January – February, 2010                                                       

From The Editor

2010 is starting out to be a great year for MSA.  At the suggestion of one of the State Club Directors, we had a membership drive for folks who are new to MSA or who were returning after an extended absence.  The drive started in November and ran through December.  We succeeded in getting over 150 members for MSA.  Most of these shooters are from the eastern half of the US.  Thanks to all of the new state clubs and their personnel for their hard work in making this work. 

In 2009, MSA went to a three-division format, lumping the 1’s and 2’s into the Non-Pro Division, 3’s and 4’s into the Semi-Pro Division and 5’s and 6’s into the Pro Division.  While, for the most part, this went over well, there were some brand new shooters who felt intimidated when starting to compete against people who have been shooting for awhile.   Sandy Duke , or of Oklahoma, had been working with some new shooters in her region who felt this way so she started letting them do Time-Only’s for payback. 

After realizing how well this was working for the brand new shooters, we decided to add a Novice Division for 2010.  The Novice shooters   may not have competed in any other Mounted Shooting Organization at any level.  To level the playing field, a competitor cannot have earned more than $200 in any mounted shooting competition or jackpot or won two separate events as a Novice.  Once these milestones have been met, the competitors will be moved up to the Non-Pro Class.  Novice points do not follow the competitor as they move up to the Non-Pro division. 

Shooters competing in the Novice Class will pay the same entry fee as the Non-Pro, Semi-Pro, and Pro Class competitors.  Any “added money” that is offered at the match will not be divided among the Novice competitors.  The payback percentages will be the same as the other classes.  For instance, if the entry fee is $100 with a 50% payback, for each Novice competitor, $50 will be added to their class.  If there are three Novice competitors, the winner will get $150! 

We would like to get your thoughts on the World Championships.  Currently, while you don’t need to have a determined number of points to qualify to attend Worlds, in order to qualify for a Hi-Point divisional saddle, you need to have 500 points prior to Worlds.  What do you think?  Is this a fair number?  For those of you unfamiliar with MSA points, every dollar you win counts as a point. 

If anyone has any thoughts on World Championship venues for future events, drop us a line.  The venue should have a large indoor or covered primary arena with a large backup arena in the event there are over 100 entries.  There should be plenty of stalls and RV hookups.  While we would prefer to keep it centrally located, other areas are up for mention.  The Lazy E has been brought up but I think they only have one main arena. 

THE COMPUTER AGE   by The Editor

With the popularity of the computer age bringing us social networking sites, email, websites, etc., MSA is trying to keep up with this.  2010 brought us to a brand new web site, www.newmsa.com, links on the Western Shooting Horse Community, Facebook, and Twitter (though we are still trying to come to grips with that one!)  A lot of the individual state clubs also have their own websites so check the affiliate’s page for their links.   

 PONDERINGS   By Paula Bausch 

I have been learning a lot about getting the most out of my horses.  Rosie, our now 5 year old mare is an up and coming star. She is extremely athletic and becoming very powerful in her rollbacks and turns. She has had consistent training in footwork and control from Brian and now I am "letting her loose". I have been showing her a new shooting pattern almost every ride and proceeding from trotting to cantering to running her through. The more I run her, the harder she tries to turn and the harder she turns the harder she pushes off to leave the turns. Having a horses that likes their job because they understand what the rider is asking, and know their footwork well enough to be able to perform what the rider is asking is such a great feeling. The more I ask of her— and then let her work and stay out of her way— the harder she tries the next time to do her job. I can't believe this horse is only 5 (actually won't be five till May, but it is a new year). I am excited to shoot off of her this year.

Marx, he is my seasoned horse. There is not much he cannot do, yet we always learn something. I am finding gears in Marx that I have not reached before. His desire to run and work has been greatly increased. He is 16 this year. That is the age I lost my last great shooing horse Narley. I have to say Marx has exceeded my expectations on his abilities and accomplishments. The last few days of riding Marx has taught me about letting a horse run harder and faster to get a better turn. The faster I let Marx run the quicker and more balanced his turns are. The harder he works, the happier he is. I think he gets bored unless I am challenging him. So it makes for a great learning environment.

We are also working on our flying lead changes. Brian helped me understand my seat in the change and I got some great simultaneous and straight lead changes. If I sit in the correct spot with my driving seat he changes like a dressage horse....it is soooo much fun. It always amazes me how much our horses will do for us if we ask them the right way, and how 90% of the time a mistake is made because we messed up, not our horse. They are amazing animals, and we are blessed to have them.

Please refer any future topics, tips, ponderings or whatever to skyridge@acsol.net