Young Horseback Archers!

[Allen7]

I recently participated in a Kassai Horseback Archery competition at Mt Currie, B.C., Canada.   This is about a half hour from Whistler Ski Resort.   We all had a great time.   It was a fun filled weekend and a successful event.   Everyone stayed on their horses.   Sat around nice warm fires, ate salmon, and had a few drinks.   Practiced foot archery, riding skills, speed shooting with bows, threw hawks and spears.   I even learned basics on cracking the hungarian whips.    Three young boys, ages 7-9,  also participated in the competion.   Their father put together a video of the boys and posted it on YouTube.    Here is the link to the video.   It is amazing to watch these 3 brothers in action. The older boy rides better than I do and expect him to beat my scores eventually.   The boys use bows that are modern replicas of ancient Sythian style bows.   There is no arrow shelf/rest or sights.   I use a modern replica of a Hun bow.    It is an extremely instinctive style of archery.    Sit back and enjoy the video of these amazing kids and their ponies.   " May 3 Kassai Competition , Mt Currie"

http://www.youtube.com/user/erihama

Allen Minton

[hawkbow]

WOW! that is what it is all about, great little warriors... Hawk

[Keenan]

Allen that was awesome,  Now I go to hang my head in shame at my missing the close non moving targets while standing still on a non moving ground.   Thanks for sharing.  Keenan

[Andrea S]

HOW COOL!!!!

That is simply amazing. I would love to have a chance to do that... I just need a composite bow and borrow someone's horse!!  And Keenan, I second your motion about the non moving ground and target.

[Justin Snyder]

Great fun.  I would love to participate.  Justin

[Stonedog]

That is some kind neat!

[Pappy]

Very cool,I would probably fall off the horse.
   Pappy

[Little John]

Pretty cool. Excellent job by these young archers and really cute little horse that performed flawlessly. I hope they grow up to be champions.  I need to get a horse going that only has to do the archery or make a track where the horse knows to follow the course.  When I shoot my horse will pretty much go where I am looking but one session of archery eats away from his other training as he learns that when I drop the reins he might not have to do right and can start cheating.  I have lots of trouble with the going away shot and with the speed loading.   Still lots of fun, wish I had others to practice with.   Kenneth

[Allen7]

My buddies in Canada posted a different video on their website of our May 08 Kassai horseback archery competition.   This one shows about 4 runs from each the competitors.  It includes the 3 young brothers and the rest of us.   It is about a 10 minute video -  my runs start at about 3:43 in this video.  I used someone else's horse, as I can't afford to haul mine anymore.   It is pretty cool and shows a wide range of abilities and some different strategies.  Fast horse or slow horse.  Shoot a bunch of arrows or concentrate on one arrow.    Final score is a combination of time and arrow scores.   Here is the link:   http://www.horsebackarchery.ca/    Enjoy the show!

Allen Minton

[Keenan]

 Awesome Allen, You did real good and those kids are inspiring. As I wa watching I wondering if you use the fluid "draw through" with no anchor point, in your normal stationary shooting?

[Allen7]

Keenan:   I still switch back and forth between different bows, my traditional shooting style and horse archery style.    It is not great though, because my accuracy and form has suffered some.   It has been hard to completely abandon a style I have used for 45 years.  I did have to learn another way to improve my horse archery.   The traditional method with fixed anchor point and looking down the shaft just doesn't work well from back of running horse.

Allen