Mounted Thunder Competes at Prowers County Fairground

Axel Thurner Directing Competition at the Sand and Safe Fairgrounds

Friday’s storm in Prowers County may have dissuaded some participants from coming to Lamar for the Prairie War competition, according to event organizer, Axel Thurner, but sufficient numbers of enthusiasts were on hand to make it a contest.  About 45 competitors had registered to take part in the shooting/riding skill events.

Rider Takes a Shot While Rounding a Corner in His Event

Colorado Mounted Thunder, headquartered in Pueblo, came to Lamar for the first time, for a cowboy and cowgirl mounted shooting event.  The competition was held at the Prowers County Fairgrounds Arena on Saturday and Sunday, April 28 and 29.  

Shotguns, pistols and rifles are used for the competition, shooting at balloon targets while guiding their mounts though a slalom course in the arena.  Thurner said Sunday’s competition would be limited to just pistols.  Linn and Cora Strickland, a husband/wife team from Avondale were rated as Level 4 in the senior group.  Linn Strickland said he’d been shooting for eleven years and made the Senior 4 category in the past year. 

He explained the playing field was level as far as the ammunition was concerned, showing a .45 caliber blank for his Colt pistol.  “All we use for this is just black powder, but sometimes the round is hot enough that you can see sparking embers on the ground once you hit your target,” he said.   

Thurner was performing double-duty over the weekend, as the organizer of the event, supervising the scheduled rounds while saddled on his horse in the arena and then taking his turn on the course.  “My mind is divided among several things right now, and I’m seeing that in my scoring, but I’m glad we had the turnout we did,” he added.

By Russ Baldwin