Pure Horse Sense, Training and Deep Determination is Propelling this 25-Year-Old Montana Cowgirl to the Top in the World of Cowboy Mounted Shooting.
The historic Townsend Ranch in Darby, Montana, is home to Larry, Janice and their daughter Tammy Townsend. It’s a place loaded with tradition; four generations ago, Larry’s grandfather supplied horses to the U.S. Cavalry. No doubt they were known for physical and mental toughness, and obviously they had to be good around firearms.
Over 100 years later, the tradition continues.
The twenty-first century Townsends are among the top breeders, suppliers, trainers, coaches, clinicians and competitors in the mounted shooting industry. But even prior to “taking up arms,” they already prided themselves on raising, producing and selling true all-around horses. They have never tried to breed for a specialized horse. They specialize in breeding the horse that will do multiple events.
It was precisely that reputation that drew a little wide-eyed, eight-year-old blond girl named Tammy to the ranch about 17 years ago.
Horse crazy kid
Tammy was a typical horse loving little girl from Montana, involved in 4-H and junior rodeos. But she needed a new barrel horse, and it had to be black and white. The Townsends raised some Paints, so it seemed a logical place to search. Ironically, instead of finding a horse suited to her specifications, she found a new family, new home, new opportunities and a future career in the horse business. After feeling a strong connection with the Townsends and ranch life itself, she was invited to stay—for good. She likes to say “she adopted” the Townsends lock, stock and barrel—right down to the name—and never looked back. “I’ve always called them Mom and Pop, and I got to pick my relatives—and not many people get to do that,” she laughs.
Eventually, mounted on good Townsend horseflesh, Tammy tried her hand at reining, team penning, sorting, high school rodeo, and jackpot barrel racing. She even ran pro on her WPRA (Women’s Professional Rodeo Association) permit. Although she enjoyed competing horseback, she wasn’t very impressed with some of the attitudes she found at the events and amongst competitors. Besides, things were plenty busy at the ranch anyway.
Ranch life
“Pop” Larry, a fourth-generation rancher, has had a lot of horses teach him a lot of things. He’s ridden rough stock horses at the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) level, and has shown cow horses, penning, sorting and more. On the ranch, he’d start the colts and then train them for various events. Janice grew up showing 4-H, had plenty of horse savvy too, and handled most of the ranch’s daily business operations.
All the while, under their wings, Tammy soaked up information like a sponge, learning not only how to train and compete, but how to run a full time ranch, including a breeding business. Consequently, she now works side by side with “Pop” in partnership. They breed and raise both Paints and Quarter Horses (primarily “cow” crossed on speed, producing the mind for anything), and train, give lessons, compete, hold mounted shooting practices, and produce clinics—sometimes in Sweden and Germany where they also have horse clients.
“We do horses start to finish,” she explains. “Usually Pop starts the colts for the first 30 days, then I start working with them too. If a client brings a horse in, we decide who rides it based on our strengths. Pop usually takes the sour or problem horses, but if they just need work, repetition or a softer side of things I ride that horse,” she adds.
Although they had the training and responsibilities down pat, what the Townsends didn’t know was that all of Tammy’s new skills would combine and trail off in a direction they never imagined.
To explain, one has to flash back about eight years or better, when a client showed up at the ranch wanting to buy a horse for mounted shooting. Naturally, he wanted the Townsends to train it, too. Problem was, they had never seen such a thing, much less trained a horse for it. “We went to a couple of shoots just to watch and see what it was all about so we could train the horse,” Tammy recalls.
As they say, the rest is history and a star was born.
Shooting Star
“I started shooting about eight years ago when I was 16 or so, and Pop started a little before that when I was still into high school rodeo,” Tammy explains. “I helped blow up balloons and things, but shooting wasn’t something I wanted to do right away. But after I tried it, I was hooked! I got into it mostly through helping train horses for it,” she adds.
One thing led to another of course, and soon the entire family was shooting their way into the sport’s early record books at every shoot they could find. True to form, Larry quickly became one of the most respected mounted shooting horse trainers and competitors around, as would Tammy. Janice even joined in at a few shoots a year, when she could escape business operations of the ranch and a town job. Once again, Larry was Tammy’s mentor, but along the way she’s watched and learned from some of the top cowgirls in the sport, including Annie Bianco-Ellett from Cave Creek, Arizona.
“When I got started, Annie was the top female shooter and also one of the top overall. She is one of the few that has been competitive since the beginning and has also grown and stepped up as the sport has grown,” Tammy says. “ I love competing against her, she’s a great competitor, but all in the name of the game.”
Speaking of competition, Tammy’s become one of the most formidable opponents of them all; since 2002 she’s shot her way to the top of Utah and Montana state finals, US Western championships, regional championships, and is the first MSA level 6 lady shooter. But above all, she counts last year’s World Championships as her favorite memory so far. She won first and third in the Pro-Class, won Ladies Rifle Champion and reserve overall Rifle Champion, was third overall in the Cavalry, and placed second overall in the Showcase. It’s not gender split, so that was extra special. However, what she remembers most is that Larry, Janice and some dear friends were there to see it happen.
“The whole year comes down to right there, and it was great to make it back to so many different things,” she says. “My family was there, helping me jump from horse to horse and hurry and I was trying to load, that’s just as good as it gets.”
After participating in so many horse sports, Tammy feels she’s truly found a home in mounted shooting. The family atmosphere is rewarding, and it’s a place where everybody helps everybody else. In fact, that’s what she enjoys most—- “seeing a horse I’ve put my heart and soul into help somebody else reach their goals.”
They say things come full circle, and Tammy’s generosity is a mere continuation of what she has experienced. And, what must seem like a fairy tale came with the storybook ending, too. Her number two horse, Vodka Witha Twist, a.k.a. Jessie, is a homegrown buckskin stallion. But her number one mount is none other than a little breeding stock Paint mare, IB Black, or “IB” for short. You guessed it; she’s black—with a little bit of white. So aside from a whole new life and future, the little cowgirl got her dream horse too.
“I joke that she just doesn’t have as much white as I wanted,” Tammy laughs.
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