On April 8th I took off in my little white Prius on a little road trip to Tama, Ia to meet with other photographers shooting with model Jacee and her two horses. We started shooting at 3pm and ended around 6ish. This was such a fun styled session; Jessica, an owner of the photographer at Ace High Photography put on. Thank you, Jessica, for hosting an affordable session for photographers! I had never heard of mounted shooting until scrolling through Facebook when I ran into Jessica's post on her photography page about "mounted shooting styled shoot." So, of course, I had to research on Google, " What is mounted shooting, and how does it work." This is what I found. So if you have no freaking idea what mounted shooting is, I highly recommend you to click on the AQHA blog link here: American Quarter Horse Association to read all about it! After reading the article, please join me this blog post will make more sense to you.
Lemme introduce you to the BEST mounted shooting team, Jacee, alongside her, a seventeen-year-old mare "pistol" and her second horse "shiner," an 8-year-old mare! Jacee has been riding horses since she was a little girl; her parents bought her first horse when she was two. She ran barrels, pole bending, trick riding, drill team, and helped out on her granddad's ranch. But, Jacee says, "Nothing has come close to the rush of mounted shooting. I joke that it is barrel racing and pole bending while shooting guns."
Jacce got into shooting because of a clinic she thought would be suitable for her horses to be exposed to. Taylor Johnson was holding the clinic and now has become one of the people she looks up to most in this sport and a dear friend of hers. The best part about this sport is that Jacee says, "I showed up to my first competition with myself and my horse. The other competitors loaned me guns, holsters, and everything I needed to get started. There are only so many other equine sports that will do that. You won't find better people than those around a mounted shooting arena."
To this day, Jacee is off on her mounted shooting adventures with her two horses, Pistol and Shiner. Pistol, her seventeen-year-old mare, traded horses with a lady whose barrels raced on her, and when it came to Jacee, she wanted to change. Gun was fourteen years old when she first got her. Jacee initially planned to sell her as a youth play day horse because she was small but loved to run. Jacee ran into an animal communicator on a whim, and the lady said, "Pistol would be good on mounted shooting." At the time, she was shooting off a paint mare who was not enjoying the sport. Pistol, on the other hand, was taking it very well. Jacee says, "I owe it all to Pistol. She gives her every run and loves her job. I always say God gave her the heart; he just forgot the legs to go with it! But for her being as small as she is, she has no issues keeping up with some of the top-ranked horses in the region. Shiner, her other mare, has put Jaycee through some rough emotions. We can call this one the "troublemaker." Jacee sent her to a barrel trainer and sliced her neck open to start it off. Then summer of 2022, Jaccee was trying to get Shiner started in the mounted shooting as she got spooked and a tree limb went right through her groin. Jacee thought she would have to put her down as she could not put any weight on her hind end without collapsing. Fortunately, by God's grace, Shiner healed beautifully from both injuries. Since then she has carried Jacee to a level four shooter in their first official year as a main match horse. Shiner is athletic and smart, but when you look into those eyes, you see a baby staring back at you. She is the sweetest and most innocent eyes that just want to please. Jacee, laughing, says, " It's funny, though; she has no issues with me shooting guns off her back but is terrified of a trash can outside of an arena." Shiner is very observant and curious, just like most.
Jacee recalls, " My favorite memory would have to be last May at the Travis Auto & Truck Shoot in Creston, Ia. I was competing in the shotgun class against eighteen other shooters. As a Ladies Level 3, I was competing against men who had been in the sport for a long time. I told my friend Carla how I love running shotguns. After all, I don't stress out as much because I know I can't win against all these men. So stage one, I go and make a smooth, fast, clean run. Stage two is something, but I hear Taylor Johnson cheering. Someone I was competing against and a Men's Level five was probably cheering the loudest, and I thought he was just excited that I had two clean stages on Pistol. But that wasn't the case; he knew after my first run that if I hit all of my balloons, I would win the Shotgun Championship for that event. So I became the First Lady in Iowa CMSA history to win a long gun buckle and then became Iowa's High Point Shotgun Winner."
Her two horses, truck, trailer, guns, and fashionable skirts mostly homemade by her Grandmother, Joyce Dyer is now hitting every mounted shooting event possible. Jacee says, "Nothing makes my grandmother smile more when I wear her skirts. She is seriously the most beautiful woman inside and out." Jacee is geared up and out and about living her best life. Be sure to check out her 2023 mounted shooting schedule below.
It's always great meeting passionate, caring, god-loving, ambitious women. I suggest that anyone do the "styled sessions. "If you are a newbie, wanna be a photographer, or simply out to make new friends" I can't recommend this enough!
I NOW HAVE A NEW FRIEND! Let me be the testimony for "styled sessions." I now have a new friend, Jaccee a long with the other photographers who attended the session! With her love for mounted shooing, her caring heart like her grandmother, and her faith to push through even during the hard times, this ambitious woman is here to follow her calling, and nothing will slow her down! Life is too short to not surround yourself with these kinda people.
Cheers to new friends and best of luck chicka on your Mounted adventures!
