Photo by J&D Creative Photography
Her petticoat and blue dress flap in a rush of air surging past her fast-moving Thoroughbred, and she draws her weapon.
Galloping up to the bouncing target, she reaches for the gun strapped around her gown.
Left hand holding the reins, her right hand arching up at an angle from her waist, and with no time to spare, she aims, squeezes the trigger, and gallops on.
The sound of an exploding balloon competes with the short burst of gunfire, and as she and ex-racehorse Listen To Us move to their next target, the horse cocks an ear back as they both move forward. The subtle flick being is the only acknowledgement of the noise.
For owner and rider Danielle Ambrecht, the cowboy-mounted shooting exercises she performs with her ex-racehorse she calls Levi, is a thrill.
“It’s just a total rush,” she says. “I’ve tried just about every other form of riding, but nothing compares to the feeling of riding as fast as you can on your horse, and shooting targets.”
The 26-year-old may have a special knack for some aspects of the competition, given that she is also a police officer in the New York area.
Race name: Listen To Us
Show Name: 501 Blues
Barn name: Levi
Sire: Two Punch
Dam: Need I Say More
Foal date: 2002
(To see more cowboy-mounted shooting photos, visit J&D Creative Photography).
But long before she wore a badge, she was just a horse-loving kid like so many others, growing up on Long Island and taking weekly lessons. She got her first horse when she was 16, an Appendix named Lennox who she still owns, but has retired.
She wasn’t actively seeking a racehorse or to sign up for cowboy competitions when she started idly looking at Internet horse listings in 2008.
But when she came across the gray gelding, she made her decision as quickly as she lines up a target and fires off a round. In a flash, she said, “He’s mine.”
Before purchase, in South Carolina
“I saw his picture and I felt I knew in that instant that I would buy him,” Ambrecht says. “I know it sounds a little corny.”
Levi retired from racing to Rivendale Farm in South Carolina after competing in his last race at Monmouth Park on May 12, 2007. She spotted his picture, noticed his “kind eye,” and quickly had her credit card ready to make the purchase without even meeting him first.
So positive was her experience with the farm, which offered to take the horse back if he didn’t work out, that she bought him on the spot. He arrived late one evening in February 2008, and the fun soon began.
“I rode him the next day. I wanted to see what I had bought,” she says. “His head and tail were high in the air and he bucked with me around the ring. But even with the bucking, my trainer, who was with me at the time, just loved him.”
After a few days, he settled in and has been, by far, the most evenly tempered and willing horse she has ridden. “The things that even a seasoned horse can’t deal with don’t faze him at all.”
Early on, he proved just how calm he could be: “We were out on a trial ride when a plastic bag blew out of a tree and across the path. Nothing rattles him.”
So when a friend at her barn decided to introduce cowboy-mounted shooting competitions, creating Island Long Riders, she figured Levi was equal to the task.
What a winner!
Wearing costumes evoking the cowboy era, riders carry two 45-revolvers strapped in holsters, and compete against the clock and each other to shoot 10 balloon targets. Guns are loaded with five rounds of black-power blanks.
“The atmosphere is so much fun, and Levi is just awesome,” she says. “He’ll do anything I ask, he’ll heard cows like a dog, he does the cowboy-mounted shootings—he’s pretty amazing.”
And she is too. Part cop, part Annie Oakley, part Thoroughbred horse rescuer. Pretty amazing.
This is so awesome to read! My goal is to do cowboy mounted shooting with my OTTB. I was searching specifically for TBs doing mounted shooting, but I’m glad I found this site. I’m a huge advocate of TBs. They are so willing and have so much heart.
You found one! You found a Thoroughbred doing mounted shooting! I’m so excited. What a cool, cool discipline.
LOL, Natalie. I saw you did an earlier story on one, and now I’m hearing more stories too. The thing that’s so neat about this to me is not that Thoroughbreds are participating, although that’s very cool too. But, I’m just impressed with the idea of the sport. Talk about a million different moving parts! It’s hard enough to ride, thinking about where the feet are, where YOUR feet (heels) are, hands, everyone around you, etc., etc., but to add targets and guns –wow!
I love that this story is similar to mine with Zeus – getting a horse on the spot and having it work out beautifully. I love it when that happens. People who take a chance on a horse they have a feeling about are my kind of people!
And, it’s so darn cool that she rides and shoots – that is a talent few possess I think. Kudos to Danielle and Levi!
KC,
I KNOW. It did remind me of your horse-buying luck with Zeus. It’s that way with so much in life, isn’t it? At some point you just have to take a chance.
That looks SO, SO fun! I want to try it! It’s funny, my own horse is a draft cross, but I think I’d be much safer shooting guns off of my current CANTER project, haha! I need to learn to shoot. I think mounted shooting just got put in my Bucket List.
Oh Kelly,
If you and a CANTER horse wind up putting this on a bucket list, please, please let me know! And just think of the video you could get for the Rosy blog!!
As close as I ever got to owning a horse, before I started high school, was to dream that my dad drove up in his truck with a Palomino for me. Then I rode fast across the plains. Pretty wild dream, since I never did learn how to ride. So Jessica has to make up for a lot of us. (Jessica’s mom)
I love that dream, Joy. Even if you never personally owned the horse you wanted, I’m sure the hope of it was pretty good too. I think I can see where Jess got her desire to own Bar, a little anyway. 🙂
I love this!!
To all those who say ex-racehorses can’t be retrained, I nominate this as a fine example of what they can do.
Cheers!!!
Hi Jessica,
I can’t believe you haven’t tried this with Bar. 🙂
But, I KNOW what you mean. In order to desensitize Levi, she merely fired two rounds from a starter pistol near enough that he could hear it, and he was fine with it. Obviously she got a gem, and clearly I hear a lot about the successes, but I’m still thinking there’s a lot more good Thoroughbreds out there than I ever realized before I started this site.
Fun story! When I was a little girl, many years ago, I always wanted to be Annie Oakley. It is so great to see that little girls still dream about and love horses. Sometimes their dreams come true. Congratulations, Danielle and Levi!
Hi Louise,
Lets here it for Annie Oakley!!
Meantime, I hope you’re dealing alright with all the snow. I”m still not clear if we’re getting the full force of the ice/snow today, or if it’s tapering off. I wouldn’t mind if it’d fizzle. 🙂