Horses of horse archery

bustedarrow · Post by **bustedarrow** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:41 am

What was and is the best horses used for horse archery.

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:49 am

I suggest Galloway size (around 15hh). There's no complete answer to the question, but racehorses are not very good (downhill shape, temperament). Also, you need a horse that you can nip up onto easily (i.e. not over 16hh for most of us.)

Although people talk about using horses that don't canter too fast, after you've got the knack, it get's a bit painful to keep on going slowly. Also, it look a bit daft when you shoot at a slow lope.

I recently tried Australian stock horses. They were excellent.

S

barb1881 · Post by **barb1881** » Tue May 01, 2007 2:07 pm

Stephen Selby wrote: after you've got the knack, it get's a bit painful to keep on going slowly.

S

I completely agree with Stephen. My mare canters down the course at a very easy pace, which was great when I first started out, but now it's become too slow and I need to find a second gear with her.

For my part I think a horse's temperament is more important for mounted archery than what breed they are.
Barb

Orda Khan · Post by **Orda Khan** » Tue May 01, 2007 7:56 pm

barb1881 wrote:For my part I think a horse's temperament is more important for mounted archery than what breed they are.
Barb

Kassai Lajos suggests the horse's training is just as important as the archer's.

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Fri May 04, 2007 8:04 am

Orda Khan wrote:Kassai Lajos suggests the horse's training is just as important as the archer's.

Agreed. Mostly, you see an excellent horseman who shoots outstandingly on a well-trained horse, and then it still falls apart because he has poor nocking techinque. Happens again and again.

That's where Kassai excels.

barb1881 · Post by **barb1881** » Mon May 07, 2007 3:26 pm

Ultimately I see it as a partnership between the horse and rider/archer.
If the archer has bad technique his horse will suffer, if the horse has bad/incomplete training (or is just ill suited to the job) the archer will suffer.

From going to IHAF and other clinics I've seen allot of different breeds used for mounted archery and cannot rule out any of them as being unsuitable. I have however, seen individual horses that where unsuitable for the job due to temperament or lack of training before the bow was introduced to them. (horses that where green in the 3 basic gates, horses that haven't been exposed to much beyond being ridden in a ring etc).
Barb

gt1cm2 · Post by **gt1cm2** » Tue May 08, 2007 8:33 pm

I would consider the temperament of the horse above anything else first then how they ride, if they are naturally a flighty horse then I don't think it would matter how much training they had there would always be that risk of them going into flight mode. The horses training is also very important but if you have a horse with an excellent temperament then the training won't be as hard, you can always do more training/schooling. Our TB is far too spooky for it, he could handle me shooting my bow on the ground and could probably get used to it if I was onboard but I know eventually he would spook and it would always be in my mind.

Our other horse, a young crossbred mare is very suitable, she doesn't spook at a lot and took to me shooting arrows on the ground and onboard in her stride. Unfortnately it was with a ordinary recurve which was far too long but it gave her the idea, she actually enjoyed it and liked watching the arrows hit the evil bale of hay (my husband was leading us around as it was the first time I'd ever tried something like that with her).

This is a picture of her, she is 4yrs old and stands at about 15.2-3hh. Her breeding is TB/Arab/1/4 horse, but mostly New Zealand stationbred.

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:07 am

I think that there are a couple of things that you have to do. Both are simple dressage, which some horseback archers scorn.

First, from the moment of mounting, you have to suppress any tendency of the horse to go faster than the rider wants. That starts at the walk. If the horse is rushing and sticking his jaw out, you may need to be severe with him until the vice is cured.

Secondly, you need to stem the urge to rush when the reins are dropped. The best way to do that is to go into canter, drop the reins and, if the horse rushes, take back the reins and immediately bring him to a complete stop. Repeat until the horse gets the message. Reinforce with a voice command.

Although it is more difficult, you may need to stop the horse if he rushes when the bow is drawn or fired. The voice command from the previous exercise may help.

barb1881 · Post by **barb1881** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:52 am

Shes' a sweet looking mare, I love the dun dappling!
Barb

Jason DuLac · Post by **Jason DuLac** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:34 pm

gt1cm2,

I agree with Barb. She looks very sweet!

I just (5 months now) started doing ground work with my 5 y/o Arabian gelding and am very new to this whole horse thing. My wife's been at it for years and wanted a horse, but needed help if she was to have one, so I volunteered and MAN AM I GLAD I DID!

I never realized how wonderful training them could be!

I need to work on my riding skills a bit before I shoot from horseback, but hopefully sometime in the next 6 months. There's an officer from the Mounted Archery Association of the Americas who lives relatively close to me that I'll visit for some lessons too.

Great thread Matt! It's Cleenrelees from the LW! Goin' by my real name here.

J.

gt1cm2 · Post by **gt1cm2** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:10 am

Thanks guys she is my baby!

Stephen, I def agree regarding the dressage schooling, after all it was originally for training horses for war maneuvers. Fortnately she is quite good at listening to my voice commands (could be because she is so lazy!).

Jason, your story to very much the same as my husbands. I broke my leg and he was forced into looking after her and now he has his own, we may eventually go some mounted archery with him all depends on whether we can get him used to the noise. I think a lot of ground will be needed first.