It’s not hard to be a Cowboy.

First, get some Colt .45 caliber six shooters. Then, tie a bandanna around your head to keep the sweat from hitting your eyes, cover yourself in leather and go out with boots on. Soon, you just might think you’re the best shot in Tombstone.

That is until you see it done on a horse at full gallop, whipping around hairpin corners with the reins held by a woman armed to the teeth.

Terri Evans, 53, is a rider who enjoys competing in mounted shooting tournaments, many of which are hosted in her back yard.

Evans and her husband Doug, 59, are proud owners of the Tombstone Livery Stable just north of Tombstone, near the Highway 82 and 80 junctions.

The 40-acre property is a designated cowboy action shooting facility that is primarily done with cowboy-style revolvers, lever-action rifles and shotguns from the ground or on stands, Terri Evans said.

“Our goal is to make Tombstone the shooting capital of the world,” said Doug Evans. “Our mission is in preserving our western heritage.”

The Tombstone Livery Stable, 919 W. Highway 82, also has other services like RV hook-ups, horse boarding and chuck wagon dinners, Terri Evans said.

In 2008 the couple accepted the Wooly Award for the best-mounted match of the year from the Single Action Shooting Society, Terri Evans said.

The Wooly Award is given out at the end of the year at the society’s annual convention. The name for the award is derived from the wool chaps that are worn by the cartoon cowboy on the society’s logo are.

Terri and her husband both compete in mounted shooting events and are both ranked senior level four in the SASS and Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association. The highest you can achieve in the CMSA is a level six. To improve one’s ranking, a certain amount of wins in each event are required, Doug Evans said.

“I think that mounted shooting is the hardest equestrian sport there is.” Terri Evans said.

Terri Evans took an overall win in a tournament in Sonoita where she won in the lady’s category and beat all the 27 other competitors, she said.

“Some of the young guns are fast but not on a horse,” she added. “Let’s see them on a horse.”

In 2001, the couple bought the property where the Livery Stable is now located. The previous owners used the property to teach kids how to ride for the rodeo, but there were never any structures on the property, Terri Evans said.

Previously, the Evans’ pulled sleds with Clydesdale horses for guests at the Big Mountain Ski Resort in Whitefish, MT. They ran that business for seven years and then sold it to move west.

“We came from Montana to get out of the snow.” Terri Evans said. “We thought Tombstone would be good place for our next business.”

After buying the property and selling their ranch in Montana they moved out to Tombstone. They slept in a horse trailer for a few nights before they could get a small shack-like structure built. The property then evolved as they set up the Livery Stable boarding, an arena and a clubhouse with a kitchen and shower and restroom facilities, Terri Evans said.

A friend named Geno D’Ambrose was living with them for their first year in Tombstone while his home next door to the Livery Stable was being built. Ambrose was the one responsible for introducing the Evans’ to mounted shooting, Terri Evans said.

The couple got involved with SASS and soon began hosting both types of shooting matches from the ground and with horses.

The Evans’ built a safe place for a shooting range and brought in bulldozers to make a safety berm. SASS then brought in all the targets and props used in the tournaments. Shooting practices take place on a weekly basis, Terri Evans said.

“The amount of brass from the shooting is nightmarish.” Terri Evans said. “We had the Boy Scouts come out for a while to help with cleaning up the range brass but even they stopped coming.”

The Livery Stable supports four clubs in Arizona. Three of them are ground action shooting clubs and the other is a mounted shooting club. The Evans’ began doing chuck wagon dinners and have a full kitchen to prepare meals for shooting and other special events, like the Wyatt Earp Vendetta Ride conducted by Steve Shaw, Terri Evans said.

“We kind of just fell into the private parties and dinners here and there,” Terri Evans said. “The dinners kind of go along with the activities. It’s hard for all the people to go into town to eat at once.”