Riders Aim at Old West in Shootout

‘We’re in our own little world. It’s riding and shooting,

and it’s exciting. . . . Little children dream of doing that.’

--Jerry Tarantino, vice president, California Desperados Mounted Shooters Club

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Orange groves, oak trees and a 13-acre Moorpark horse ranch provided the stage Sunday.

A pack of dedicated horse lovers, gun buffs and Old West history fans summoned the ghosts.

The combination brought to life the FireStar Shootout, a precision horseback riding and shooting contest, featuring members of the California Desperados Mounted Shooters Club.

At first glance, it was reminiscent of the rodeo that recently closed Conejo Valley Days: men and women in cowboy gear, riding horses around a dirt ring, competing against each other and the clock.

But for the equestrians who traveled from Gilroy, Tehachapi and the far reaches of the California desert to compete, it was much more than that.

It was about keeping alive the memory of the Old West--a time and place where life was simpler, said club Vice President Jerry Tarantino.

“We can’t let that die,” said Tarantino of Mira Loma, a designer of antique-style luggage. “We’re in our own little world. It’s riding and shooting, and it’s exciting. . . . Little children dream of doing that.”

The contest held at the FireStar Ranch off Waters Road was a qualifying event in a yearlong circuit that will end in December at the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Assn. national championships in Scottsdale, Ariz.

With two Colt .45s at the hip as they rode, contestants raced through the course shooting out 10 red-and-white balloons.

They fired blanks made of black powder and ground walnut shells, capable of spraying up to 15 feet.

Contestants, many in large motor homes with horse trailers in tow, began arriving for the two-day contest Friday night. They built campfires, sang cowboy songs and tapped new shoes into the hooves of their horses.

The contest is also about having the right to strap on steel-plated revolvers, leaders said.

“We look at the firearms as part of our outfits,” said club President Joe Whiteley of Simi Valley, an engineer at Rocketdyne.

“We’re not gun nuts,” he said. “We’re not into hunting animals or human targets. We shoot balloons.”

Each of the 40 contestants in the weekend events represented a figure from the Old West. Tarantino, with his black flat hat, long flowing braids, mustache and ice-blue eyes, portrayed Wild Bill Hickok, the legendary frontier lawman with the lethal aim.

Others resembled Annie Oakley and Gen. George Custer.

One contestant wore the battle dress uniform of a Confederate soldier circa 1863.

Fernando Vazquez of Tehachapi chose to honor his past.

A state parole board commissioner, he has researched a Mexican heritage that includes ancestors who farmed parts of Southern California long before statehood.

“My grandfather used to tell me that the West wasn’t wild until the [settlers] got here,” Vazquez said.

He came dressed in the period Mexican-style sombrero and pants of 19th century California bandit Tiburcio Vazquez.

Flawless as he shot his way through the course, Vazquez elicited loud cheers as he fired at balloons, pulled up the reins on his horse, Tizoc, and raced for the finish line.