A Wild West Halloween

By Thomas P. Caldwell

The Old West may be long-gone except as portrayed in old movies featuring Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and John Wayne, but the spirit of those days continues among groups such as the Northeast Six-Shooters, whose members dress in western costumes and compete with horses in mounted shooting matches.

Lakes Region residents will have a chance to see those cowboys in action — and perhaps even participate themselves if they are members of the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association — when the Six-Shooters hold a Halloween Shoot at the Lakes Region Riding Academy in Gilford on Saturday, October 29, beginning at 11 a.m.

The Northeast Six-Shooters are affiliated with the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association, a national organization that coordinates competitions across the country. The Six-Shooters boast membership from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

“We promote our cowboy heritage through competition, costume & camaraderie, focusing on safety, friends & fun,” according to the group’s website, www.nesixshooters.com.

Christine Boudreau, the treasurer of the Northeast Six-Shooters, said the organization has been in existence since 2005, having started out in Massachusetts as the MA Six Shooters. When Dina Baratta from New Hampshire took over as president in 2011, the organization changed its name to the Northeast Six-Shooters.

“We average anywhere from 40 to 60 members,” Christine said, although the numbers were down for the last couple of years because of the pandemic.

The Northeast Six-Shooters hold multi-day events that allow participants to enjoy cowboy hospitality, sharing stories, food, and an occasional campfire. The group also makes road trips to matches up and down the east coast. They have held events at the Lakes Region Riding Academy since around 2014 or 2015. The organization also holds events in New Hampshire at the Hillsborough County Fair and the Hopkinton State Fair, and in Massachusetts at the Barre (MA) Riding Club and the New England Equestrian Center in Athol. This year, they added the Cheshire Fair in Swanzey, New Hampshire, and the Vermont State Fair in Rutland.

Christine said they have been approached to possibly attend the Cornish Fair in New Hampshire next year.

The competitions are fast-action timed events in which mounted riders with two .45-caliber single-action revolvers attempt to shoot 10 balloon targets while riding through a variety of challenging courses. Riders must make use of both horsemanship and marksmanship. The competitor who rides the fastest with the fewest missed targets wins.

Most events have a dress code that includes a long-sleeve western shirt, five-pocket blue jeans covered by chinks or chaps, western boots, and a cowboy hat or helmet. Some outfits harken back to the late 1800s with shirts that have no collars and high-waisted pants with buttons instead of zippers.

For the Halloween Shoot, Christine said, they are encouraging riders (and horses) to dress up in costumes different from those required by the normal dress code.

“Any horse or mule can be used,” she said. “Some horses take to this sport easily; others do not. It is up to the horse’s temperament and your desire to train him or her to get used to shooting, turning, and going fast.”

She noted that some riders will use earplugs for themselves and their horses.

Safety is a big concern for the organizations sponsoring the fast-growing sport. Live rounds are strictly prohibited at competitions, with the guns using specially loaded blank cartridges instead of lead bullets. The brass cartridge is loaded with black powder much like that used in the 1800s. According to the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association, that load is capable of breaking a balloon from as far away as 15 feet.

The guns used are Old West-style .45-caliber single-action revolvers like those used in the late 1800s. They have to be cocked by drawing the hammer back each time before firing. Double-action revolvers, which can be fired by simply pulling the trigger, also were used in the Old West, but they are not allowed in the CMSA events. Only .45-caliber fixed-sight single-action revolvers such as the Colts designed prior to 1898, or reproductions of them, are allowed. Examples are the Colt Single-Action Army or Bisley Model, Smith & Wesson Schofield, Russian, or Remington Models 1875 & 1890, their reproductions, and Ruger Vaqueros, Bisleys, or Montados.

Riders can buy replicas of the old-time gun belts and holsters off the shelf, or have custom-made gun belts and holsters. Christine said that several custom-makers are listed in “Old West” magazines.

