my parents competed for years in cowboy mounted shooting. its a sport where you shoot 45 colt blackpowder blanks at balloons mounted on sticks.
the black powder at close range, say less thaan 10 ft would pop the balloons. it was a timed sport.
my dad trained countless horses to do it and sold some of them for large amounts of money.
now first off i think my dad could of trained a horse to do backflips on a balance beam if he wanted too. he was a real old time cowboy.
but anyway first you trained the horse to ride well and neck rein well. then he would start by shooting 22 blanks around them on the ground. then 22 blanks while riding.
then he would move up to 45 blanks. he loaded his own so the first step was with mimimal black powder.
the horses actually wore ear plugs made of balls of sheepskin about the size of a 50 cent piece.
its quite outstanding to to see 80 yr old dad and 70+ year old mom riding spirited horses at full gallop shooting guns as fast as they can cock them.
dad finally has quit competing cuz he is 88 and has to compete with guys 50 and up in the senior division
