Did you know that Arabian horses can compete and excel in Mounted Shooting? Check out this story submitted by Melissa Shaner.
ZEE MICHAELANGELO 'Mick' was the first Arabian horse to enter the CMSA (Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association) Futurity.
"I have to say I am pretty proud of my team. In 9 short months, my trainer Jared Penley took a purebred Arabian with Reined Cow Horse breeding [...] and remolded him into a high caliber shooting horse" says owner Melissa Shaner.
For every run, 'Mick' and Jared finished in the top five, with mere thousandths of a second separating each horse and rider pair. 'Mick' was a top ten finisher for Horse of the Year as well.
Melissa recounts, "Jared overcame one ammo malfunction pulling off a beautiful +11/2 lead change for a double shot, which brought the crowd to it's feet."
During the last run of the futurity, Jared experienced a chain fire that left the team with a 20 second penalty. Even with the penalty, Melissa looks back on the run with pride. "We took a young 4 year old Arabian horse and [...]put Mick against the CMSA's best young horses and their shooters. Now where we landed, we succeeded in doing what no one else had done before."
