Annie Bianco-Ellett Hit the Mark When She Started a Breeding Program by Tom Moates
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≤ horse people Annie Bianco-Ellett hit the mark when she started a breeding program By Tom Moates geared to cowboy mounted shooters. Annie Bianco-Ellett, on El Costa Prom, leads her next-generation up-and-comer Costa Peppy Pistol. 26 MARCH-APRIL 2012 AMERICA’S HORSE TOM MOATES “THE SPORT WAS NEW, AND THERE WEREN’T ANY HORSES BEING that she wouldn’t be the only shooter customizing high-level bred, per se, to do mounted shooting,” says Annie Bianco-Ellett. Quarter Horses to mounted shooting. A problem? Or opportunity? “I realized after that first year that I needed something more Before long, “Outlaw Annie,” a renowned shooter, helped athletic,” she says. “So, enter Costa. A cowboy from Twin Falls, revolutionize the fledgling sport of cowboy mounted shooting Idaho, named Tony Jardine was on this young colt named Costa. by stressing the importance of serious performance horses. And He was at one of the shooting events, and I saw this colt, and it it all began with her stallion and main mount for much of her was just love at first sight. Tony didn’t own him; a Quarter shooting career, El Costa Prom. “Costa’s” get, collectively Horse breeder named Birchie Brown did. Costa worked at the known as the “Costa Colts” or “Costa Kids,” are recognized feedlot during the week, and on weekends, he got to shoot and now as some of the winningest horses in the sport. pick up at rodeos. Birchie wouldn’t sell him. I borrowed him ... In cowboy mounted shooting, participants ride one of 50 and finally, after a couple of years of just basically leasing him, patterns against the clock while using two pistols to hit 10 Birchie broke down and sold him to me. I bought him when he balloons along the course. Marksmanship, of course, is an was 10 years old. I’ve owned him for 14 years. He’s basically essential element, but Annie saw that mounted shooting is, retired now” at age 24, although Annie has just brought him at its heart, a timed equestrian event. out of retirement to compete in CMSA’s new shotgun class. When the sport was getting off the ground, competitors were Annie saw a strong demand for horses that people could mainly shooting enthusiasts and not equestrians, Annie says. purchase and begin shooting off of right away. If they were Shooters mounted themselves on whatever horses they could top-level performance horses, that was even better for the sport. find and acclimate to gunfire, often with less than spectacular “That’s where my breeding program came into play,” she says. Tresults. It was about 15 years ago, very early in the sport’s “Being young and gung-ho, I didn’t realize the time it took to organization, that Annie entered the mounting shooting arena. get a breeding program going. I probably was very much ahead “I was working for Colt Firearms, helping them with some of my time because obviously, by the time you get those colts marketing, and then I was also doing ads modeling for them out there, you’re looking at a five-year commitment. So that’s – I was their ‘revolver girl,’ ” Annie remembers. “They sent when I developed the whole method to my madness: I’ll do a MR. QUIGLEY PHOTOGRAPHY TOM TOM MOATES JOHN BECKETT MR. QUIGLEY PHOTOGRAPHY Annie rides Costas Peppy Maveric The “outlaw” herself Annie roping on El Costa Prom Natalie Johnson on the “Costa Kid” Millies Prom Date me to an event in California called End of Trail, and it was World champion Jessica through the Single Action Shooting Society. I saw these Kuka and her “Costa Kid,” people shooting off of horses, and I was mesmerized. … I Costas Sweet Prince. said, ‘This is my calling!’ ” Annie has won multiple Cowboy Mounted Shooting Asso- ciation World Champion Cowgirl titles, several SASS overall world championship titles and was the first woman to win an overall world championship (including both men and women) in cowboy mounted shooting. In 2007, Annie’s contribution to the sport, both inside and outside the arena, was honored when she was inducted into the CMSA Hall of Fame, an award won in part because of her achievements bringing mainstream sponsors like Wrangler to mounted shooting. “Historically, I was the first woman to beat the guys, so that was kind of fun!” Annie says. “I was one of the first people to come in with a really nice, well-trained, well-bred horse. I had this Mr Conclusion gelding that was