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Hot On The Heels Of A World Championship

 

Natalie Johnson

 

“MY GOAL THIS YEAR IS TO WIN   all four of the majors: Westerns and Easterns, the Nationals, and the Worlds.”

 

For most mounted shooters, this sounds like nothing more than a pipedream. But when Natalie Johnson exclaims it with such breathless joy, one can only believe it is truly her heart’s desire—and she just might be able to pull it off.

 

Like many young people in sports, Johnson has set high goals for herself and is willing to make the necessary sacrifices in order to achieve them.

 

Girls and Horses

Natalie Johnson grew up in Arizona, a typical little girl who longed to have horses. She began taking English riding lessons when she was 10, but the English form wasn’t for her. She wanted speed!

 

“I wanted to be a barrel racer,” she says. “When I told my dad that, he kind of laughed—picturing ‘little Natalie’ being a barrel racer. But that was my goal.”

 

Johnson rode with trainer and barrel racer Audrey Hensley, who was also involved in the world of mounted shooting. Her dad, Don Hensley, was a CMSA Board member and was inducted into the CMSA Hall of Fame in 2003. Johnson’s feelings following her debut will be familiar to many in the sport: “The first time I did mounted shooting, I looked at my mom and said ‘I don’t want to be a barrel racer any more!’”

 

She started shooting when she was 12, taking lessons from Annie Bianco-Ellett. She continued to barrel race a little bit, and when she later competed in High School Rodeo, Johnson added pole bending and breakaway roping to her repertoire.
Her senior year, Natalie won the title of Arizona High School Rodeo Queen, and participated at the National High School Rodeo Finals in 2008. She placed 13th, and speaks of those days as one more learning experience on the road to her real dreams and goals.

 

During those years she went through “a lot of horses,” selling her best breakaway horse. She ran poles on “Millie,” the horse she now shoots on.

 

On the Road to Success

In 2005, about the time she got really serious about shooting, she began training with Dan Byrd. His philosophy of “smooth and efficient” has become her mantra.

 

“I never have had the fastest time on a stage,” she explains. “It’s just being clean and being smooth and holding it together for success.”

 

Those smooth rides add up to very fast matches. As the Reserve World Champion Ladies shooter in 2009, she lost by exactly 1.5 seconds. One missed balloon was the difference. This year she is concentrating on improving the small things.

 

“The last couple of months, I try to do cardio twice a week and I’m doing a little bit of strength training, like arms, legs, abs,” she says.

 

Johnson has completed a year of college, but decided to take some time off to pursue her mounted shooting dream. While she says that she is “just traveling,” the truth is always a bit more complicated. To help pay for the travel, she’s waiting tables in a local restaurant. The rest of the time, her five horses keep her busy.

 

She hopes that Millie, her 18-year-old number one horse, can go all the way with her to the four wins she dreams about.

 

“I can’t give her time off because it takes so long to get her back up again. I always have to make sure that she stays in shape. She gets out just about every day,” Johnson says.

 

She does understand, though, that she should have a secondary horse in place. Right now, that second choice is a mare she calls Wicked “because she’s pretty mean.” Fortunately the mare is also “wicked fast.” She was formerly used for polocrosse. Natalie has also started shooting on a third mare named Kippy.

 

The other horses in her life have other purposes, but Johnson hopes that she will someday reach the point of being able to give lessons and train horses.

 

“I feel like I should be able to finish my own horses first,” she says. “I don’t want to take other people’s horses until I’m sure I know what I’m doing.”

 

Johnson wants to be a force in the sport for many years to come, She is encouraged by how many women of every age are becoming involved. Eventually she will go back to school, but shooting will always be a part of her life.

 

On the Radar

Natalie Johnson has been on the radar for quite some time now and her performance at the 2010 Desert Classic only reinforced that. She won the overall title in Globe, but she’s not about to relax.

 

“I’ve never been ranked in the Top Ten,” she says, “and I want to do that.” Still, her win at Globe has moved her from #5 to #4 in the point standings for 2010.

 

While she isn’t sure if she’ll make it to her ultimate goal this year—in a more thoughtful moment, she admits it is a long-term goal that she has had for some time—she is prepared to run for it flat out. Johnson will be at six of the eight major CMSA matches this year if nothing unforeseen happens.

 

“My parents wouldn’t let me go to Westerns [in 2009] because I had a concussion,” she says. She admits that a somewhat foolish riding accident was the culprit and she is determined to ride safely in the future. Making it to the “Big 4” shoots is paramount to reaching all of her goals this year.

 

No matter what, Natalie Johnson has big dreams and goals. She’ll blaze through the next six months with her signature smile and good nature, and she’ll work for every win.

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