Monday, April 27th, 2020
Here's the 'pitch' ...
Muter encourages people to try horseshoes
By Colin Foster
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
Rick Muter, seen here, suggests anyone looking for a new hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic to give horseshoes a try.
For those looking to stay busy with a new hobby, Rick Muter has a suggestion: give horseshoes a try.
He makes a strong "pitch."
"It's good exercise," said Muter, a Celina resident. "It's good family fun - kids can do it with the dog, with grandpa. It's just an enjoyable sport, getting outside doing something."
With sports at a standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic, participation has risen in Muter's online horseshoe-pitching groups.
Two years ago, Muter launched the Facebook groups "Horseshoe Challenge" and "Online Horseshoe Pitching" to promote the game he loves. In December 2018, the groups had 900 players combined. Currently, the groups feature roughly double that amount. Steven Gibson (Utah), Antone Jackson (Arizona) and Stanton Griggs (Missouri) have helped Muter run the groups.
"A lot of people don't like to get dirty, but we've got all ages and groups, women, elderly," Muter pointed out. "The HBO page is still growing. The HBO youth page is still growing. That was something we started for the kids."
Muter, a sanctioned pitcher in the National Horseshoe Pitching Association, has long loved the game. He and his brother, Jeff Muter, have played in sanctioned tournaments throughout the United States. Jeff even won a world horseshoe championship.
The idea was to bring horseshoe players together from all over the country and allow participants to pitch in their own backyards against opponents. Participants have logged on from all over the United States and even some parts of Canada. The rules are three points for a ringer and one point for a close point. Competitors must be on a live Facebook feed when they are throwing.
The groups hold weekly tournaments, one of which recently drew 85 participants. Interested parties find the groups on Facebook by searching "Horseshoe Pitching Online," "Online Horseshoe Challenge" and "Horseshoe Pitching Online Youth."
"You go out your backdoor in the morning and don't have to grab your shoes or drive two hours to a tournament," Muter said. "Our payouts are 100% payouts, you know, we don't keep anything. We just keep the page for the group mainly just to get more people involved with and give them something to do."
