12 points for horseback archers.

Zarasp · Post by **Zarasp** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:10 pm

Yes of course Stephen, we have too many for individual pictures but here are a few pictures of my fav horses which we use for archery & our race track, of course we use the race track only for VERY experienced archery students, a horse like Nava or any ex-race horse can easily hurt someone there!

the middle one , my favorite ARYAN, 13YO, not a horse for everyone but his 0-MAX... is outstanding,you better load your 1st arrow quickly, look at those hind muscles...

Zarasp · Post by **Zarasp** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:13 pm

the one i am riding, GACHKAR, 7YO , short but quick, we use it for intermediate students.

Zarasp · Post by **Zarasp** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:20 pm

1st from right Toofan (means storm) we loved this horse for archery but we had to give him up because his back was moving too much for archery students, he had long legs & shallow back.

3rd one Mehraban (means Kind), we use him for our slower practices, because he is used to spurs...

Zarasp · Post by **Zarasp** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:28 pm

and last but certainly not least Nava, our fastest Archery horse, on a good day he does our 100m track in about 5 seconds, unfortunately at the moment we cannot let any student ride him, because of his temperament and his speed... i use him for single & double shot practice.

Zarasp · Post by **Zarasp** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:35 pm

another pic of beautiful NAVA.

Zarasp · Post by **Zarasp** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:45 pm

Nava means sound

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:36 am

Many of these have conformation like English Thoroughbreds (ex Turkish stock). But I guess if you are using them for polo, they are around 150-155cm at the withers - smaller than a standard thoroughbred racehorse. Are they a local breed or imported?

Zarasp · Post by **Zarasp** » Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:05 am

in the pictures you see different breeds, the Argentinian Polo ponies of Polo federation & our school horses which i mentioned, Nava for example is a Standard halfblood race thoroughbred +160cm, the tallest is ARYAN about 165 & the shortest one is the American breed (Gachkar) at about 155, most of our school horses are thoroughbred because it is first & foremost a racing complex, then came Polo & very recently Archery.

i have read that shorter horses are better for archery but i dont understand it according to our horsemanship....

edit: for comparison i am 181cm.

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:22 am

This is my personal opinion. Smaller horses are good for archery because they often run quite smoothly and as they are small, more inexperienced riders are not afraid. But Mongolian steppe ponies were not much used in warfare. Instead, the best is something like the Yili horses of West China, which are a mix between steppe ponies (for hardiness) and Russian military horses (for size.) I think that 155-160cm is fine. I do not like thoroughbreds for archery because their temperament is too unstable. Kabardian horses, Australian and American quarter horses are good, too. They are quite intelligent.

Zarasp · Post by **Zarasp** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 6:40 pm

Oh yes, i see,

I like Kabardian horses, Karabakh & Turkmens specially Akhals, and of course Kurdish & i once fell in love with a Marwari horse, it was almost a perfect horse!

today i was in class with a student & a Yamut Turkman, (replacement for our half blood "Storm") this horse ran our archery course more than 20 times without even tiring, or changing speed, i was very impressed.

but after all, i absolutely love Thoroughbreds, its true that they are very intense, but this extreme fervid & zealous character of a race thoroughbred is very appealing to me, i agree they can be very dangerous for imperfect horseman but believe me,in hands of a good horseman these horses give you wings, its a unique experience...

edit: i used the dictionary for 2 words (fervid & zealous),i hope it was correct!

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:20 am

With thoroghbreds, they can be ok in ideal conditions; but once you get photographers or a crowd making a noise, they can behave badly.

Gokmen · Post by **Gokmen** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:47 am

Hi Stephen,

may I slightly disagree?
I rode many different breeds, but before I rode mostly Arabian horses in Turkey. More than one and a half years ago I moved to Ireland and started a sport called 'Polocrosse', it is similar to polo, just a bit rougher.
Here a video to give everybody an idea: http://youtu.be/vnhehVNlsFY
And attached a picture of me on my first tournment.

The horses and the horsemanship here is so exceptional. Before I was an Arab fan but now I see, for 'battle horses' there is not better horses than these thoroughbreds.

They dont use the tall too muscly, overtrained race horses though. They use 15-16hh horses. They are very athletic, clear in their mind and not afraid of anything. A full blow in the face or any other part with the racket happens sometimes and the horses are really coldblooded. After the crazy Arabians of Turkey I feel that these horses are the real 'war horses'.

You can gallop really fast, turn back immediately, zick zack, and accelerate again as you wish. All movements you need on a battlefield for sword and bow.

Besides because of their conformation they combine fastness with endurance. They dont get easily tired like their overbuilt race cousins.

Another point, maybe the percentage of the Turkish blood in the Thoroughbred is higher in Ireland as Turkish horses spent considerable time in Ireland.

Last: One article which I found very interesting in many aspects: http://www.lrgaf.org/articles/foundation-turks.htm

all the best

Gokmen Altinkulp

Zarasp · Post by **Zarasp** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:42 am

Stephen Selby wrote:With thoroghbreds, they can be ok in ideal conditions; but once you get photographers or a crowd making a noise, they can behave badly.

Yes & loud speakers too

Polocrosse is fun, i dont think its rough, but a very nice sport, i hope you get to try the field Polo too someday, its a very good sport.i think you will like Kurdish horses alot (the same warhorse you see in Sassanid reliefs), fantastic horses!

sources mention Polo family sports derive from cavalry practices of ancient Persian army, these sports are always a good test of horsemanship specially the field Polo.