Faye Leerssen, a 14-year-old freshman from Scottsdale’s Desert Mountain High School, took the crown as Ladies Champion at the 2006 Mounted Shooters of America World Championships. Royce Anderson, of Incline NV, the seasoned veteran of many Champion titles, was Overall Men’s Champion.
Youth and experience won the day at the Mohave Crossing Arena in Bullhead AZ. Leerssen and her Paint horse “Chief” rode hard and clean to take her to the top of the sport. What’s most remarkable is that Chief required extensive surgery for an intestinal blockage in August of 2005, an operation many horses don’t survive. Not only did he survive, but with Faye’s gentle loving attention, he has returned to his fully competitive and now world champion form.
Scottsdale riding instructor Mariette Kort comments of her student, “Faye has gained so much self confidence in this sport. She is totally dedicated and has worked hard to achieve her goal.” Kort has been training Leerssen since the age of 6. She started learning the sport of mounted shooting when she was about 9-years-old.
The sport of mounted shooting combines top equestrian skills of riding with lead changes, rating a horse to the speed needed, making tight turns around barrels, and being able to strategize the best route within a course’s requirements based the horses ability; all of this while shooting a single action six gun loaded with a special black powder blank that breaks a balloon at about 10 to 15 feet. Only 5 chambers in the gun are loaded and competitors are required to shoot the first five targets in a pattern, change guns to engage the second five targets. This is an art in itself. Try holstering a gun at a full gallop and pulling another gun as you lead your horse around a barrel. It’s tougher than it looks and those balloons come up fast as you gallop the rundown towards the timer. It requires a combination of top equestrian skill and precision shooting. Top competitors can turn in times of 11 seconds!
To win a World Championship title requires years of experience and skill. And it requires a really fast and well-trained horse. “Faye is the only one to ever ride Chief. She has done all of the training herself,” says Kort. This is unusual as many top competitors often send their horses to the experts for fine-tuning. “Everyday after school and all weekend long Faye is out riding and working with Chief.”
Faye says, ”From the first time I rode Chief at Festival of the West almost 4-years-ago, I knew he was special. When we got him everyone was worried that he was too young and that I was too young to handle him. TC (MSA President TC Thorstenson) said if I could handle my crazy pony, I could handle anything.”
“Chief has been one of the most important things in my life,” comments the new World Champion. “I ride almost every day. My room is covered with pictures of Chief, my school notebook has pictures of Chief, everything I do centers around him,”
Leslie and Keith Leerssen, Scottsdale business owners, are all smiles when it comes to their daughter’s accomplishments. Bringing horses into their daughter’s life has been a blessing that has turned a shy girl into a strong and confident young woman.
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