Nov. 12, 2002

Photos and Graphics Click for larger images

BAY CITY – Drill teams are known for keeping in step, working well together and looking good.

Down in Bay City is a drill team that keeps in step, works well together and looks good – and does all that while on horseback.

The 18-member Thundering Hooves, along with its younger counterpart, Texas Thunder, have been a presence in Matagorda County for more than a decade, said Chris Schneider, Texas Cooperative Extension agricultural and 4-H agent in Matagorda County.

"The Matagorda County 4-H Mounted Drill Team was established in April 1990 under the leadership of John Miller," Schneider said. "They began performing and competing with one team of approximately 20 members. Now they have evolved into two teams with approximately 40 members."

All those years of hard work have produced many awards and recognitions for the team, he said. "They were the specialty act for the Texas Circuit PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) Show in Jackson County in 1994 and have performed at the George Ranch, the Richmond State School and for the president of Indonesia in Humble in 2000."

They have also won at the San Antonio Livestock Show in 1995, earned the state title at the State 4-H Horse Show in 1996 and 2002, and won the Matagorda County Fair and Livestock Show from 1994-2000 and again in 2002. "This project requires a year-round effort and a great deal of cooperation between the leaders and the participants," Schneider said. "We are very proud of the fact that they represent Matagorda County in local, regional and statewide events."

The project is a year-round effort, which means so is practice. The teams get together for practice every week, all year long, said Lori Murphree, mother of three members of the drill teams. That means a lot of commitment from riders – and their parents – she said.

That commitment involves not only time and effort but money too. Murphree estimated at least a $5,000 investment is needed up front to pay for the horse, costume for horse and rider, vehicle for transporting the horse, training for horse and rider, and travel expenses when going to competition.

"We had horses before we started (with the drill team) and did a little rodeoing," Murphree added.

But being involved in the drill team has captured her daughters' interest the way other activities did not, she said. "They loved horses anyway. We followed the team for a year before they were eligible to join."

Her kids – Kari, 13, Amy, 11, and Sarah, 9 – have stuck with it, and plan to continue as long as they are eligible. As with other 4-H programs, age eligibility for participation begins when children are in third grade and ends when they turn 19.

Ask team members why they are willing to work so hard for their sport, and they will answer: Because it's fun. And it's like family.

Erron Anderson, 13, has been a member of Thundering Hooves for three years. She's learned a lot about leadership skills in that time, she said, "and it's helped me a lot with my riding skills."

She also likes to help with the younger team members, she said, which fits right in with her life plans: "I want to be a horse trainer," she said. Amber Dale, 14, joined the drill team six and a half years ago. "I like how we get together as a family," she said. "We're here together (at practice) every Sunday, and we get treated like family."

The team performs to music each year, and each year it changes, said Sherry Smithey, who, as wife of the drill master Ray Smithey, laughingly said her job is "to make sure the drill master shows up!" This year the musical theme features music from "Phantom of the Opera" and "Pearl Harbor," among others, she said. Because team members are more used to performing to country and western music, the new theme is a whole different sound for them, she added.

Team leader Nikki Smithey gets to put on a cape, top hat and face paint to ride the part of the Phantom.

And Marisa Vickrey, the other team leader, rides the part of the Maiden from "Phantom of the Opera." She has been riding with the team for three years, she said. "This year I got leader and got moved up." Being a member of the team is important to her, she said. "It's real fun. Everybody gets along real well."

Getting along well is important for any team, but it becomes a necessity for a team on horseback, said Ray Smithey, drill master. Not only are the kids dependent on each other, but they are dependent on their horses as well.

Horse and rider must "work as two together," he said. Otherwise it's not safe.

"Safety is the first thing," Smithey said. "If it's not safe, then I don't want to do it."

Riders are taught to watch out for each other in everything they do, he said. And sometimes accidents happen. "Even in practice, if a rider comes off a horse, everyone stops and holds their places." That allows time for officials to take care of the downed rider without having to worry about 17 other horses getting in the way.

The drill team "is one thing they can't do by themselves," Sherry Smithey said. "They have to do it together. If they don't do it right, you can end up with a hurt child, a dead child, a hurt horse ..."

Because of the care taken and the focus on safety, the team has never had a serious injury to a rider or to a horse, Smithey said, although as with any sport, "we've had bumps and bruises – you'll have those."

Smithey coordinates and choreographs routines for Thundering Hooves, and has done so for the better part of five years. "My daughter (Nikki) came home one day and said she had joined the drill team, and I had to get her out there (for practice) tonight!"

With that announcement, he and his family were hooked. "It's an enormous commitment," he said, but they wouldn't have it any other way.

The team usually performs one drill per year. That drill is about 15 minutes long and includes 18 to 20 separate maneuvers. Smithey has learned from experience that changing a few maneuvers rather than changing the whole drill is easier on the riders and on their horses, he said.

It also makes the drills easier to adjust for time considerations, if a performance needs to be shorter than the usual 15 minutes.

The music and the routine isn't the only thing that changes every year. Franca Cox is in charge of costuming for both riders and horses, and each year she and her committee must come up with a new design.

This year, for the Phantom of the Opera theme, Cox has dressed both girls and horses in royal blue, with sequins and skirts that drape over the horses' hindquarters. The two team leaders have silver-gray costumes. Cox said it usually takes about six months to make costumes for all 18 riders and their horses.

Cox has been "sewing and helping out with the (costume) committee for 10 years," she said. "I've been in charge (of costumes) for two years. I have two girls on the team."

Why has she volunteered to devote so much time and skill into this effort? Her answer echoes what so many other drill team parents would say: "I do it for love of the kids."