Mounted Shooters Show At The Weld County Fair

   Know what's really cool about the Weld County Fair? It's free and fun for the entire family. Even the parking is free, which, in this day and age of monetized everything, is exceptional. 

   The fair is held at Island Grove regional park in Greeley, and it's well worth the drive. There is a lot going on now that the fair is in full swing and the midway is up and runnin'.

   On the first day of the fair there were not a lot of people in attendance, which was most likely due to the fact that not a lot was going on. There was the dog show, which I already covered, and there was the Mounted Shooters show, which featured men and women on horseback shooting at balloons on posts.

                      Ten post with ten balloons as targets...it's a speed and accuracy challenge 

   You read that right. Men and women on galloping horses, shooting guns, at balloons.

   It was kinda exciting to watch.

   Now, before anyone gets in a lather over the use of live rounds in an open air competition in which the public is invited to watch (which they sadly didn't, as can been seen in the pics), allow me to explain that the rounds used by the competitors are black powder blank .45 Long Colt shells with military crimped ends - these rounds generate enough gas and powder to break a target like an inflated balloon, but they wouldn't penetrate a T-shirt at six feet.

   Basically, Hollywood blanks, but without the Rust effects.

   Also, the balloons had it comin'.