BG girl wins title of world champion at mounted shooting event

BATTLE GROUND – If there’s one way that Kim Huntsinger can describe her 12-year-old daughter, Laci, one of the first things that comes to mind is that “she’s quite the little horse girl.”

“She has a passion for it (riding horses), she loves horses and she’s a natural,” Kim said. “She’s very disciplined. One of the things about Laci, there was just something in her that truly wanted to learn to ride a horse. That’s why she’s at where she’s at today. She doesn’t ride like a kid, she rides like a trainer, not even just like an adult but like a trainer.”

This past October, Laci traveled to Amarillo, TX, to compete at the 2015 Tony Lama Cowboy Mounted Shooting World Championship. She was in Texas from Oct. 13-19, and won the title of 2015 Cowboy Mounted Shooting Wrangler Open World Champion.

Cowboy mounted shooting is an equestrian sport in which mounted contestants are timed and compete using two .45 caliber single action revolvers each loaded with five rounds of specially prepared blank ammunition. The Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association has a variety of levels of competition for everyone, ranging from novice levels to seasoned professionals.

The cartridges fired from the revolvers used in the competition are called .45 caliber Long Colts. According to the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association website, the brass cartridge is loaded with black powder, like that used in the 1800s. This load will break a balloon up to about 15 feet. Live rounds are strictly prohibited at competitions.

In Texas, Laci competed against other 10-12 year olds in the Wrangler Open Cowboy Mounted Shooting category. Kim said Laci competed there for a week straight, competing in not just one class but five different runs. At the end of the event, all times are put together along with any misses or mistakes, and at the end whoever has the best time received the title of champion.

“She had no mistakes, no misses, her runs were basically perfect,” Kim said. “There was no going off course, no turning at the wrong moment, nothing like that.”

Kim said Laci has grown up riding horses, and she started riding by herself around the young age of 1. Just a couple of years later, she was trotting around by herself. Laci grew up participating in the cowboy mounted shooting and won her first buckle at the age of 5. Kim said she now has cases filled with buckles she’s won.

“She’s always ridden very nice horses and things like that that help, but the thing with Laci is that she was able to run the patterns and control her horse and she just became faster and faster, and other kids at the age of 5 were still walking and trotting,” Kim said.

This past year alone, Laci has won seven buckles. She also won the Oregon state cowboy mounted shooting shoot, the Washington state one and the regional shoot before going on to win the world championship in Texas. She started participating in 4-H at the age of 8 and has also done numerous open shows at the Clark County Fair, winning 13 medals one year.

Kim said Laci also recently stepped to the Ladies I category in cowboy mounted shooting, meaning that she shoots live off the horse and gets to compete within the same standards as adults. Laci has six horses of her own and three of her own ponies. Over the last three years, she has also started to take in other people’s ponies for training and started training her first horse this year that she raised as a baby.

“She’s self motivated,” Kim said of Laci. “She knows what she has to do and she does it, she will get it done. She rides like five horses a day. It’s her passion, that’s why she’s so darn good at it.”

Kim said that this past March they were forced to put down the main horse that Laci had been using for cowboy mounted shooting due to medical issues. The horse that Laci ended up using for the world championship, a 16-year-old Buckskin named Buckwheat that the family has owned for about five years, was actually one that the family had up for sale. However, Laci started riding Buckwheat and Kim said they became quite the team.

The entire Huntsinger family has been very involved in cowboy mounted shooting. Kim hasn’t been competing for a few years because she’s been raising her younger children – Cody, 9, Colt, 4, and Lila, 1 – but she said she had previously won a couple of overalls doing cowboy mounted shooting. Her husband, Jerry Huntsinger, who is a farrier in the area, has also won some overalls as well. Kim said Jerry is in the process of getting another horse ready to compete.

The two boys, Cody and Colt, also ride and have started trying out some cowboy mounted shooting as well. Lila, who is 1, is already riding on one of the family’s ponies.

“I always start my kids riding without stirrups,” Kim said. “Laci ran from age 5-8 years old without stirrups through courses. That’s how she really learned how to ride and hold on and ride correctly.”

The Huntsingers live in Battle Ground, and Laci is homeschooled through River HomeLink in Battle Ground.

Kim said the family is especially thankful to those who sponsored Laci so she was able to attend the world championship in Texas this past October. Laci’s chaps and shirt were sponsored by Riding High USA, owners Susan Rummel and Rachelle Henne, located in Brush Prairie. She was also sponsored by Countryside Equine Veterinary Service; Alan Webb Chevrolet; Keith Archer; Janna Brown; Insurance Solutions; Paul and Lajean Jerome and David Whitman. Dan Kelley also pitched in on the effort, getting Laci and her horse to the competition and offering other assistance.

“Laci looks forward to training with Dan Kelley, a men’s level 5 shooter, who lives in Boardman, OR, and Si and Tenley Haaby, with Haaby Performance Horses in Terrebonne, OR,” Kim said.