Brown wins division both days at Border Wars, earns Level 3

two different divisions in the Border Wars mounted shooting contest January 22-23 in Blythe and won them both.

Brown’s Level 2 win January 22 gave her enough Level 2 wins in Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association sanctioned events to move her up to Level 3, and she also won her first Level 3 contest. Her combined times placed her second among women in all divisions to give her ladies’ reserve overall champion honors.

“It was a nice way to move up,” Brown said.

The Border Wars competition is co-hosted by the California and Arizona organizations. The January 22 competition was hosted by the California chapter while Arizona hosted the January 23 event. Each event consisted of four rounds of ten balloons each, and while the two days constituted separate competitions the overall champions were based on the combined times for the two events.

“It was a pretty big competition, and there were a lot of good riders there,” Brown remarked.

Brown’s previous competition was the CMSA world championships November 25-28 in Scottsdale, AZ. She noted that Border Wars was less formal than the world championships. “It’s just a little smaller atmosphere,” she said.

In the January 22 event Brown hit all 40 of her shots. That made her perfect for each of her past four competitions, totaling 20 rounds and 200 balloons over those four events.

That streak would come to an end the following day when she missed a balloon in her Level 3 debut. “Now I’ve got to start over, but it was my first competition since the worlds, so Bud and I have been on semi-vacation,” she remarked.

Bud is a thoroughbred/quarter horse mix acquired by the Brown family in March 2004. Since the world championships in November, Bud’s activities also include riding in the Tournament of Roses Parade with Brown’s father, Jerry.

Three Level 2 wins with a sufficient number of competitors advance a shooter to Level 3. “It’s just taking it to a slightly different level,” Brown noted. “When you get to Level 3 you’ve got to start opening it up and really pushing a little harder.”

At the first two levels Brown could focus more on balancing speed with the timing needed for accuracy, but at Level 3 there is more focus on speed, so Brown will be making the timing adjustments. “I’ve been very comfortable certain speeds,” she said. “I’m trying to go a little faster, and my accuracy’s changing.”

Brown noted that the reorganization of her coordination between speed and timing will require an adjustment period. She didn’t expect to win her first Level 3 competition. “It was a nice surprise,” she remarked.

Brown has won Ladies Overall championships in previous competitions, but she was still pleased to win the reserve overall championship at Border Wars. “It’s always an honor,” she said.

The reserve overall honors paired her against the Level 4 and Level 5 competitors. “There were quite a few riders there,” she explained. “I was still going pretty fast, even with my missed balloon.”