Annie Get Your Gun

Outlaw - Annie Bianco-Ellett

By Brettan Bablove
Photography by Jean Louis Husson

Despite the fact that her husband is an ex-National Hockey League All-Star, Annie Bianco-Ellett wears the pants in her family. She also wears the chaps, the holster and carries a Cimarron single-action 45 pistol, which means this Chrysler spokesmodel-turned-mounted shooting world champ doesn’t get much flack about taking out the trash.

Bianco-Ellett is all about bringing more than you’d expect to the table. Not only does she command a male-dominated sport and industry, she expertly balances motherhood and family with numerous successful business ventures. She splits her time between training riders and breeding horses at her Cave Creek ranch, acting as a stunt double in feature films, a role on CMT’s hit reality show Cowboy U, and competing on the mounted shooting circuit, which entails navigating a series of obstacles and breaking 10 balloons with her six-gun, all on horseback.

And Bianco-Ellett does that in less than 10 seconds.

PW had the chance to chat with Bianco-Ellett about how she balances her obligations, the way it feels to live your dream, and what it takes to be the best in the world.

PW: Tell me about your childhood, what were some of your passions?
BIANCO-ELLETT: Well, I grew up in Michigan. My dad was an executive in retail with Dayton Hudson Corporation in Detroit. But I was always fascinated by horses and anything Western. There were pictures of me with a little cowboy hat and little red chinks. I had a trip out to Tucson when I was very small, and I remember going out there and thinking, “This is so cool.”

When did you first start riding?
I always rode horses, but I rode English. I didn’t ride Western until after college. If you would have asked me in college what I’d be doing now … I mean, I had a BA in marketing and a minor in broadcasting. I started as an executive. I worked in both TV and business in New York City. But it just wasn’t me. I think I was trying to follow in my father’s footsteps, but it just wasn’t me. I preferred to go to Central Park and ride horses.

So, then I put my passion for horses and the West and my business sense together and found a niche market. I think you have to do something you love that really drives you. And when I stop competing, I have some offers to do some executive marketing with big names in the Western industry.

What challenges or obstacles did you encounter starting out in sharp shooting?
You can look at it from two sides; I’m a competitor first. But it’s a male-dominated sport that I’m in. Coming into a male-dominated sport, you really have to prove yourself with your skills and prove that you’re better than all of them.

I basically set my mark when I won the world championship and beat all the men. I won two years in a row and that had never been done before; a woman had never even won once before. That earned a lot of respect. Getting the credentials of a world champion is how I was able to spread out with my coaching and leather lines … being sponsored by Wrangler. It put my name on the map. [Someone said] that Danica Patrick of the racecar world is me in the Western world.

What advice do you have for young women entering a “man’s industry”?
You have to come in and prove yourself. People think being attractive makes your life so much easier and that you have everything handed to you but, in a lot of ways, it’s harder because you almost have the prove yourself that much more.

But, my sport is a timed event, and the clock doesn’t lie. There are no judges sitting around saying, “Oh, she’s pretty.”

You recently broke the 10-second barrier in your sport. Tell us about some of the awards or honors you’re most proud of?
Breaking the ten second marker was pretty exciting. And then, there are the multiple world and national championships. A big accomplishment for me is being a Wrangler endorsement; again, its male-dominated sport, and [Wrangler is] one of the biggest names in the Western industry.

Another big accomplishment is to see all my students out there competing and winning with horses that I’ve trained and sold them. It gives you a lot of gratification to see people following in your footsteps. That’s what it’s all about.

I’ve worked with celebs, and that’s another fun part, when you get called to teach them how to shoot. I do stunt work for television and feature films. There’s very few people who can ride at these speeds and shoot.

My career has basically touched so many industries. I was in a recent Western feature film … Wrangler for the fashion industry … doing my own leather products.

Mounted shooting seems like a very physical sport. How do you stay focused and competitive?
I just can’t sit back and watch; I like to compete. It’s very physical, it’s tough. I had a bad wreck about 4 weeks ago. I hit my head at 35 mph. I’ve dislocated my shoulder and tore my kneecap off. But I have that need for speed. I don’t know if I’d be satisfied to sit back and be in a senior division.

To keep in shape I do yoga at At One. Yoga has basically prolonged my career, for sure.

Between shooting, boot camp, breeding horses, the semi-pro hockey team you and your husband own in New Mexico — how do you find time for you and your husband and 8-year-old daughter, Sierra? What makes your marriage, where both of you are so busy, work?
When I first started the sport I was single, so obviously things change. Your number one priority has to be your family. I’m lucky that I have a supportive husband with my travel schedule. We make sure one of us is always home with our daughter. She comes first.

The way I look at it is, I’m 41 years old, and the sport I do is very physical. The competition is very physical and it’s getting younger. I won the Worlds this last year; I’m the reigning champion. I think you know when its time to slow down. You have to have a supportive spouse and a good team. I have a great horse trainer that keeps all my horses exercised.

The first year I won the world championship, all of sudden all these people wanted to be coached. They want the same guns you use and the same holsters you use. I gave everything I had that first year, and it sucked the life right out of me. I had to find a balance.

You can’t do it all. You hear about women who are superwomen. You can do a lot, but you can’t do it all.

Working in a man’s industry, how do you maintain your feminine side? Describe your personal style on a non-work day.
That’s why I love Scottsdale and Phoenix so much. I have a side to me — with my father in the retail industry and being a professional model — that loves fashion. I like to be in area like Phoenix where we have the best of everything. I can be on my ranch in the middle of nowhere and in 20 minutes I can be at any store.

There are some opportunities to go out and get dressed up, such as going to great restaurants. I definitely love to get dressed up.

We enjoy hitting a great restaurant like Ocean Club, where we just went and really liked it. We really enjoy good wine. That’s a treat to be able to do that. [Owning] the [semi-pro] hockey team [in New Mexico] we don’t have a lot of free time.

Time is precious. When we can find two hours to zip away, we do.

If you had to choose just one part of your work life and abandon the others, which would you choose?
That’s my problem. I keep my hand in all these different pots. I love designing leather and the holsters. I design for Cactus Saddlery in Glendale. It’s called the Outlaw Annie Collection. It’s a design of a holster that basically everyone in our industry wears now.

See more of Annie Bianco-Ellett at www.outlawannie.com.