Mounted shooter aims for the top

Lisa Dicamillo of Colorado halters her mare, Sashay. Sashay is double-registered as a Tennessee Walking Horse and a Spotted Saddle Horse, but the only time she spends in a ring is when Lisa is shooting targets while riding her. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

A Colorado lawman, complete with a cowboy hat and a real gun, swaggers into the Champions Arena on a spotted horse. Faster'n you can say "John Wayne rules," she's galloped across the dirt and fired that gun, hitting every target with a loud bang.

She?

Yep, pardner, she. "She" is Lisa Dicamillo, a 20-year veteran police officer in Grand Junction and Fruita, Colo. "She" is also one of the top -- if not the top -- Ladies Cowboy Shooters in the country.

"Adrenaline junkie," she laughs. "Guns and horses, you can't beat it."

Mounted shooting is a fast-growing sport -- not just in the wild west, but across the country. Competitors have to shoot targets (balloons) from the back of a galloping horse. The riders use two single action pistols with five blanks in each one -- giving them just 10 chances to shoot the 10 balloons as fast as they can.

When she isn't uphold ithe law in Colorado or competing at mounted shooting events, Lisa is demontrating her favorite hobby for new audiences -- such as the onlookers at the Champions arena Wednesday.

"There were a lot of deputies there," she said. "They donated money for my next competition."

Althoug Lisa grew up in a ranch in Colorado with quarter horses surrounding her, that's not what she uses when she's riding and shooting, which explains why she was asked to demonstate her sport at the Celebation this year.

"I breed and train Tennesee walking horses," she said. "I've been a member of TWHBEA since 1995."

In fact, she is Colorado's representative on the TWHBEA board, which is where the idea of her demonstration was born.

"We were at a board meeting and I told them I'd rather face a man with a gun than enter a show ring," she said, laughing, adding that she got some strange looks from her fellow board members. "Then I told them what I do."

The TWHBEA board jumped on the chance to showcase yet another aspect of the breed's versatility. Not only does Lisa's mare, Sashay, have to weave in and out of obstacles as a quarter horse does, she's learning other skills formerly thought to be the sole domain of those stocky Western horses.

Do her cowboy pals make fun of her for riding a Tennessee walking horse when she competes?

"Not after I win, they don't," said Lisa.

And win, she does. So far, Lisa -- with the help of Sashay and her .45 Rugers -- has won state, regional and national competitions. If you didn't get a chance to see her at the Celebration, you can catch her and many other mounted shooters at the Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro Saturday and Sunday. The shooting starts at 9 a.m., which leaves plenty of time to get back for the finale of the Celebration, where you can see even more Tennessee walkers doing what they do best -- a little of everything.