodgers, Dan Byrd, Jerry Bestpitch and Kenda Lenseigne keeping the heat on. The match was held at the Las Cruces Fair Grounds in their state of the art covered arena. Great weather and 60 plus shooters.

A job well done by the New Mexico Territories CMSA.

Getting prepared for the world, the Western Shooting Horse Road to the Worlds match takes place this weekend. Folks from around the west are coming. The arena at the Bernalillo Sheriff's posse is great. We went over last week to check it out. Great stalls, great arena footing, a new sound system and a new admin office below the crows nest. It's a very nice facility. Just checked weather.com com and the forecast is great. Sunny and 60's throughout the weekend.

Most of the shooters will be heading to Amarillo for the Worlds on Tuesday morning. Should be quite a caravan.

The weather for Amarillo looks pretty much the same for the Worlds. Partly sunny and in the 60's. Looking forward to a great time.

Western Shooting Horse will have a booth at the Worlds. I'm shooting, Lucinda is taking pictures and Cynthia will be manning he booth. Come by an pick up a copy of the November/December issue of the magazine featuring Annie Bianco-Ellett on the cover.

New Club in New Mexico

Western Shooting Horse Magazine has formed a new CMSA Affiliated Club called the Vaqueros. We shoot on a regular basis at the Heritage Rodeo Arena in Moriarty, New Mexico.

Our first practice match is on Sunday, October 19 starting at 9:00 a.m.

Our new web site is: www.westernshootinghorse.com/Vaqueros

Our 2008 and 2009 schedule is up on the web page. Please note dates are subject to change based on weather, conflicting matches and other events.

Western Shooting Horse is exited to bring another CMSA club to New Mexico. You don’t have to live in the East Mountains to join our club. You can be from anywhere and we welcome you.

To learn more about The Vaqueros, click here for a Printable Membership Application and visit our website at www.westernshootinghorse.com/Vaqueros

We look forward to shooting with you!

Move Up Dance

Had to do the "dance" last weekend in Roswell. Finally made it to a level 3! Paul Whitwam with the help of Roswell's Marley and Runyan families put on a great match...two in fact. Some 50 shooters attended with folks coming from as far away as Texas, Colorado and Arizona. Dan Byrd came with 5 horses and left with 8 including my new Palomino who Dan is going to put a handle on over the next few months. The match was well run with a free hamburger dinner on Friday night. Bill Marley pulled out his rolling barbeque smoker and cooked for the bunch. The weather was perfect and a lot of shooting took place. The match offered time onlys after each run on Saturday. Many took advantage of this, especially Bob Ostrenga who rode two other horses including a beautiful black quarter horse he just purchased. Several folks tried to talk him out of the horse but he's turning out to be a keeper for Bob. Sugar Ray came down to announce and the Saturday Night Showcase attracted a good crowd. Lot's of money was raised for a local youth group with the team of Taylor Marley and Kathy Holman bringing in the gold. There was about $5000 added money so winners did well. Purina was a sponsor and also gave 50lb bags of Ultium to the class winners. I use the product and was happy to go home with two!

Western Shooting Horse will be putting on a three-day match at the Bernalillo Sheriff's Posse covered arena on the weekend before the Worlds. For folks who are passing through on their way to Amarillo, the dates are November 14-16 and all are welcome. There are 40 stalls and 25 camper hook ups. We are limiting it to 75 shooters and are hoping to have added monies. Call Cynthia at the Western Shooting Horse office to sign up. Entry is $150. We will also have and Eliminator and Rifle match.

To read more about the Way To The World Match Click Here:

To sign up directly Click Here:

Busy September

Western Shooting Horse produced its Labor Day Classic match at the Moriarty Heritage Rodeo Arena in Moriarty, New Mexico the weekend before Murfreesboro. We had 48 shooters from as far away as Arizona and Texas. The wind blew pretty good on Saturday and we got rained on quite a bit on Sunday but were able to pull off 4 stages to qualify for the double CMSA points. Not one person shot clean! So much for the weather. Here are the Overall Results and Results By Class. I want to thank everyone who came. We did have a great time.

The following morning I was off to Murfreesboro for the CMSA Eastern U.S. Championship. Jim Rodgers stopped on his way to Tennessee and shot our match. Chato and I hitched a ride with Jim and the two day trip went smoothly. I was able to stop at Cavenders in Amarillo to stock up on new Wranglers and a new black hat. It's a great store and a must stop when passing through Amarillo. The Tennessee Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro is a great indoor arena. There where quite a few vendors at this event and folks made time to shop. Annie Bianco-Ellett's Dare to Wear Pink Shoot for a Cure was the first order of business and it turned out well. A bunch of Sponsors and celebrities took part as did a number of CMSA shooters, including myself, who all donned pink for the worthy cause. Congratulations to Annie who pulled of a very successful event and congrats to Chad Little and Jessie Kuka for taking the overall wins.

The Easterns turned out a very large number of shooters and was very well organized. There was a lot of shooting and yours truly was able to shoot stages everyday from Wednesday through Sunday. The Saturday night showcase was a blast, literally. Dan Plaster broke out his new toy...a CO2 cannon that shoots t-shirts up to 500 feet! The crowd loved it. The highlight of the evening was Jessie Kuka's Colt Eliminator run. After Kenda Lenseigne beat Jessie's world record on the 7 course, Jessie wasn't about to give up the record and set a new world record to a screaming audience. Out of 245 Shooters, Rock Clark and Tammy Sronce took the overall titles.

I'm off to shoot the Roswell, New Mexico match this weekend and will write about it in my next blog.

Adios

My First Post

This is my first post. I have read blogs before but never wrote my own.

Today I shot 4 stages at a practice match. Chato has gained quite a bit of speed since I worked with Andra Olson and Jim Hanson at the Western U.S. Championship in Nampa, Idaho a couple of weeks ago. They checked out my riding and helped me make a few adjustments. First, they got rid of my large size stirrups and put on a set of wood oxbows. They suggested I slide my foot all the way in and balance on my arches instead of the balls of my feet. What a remarkable improvement. Next we adjusted my tie-down. I was riding a little bit long. Finally we adjusted my breast collar bringing my saddle several inches forward. These minor adjustments made all the difference in the world. Chato has picked up speed and my balance is much, much better.

We just sent the September/October issue of the magazine to the printer. We will have copies on September 1 and will bring some to the Eastern Nationals in Murfreesboro in a couple of week.

We are preparing for the Western Shooting Horse Labor Day Classic, which takes place this weekend, August 30, & 31. Dan Byrd will be doing a full day clinic for about 20 of us locals.

I don't want to over do it on my first blog so I'll end it here. I’ll try to post new blogs several times a week. I hope you enjoy and utilize this new section of our web site.