Jerry Brown takes overall victories in consecutive mounted shoots

Rainbow’s Jerry Brown won his first-ever mounted shooting match overall championship July 21 in Norco and followed that distinction with the top overall honors July 28 in Winchester.

The Ghosttown Riders competition July 21 was sanctioned by the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association and the July 28 Roy Rogers Rangers competition was sanctioned by the Single-Action Shooting Society. Brown also won the Men’s Level 2 division as well as the overall competition in both events.

Brown has been involved in mounted shooting for six years but did not earn his first overall win until July 21. “It was a lot of fun for me because I had never won,” he said.

“I was really surprised,” Brown said. “I never really expected to win.”

Brown’s daughter Lori also competes in mounted shooting events, and Lori has won several overall championships at matches. “Beating Lori is really very hard. She has to have a bad day,” Jerry said.

Lori missed balloons, resulting in five-second penalties, both at Norco and at Winchester. “Otherwise she would have won,” Jerry said.

Lori rode Ben at Norco and Winchester. At Norco Ben received the performance horse award given for the top time in the absence of penalties. At Winchester Jerry Jorden had the top time without penalties, Jerry was second, and Lori was third.

Jerry rode Bud for both his Norco and Winchester runs. “I’ve also been going faster. I get a lot of coaching from Lori and [my wife] Colleen,” Jerry said.

Colleen doesn’t compete in mounted shooting but videotapes her husband and daughter. The Browns watch the films afterward, partly for enjoyment and partly for review.

The Ghosttown Riders and Roy Rogers Rangers runs consisted mostly of local shooters. “It’s the local guys I compete against all the time,” Jerry said.

The results were different at Norco. “Many times they win, but I actually rode within a second of Lori’s times,” Jerry said. “I didn’t miss any balloons, and they did.”

Jerry uses a Cimarron .45, which is a replica of a Colt. His Level 2 win at the Roy Rogers Rangers meet was his third Level 2 win in SASS-sanctioned competition, moving him up to Level 3 for future SASS shoots.