Salina ? As the 10 women who make up the horseback drill team Quiet Thunder practiced one of their routines, they smiled and chatted, every once in awhile letting out hearty laughs.

They shouted out to each other from horseback about what was and wasn’t working with the routine they were practicing.

A truck full of boys who didn’t look to be legal yet drove by and hollered and whistled at the team of women, most of them above age 30, but they just laughed it off.

“Nancy, he was calling for you,” one member said to Nancy Paugh, who, it turns out, is the oldest member of the group at age 59.

Quiet Thunder, a drill team of local women ages 12 to 59, uses American and Kansas flags along with other patriotic flags in their routines, which they perform at different rodeos across the state.

Members Pam Wasserman, Salina, and Joyce Gans, Bennington, usually come up with the routines, although group members joked that Gans is the only one who actually remembers the routines she and Wasserman come up with.

The group’s season usually begins around April or May and can run to October.

“There were years that we had something every weekend, and we decided we didn’t want to do that this year,” Wasserman said. “We didn’t have time to even get the laundry done when we were doing that.”

Work and play

Pam Wasserman, left, and Carol Fritz ride out of the arena after a Quiet Thunder performance at the El-Kan Rodeo in Ellsworth. The drill team, made up of women ages 12 to 59, uses American and Kansas flags during routines.

Not only do the women have laundry to do and families to be with, they also have full-time and part-time jobs. In fact, some of the women work together, and a few of the women originally met through their work.

For example, Jeanine White, New Cambria, and Pat Burt, Bennington, work at the Farm Service Agency. Also, Carol Fritz, Salina, who worked for more than seven years for Philips Lighting before deciding to search for another job, first met Jody Munson, who is a customer service representative for Cox Communications, when Fritz went in to pay her cable bill.

Quiet Thunder formed in 1996 when a woman who is no longer part of the group saw a drill team perform and wanted to form a local drill team to perform at the Bennington Rodeo.

“So, friends talked to friends and we ended up with 23 women,” Wasserman said. “We really had so much fun practicing for that first rodeo that by the time we performed, we knew we weren’t going to give up on it, so we were already calling other rodeos to see if we could perform.”

Highway inspiration

Then, the team of 23 women split into two groups. Eleven of the women kept the Quiet Thunder name, which is a story in itself, and adopted a patriotic theme to go with their drill.

Wasserman, who was one of the original 23 members along with Munson, Culver, and Sandra Kinkelaar, Assaria, said the name Quiet Thunder resulted from a drive down the highway.

“One of the gals who was with the team that first year was driving down the road and saw a semi with Quiet Thunder written across it,” Wasserman said. “We had all been brainstorming and we voted on ideas and that came up the winner.”

“Now that semi driver will probably read this and sue us,” Fritz said.

Unflagging enthusiasm

After deciding to use their drill routines to encourage patriotism, the group had to raise some money to buy the outfits they would ride in, as well as the flags they’d use.

To come up with the money, during the first three or four years Quiet Thunder rode together, they took donations from businesses, who then became the group’s sponsors.

To thank the businesses and communities that sponsored them, the group would then host a fund-raiser to benefit others, including the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 4-H and Post Rock Therapeutic Riding Center.

Now, because most of the equipment has been purchased, the group no longer seeks sponsorship. However, members pay dues to buy a membership with the national Horseman’s United club, which provides the group liability insurance.

The women practice every Monday evening at an outdoor arena north of Salina, and sometimes they throw in an extra practice before a performance.

Most of the women said they had been riding since childhood, and they agreed they’d keep performing with Quiet Thunder for as long as they can.

“Until I’m 80,” Paugh said laughing. “Until I’m 100.”

The women said there were different things about their performance that kept them wanting more.

“For me, it’s the feeling you get when you go into the arena,” Fritz said. “And the feeling you get when you see the people standing with their hands on their hearts.”

Wasserman said she loves being in the arena, but her favorite part comes after the show is over.

“When a person comes up to you and says, ‘Every time I watch you, it gives me goose bumps,”‘ Wasserman said, “it gets me because I know they’ve seen us before and it still affects them.”