“Safety in horse-training and firearm-handling are emphasized at all times,” according to the CMSA. Clubs such as the Six-Shooters sponsor clinics to assist new shooters in starting their horses and learning the basics of safe firearm-handling. The clinics train the horses to take part in the shooting events without flinching, and give riders a chance to experience a gun’s weight, sound, and recoil. The Six-Shooters also occasionally offer advanced clinics for mounted shooting professionals.

“Range masters are in the arena at all times during competitions to ensure safe riding and shooting is exercised,” Christine said. “New shooters are usually required to demonstrate that they have achieved minimum acceptable levels of riding and shooting skills.”

In addition to training for those competitions, members have an opportunity to learn to rope, sort, and pen cattle; play gymkhana and versatility games; do dressage and stadium-jumping; “and enjoy plain ol’ trail rides.”

“N6S is there to help connect ‘tenderfeet’ with ‘old hands’ to try, find, and share stuff to get you going,” according to the website.

The Six-Shooters initiated a Clean Shooter Incentive in 2016, offering the chance to gain credits toward a free non-championship match. Clean Shooters are those who have no time penalties for missed balloons, dropped guns, dropped barrels or gate cones, or lost hats.

Participants also may enter a Clean Shooter Jackpot which splits the proceeds among those achieving Clean Shooter credentials.

The Northeast Six-Shooters is a family club and shooting events are open to a variety of levels of competition, ranging from novice to professional levels. The CMSA lists a men’s division, a women’s division, and a seniors’ division, each with classes ranging from 1 to 6. There also is a “Wrangler Class” for those 11 and under, with special rules for young riders.

“Kids are allowed to ride … we actually encourage them because they are the future of the sport,” Christine said. “The riders in the Wrangler Class ride the same pattern that the grown-ups do, but they may shoot Hollywood cap pistols, engaging each target as if they were shooting real blanks. They then shoot the real McCoy (.45’s with blanks) at balloons when they reach the age of 12.”

She said the senior class is for people that are 50 and older, but “I personally think 50 is too young for ‘senior.’”

There are more than 50 possible riding patterns for the competitions, with the specific patterns being either pre-determined or drawn from a hat on the day of the competition.

“Each pattern consists of 10 balloons,” Christine said, noting that a competition may have between three and six patterns a day.

“To give you an idea of riding a pattern, let’s say that there are five white balloons and five red balloons. The five white balloons may be grouped together in one place or spread out over the entire arena. The rider shoots all five white balloons first. Then, the rider holsters the first gun while riding to the far end of the arena, draws the second gun, and shoots the five red balloons, which are usually five in a row straight towards the finish line. This is called ‘the Rundown’.”

Riders are scored on both time and accuracy. There is a five-second penalty for each missed balloon, a five-second penalty for dropping a gun, a 10-second penalty for not running the course correctly, and a 60-second penalty for falling off a horse.

“Speed is important; however, accuracy is usually more important than speed,” Christine said. “A typical pattern can be run in 15-35 seconds, so penalties can really hurt.”

Origins

Cowboy Action Shooting, as embodied by the international Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association, originated in Southern California in the 1980s and quickly spread across the country. The sport features mid- to late-1800s handguns, rifles, and shotguns, with participants in appropriately styled western costumes or soldiers’ uniforms competing on the ground and on horseback, sometimes using live rounds.

One aspect of the sport was the requirement that participants select an alias from the Old West, or a name with an “Old West flair” such as a banker shooting under the alias “The Loan Arranger.” Each registered name had to be unique and not sound like another registered name.

The Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association formed in the mid-1990s with an emphasis on equestrian handling skills as well as competitive shooting but forbidding the use of live rounds and limiting the guns to the single-action revolvers. While it draws from both equestrian groups and those involved in Cowboy Action Shooting, it limits the competitions to mounted events. It sanctions events such as the Halloween Shoot, allowing contestants to accumulate points that can be applied to other CMSA competitions.

The Northeast Six-Shooters hold occasional practices that reinforce the training and offer exhibition runs at matches to help riders overcome “game day” excitement.

For more information about the Six-Shooters and the Halloween Shoot, email n6s.club@gmail.com.