a halter horse/pleasure horse that I turned into a rope horse, then I turned him into a shooting horse. And that’s how it all started. In this sport, if you don’t have a broke horse, forget it.” From the beginning, the results when she showed up and competed on her pedigreed American Quarter Horse were immediate and lethal to the competition. From the equestrian angle, it seemed she’d brought artillery to a gun fight. She and her gelding stood out in the crowd, she says. Still, it didn’t take long for the experienced cowgirl to know there was room in her game for even more horsepower. And she also realized COURTESY OF THE KUKA FAMILY AMERICA’S HORSE MARCH-APRIL 2012 27 Livestock Show. The blow was severe, and Annie considered retiring right then. Instead, she brought Costa out of retirement, competed in Houston and finished in third place. “My dream still is to win something big, personally, on one Top youth shooter Zane Chunn of (Costa’s) get,” Annie says, “and I was almost there on his rides Little Costa Latte. 9-year-old who died (last) year. But I’ve got this 6-year-old now, Costa Peppy Pistol, and he is out of a reined cow horse mare that I got from Jim Paul. He’s bred pretty nice, and he has got a really good mind. Honestly, of all my horses, he has been the easiest to shoot off of. He does not care about the gunfire. I used him this summer on a TV show (on CMT) called ‘Made.’ ‘Pistol’ was the star on ‘Made!’ ” Annie, incidentally, has used her modeling and marketing background to take cowboy mounted shooting mainstream. She has been featured on other CMT shows, including “Cowboy U” and “America’s Top Cowboy.” The AQHA life member also has MR. QUIGLEY PHOTOGRAPHY produced charity events including Shoot for the Troops (See the November 2010 issue of America’s Horse), and she has been a regular participant in the Wrangler National Patriot Tour, which takes western lifestyle proponents to meet the troops overseas. Annie and her family live in Cave Creek, Arizona. CMSA began in the region, and that home base was chosen because Annie wanted to be close to the sport she loves. Costa’s stall breeding program; I’ll keep it small, but I’m going to keep is just feet away from her back door, and the practice arena these colts; I’m going to train these colts; and I will not sell them until they’re 4-year-olds, which was a big commitment. And when I did sell some as youngsters, they were to people who had the means to grow them up and train them right. “I started off with three mares,” Annie says. “I was pretty excited because once we did start breeding, CMSA agreed to do a stallion incentive fund program. We’d have our incentive fund futurities at the World every year. The Costa Colts won every year, three years in a row. I take it really seriously. We’d “Costa” is still running strong at age start working those horses in January, and we’d show them in 24 and is helping Annie compete in the fall. It’s a lot of time, and I’m basically a one-man show. CMSA’s new shotgun class. “I was riding Costa the whole time, and that’s when he was just rocking the house. So people were in awe of him. When I started breeding him and taking outside mares … wow! It was like a niche. You have to put a resume with a stud so that people want to breed to him or purchase one of his colts, and that’s what I did. After winning a couple of world championships, a couple of national championships, a couple of the big-money pro shoots on him, he ended up becoming a celebrity in the shooting sport … and still is! “Costa Colts are kind of late bloomers, and I’ll be the first to say that,” Annie says. “They kind of blossom their 5-year- old years. Hickorys Dry Chex (out of Annies Pepper by Dry Spec A Pepper), was Tony Jardine’s colt, and he ended up winning a world (championship). He kind of helped Costa get the program going.” Other successful get include Costas Dunitred, a 9-year-old owned by Elaine Hill of Palm Springs, California; Costas Sweet Prince, owned by Jessica Kuka of Maple Plain, Minnesota, who won a world championship in 2011; and Millies Prom Date, owned by Natalie Johnson of Phoenix. (Annie says, “She has won a ton on that mare and was second overall this year at our World.”) Little Costa Latte, owned by the Chunn family of Fort Smith, Arkansas, is another one moving up the ranks, ridden by 14-year-old Zane Chunn, CMSA’s top youth shooter. Even with all of Annie’s success and optimism, she has also suffered setbacks.