Qabaq game

sbartels · Post by **sbartels** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:09 pm

Right about the lid - I had thought the mounted archer would by then have gallopped away. No problem though to secure the lid to the pot-handles with a yard or two of string so it dan fall off the pot but not down to the ground.

Or attach a parachute - the ballon rises, the lid floats more or less majestically to earth under its "potachute"...

Murat ?zveri · Post by **Murat ?zveri** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:03 pm

The pierced copper bells and other objects have not been targets in kabak game. There was another discipline called "darp vurma", which was about hard objects made of metal, glass, ceramic etc. This was supposed to be a war practice to enhance the skill in piercing the enemy's armour. But darp demonstrations were also a popular show among people.

You can visit our web and see some darp targets in

http://www.kemankes.com/?unitID=10&pare ... hildID=114

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 1:07 pm

In a 1980s book from the Soviet Union, National Folk Sports in the USSR, the details of the Georgian form of qabaq shooting are given.

It is called kabahi and the pole is six metres high. They place a ball on top and each archer has two arrows. The teams line up fifty metres from the pole and and each rider rides past twice and shoots an arrow each time. Dropping your bow causes expulsion from the contest.

After everyone has shot, the points for the two teams are totalled and the total time spent is also estimated. This is how the winning team is chosen. There can be an individual winner as well. When this happens, the ball is replaced by a metal cup or some other thing to be given as a prize.

If any Georgians read this, they might write in and tell us if it is still practised.

In other places, a prize was hung from a rope and the first to split the rope got the prize.

jonR · Post by **jonR** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 10:18 pm

Seems I read a quote in Saracen Archery that the fellow thought that the mast was about 25 feet tall.
jonR

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:40 am

Jon,
You are right about Saracen Archery. I think that locally the height of the mast varied. From the book I quoted, there were several varieties of the contest even in the twentieth century. The point of them all was to encourage steadiness and flexibility in the waist, both of which are essential to mounted archery. However, it was the only set of rules I could find that precisely specified the height of the mast.

Duncan · Post by **Duncan** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:53 pm

Why not balloons?
Set a box that has a trigger in the bottom so that when it is hit it will open the top and release the balloons much like the doves afore mentioned.

Jos?Dom · Post by **Jos?Dom** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:35 pm

Balloons? that?s boring. Shooting at the decapitated head of your enemy, now that?s interesting!

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:07 pm

I can't stop laughing of the ingenious pot and lid target configuration.

Avoiding a hit form the falling lid would be a good 'military' practice helping to improve quicker reaction to an enemy's blow.

rednbluearmy · Post by **rednbluearmy** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:53 pm

Am looking into Qabaq a the moment as building up to try it out. For me the mask is an issue - cant get an 8 metre pole into the ground.

I read somewhere that another version of Qabaq is to have a circle in the ground, you gallop through it, shoot up and if the arrow lands back down in the circle - its a good shot.

Anyone else come across this?

How wide is the circle??

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 3:31 am

I have seen the shooting in a circle reference and it was either in Saracen Archery or in Arab Archery. You may find it before I get back to my books.

There are metal joints made that are used for assembling tall tent poles. They could be used with appropriate length of poles to build a qabaq mast that could be disassembled for transport. The look like a metal sleeve with a divider to keep the pole sections in place.

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:13 am

Redndbluearmy,
I think bamboo, though maybe not very historically accurate, is a very good material of which you can make the pole from; light, strong, durable and easy to move around.
Here is an example of a bamboo qabaq pole I had a chance to see and handle this past weekend, the pole is made of three respectively thinner bamboo pieces taped together, the pole is not in the ground itself but instead it is attached by means of two rods (one should be easily removable) between two pieces of timber inserted into the ground. In this way you can easily bring the pole to the horizontal position, the whole construction looks like some kind of a barrier gate.

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:01 pm

Qabak on the bamboo pole shot by Jacek Jasiński (Poland).
Especially look for the 1:40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT_caUjd ... re=channel

Note that the qabaq is on the left side of the course, we were now advised that it makes for a bettter competition when the pole is on the right side of the archer (edit: for a right handed one).

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:22 am

The video made it clear that the rider was quite close to the pole, which is traditional.

Was there any problem with arrows damaging arrows in the target?

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:44 am

No, the arrows were not damaged.
The target consisted of a stuffed bag which was rather on the bigger side though so there wasn't any problems.
the only 'damage' was done when an arrow split the top of the qabaq pole

.
http://picasaweb.google.pl/albumyAbrata ... 7941688946

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:42 am

When in the USA, I saw some home made pole supports where a piece of angle iron had two rings welded to the side. It could be hammered securely into the ground and the pole set through the rings. This seems an easily transportable solution. Padding could be wrapped around it for safety if there was no rail separating it from the riding track.

Qabaq game

@ Bede

Qabaq game

Just a thought

Versions of Qabaq