Second International Horseback Archery Championship.

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 2:28 am

The Second International Horseback Archery Championship has been succesfully completed in Sokcho, South Korea, between 21-22 October 2006.

Despite the tension caused by the nuclear test crisis and poor footing due to heavy rain, the event went ahead confidently, with teams from USA, Germany, Hong Kong and Korea.

The US team led by Holm Neuman distinguished themselves this year, winning many gold medals. Jet Cowan performed outstandingly in all the events. The Korean team also raised their game significantly over last year, coming away with gold, silver and bronze. (There were only Koreans in the Children's category.)

Hong Kong archer, Fox Wong, won a gold for the double shot. Yonathan Ho won two bronze medals in the youth category, and I won one bronze. Chirstian Schrade (Germany) gained one bronze medal. German team-member Simone Fezer won everyone's admiration for her superb horsemanship.

This year, we were invited to try 'Mogu', in which the target - a 1-metre ball made of cloth over a rattan frame, - is pulled by a gallopping horse, with two or more archers chasing behind. Shooting is done with blunt arrows dipped in coloured ink.

As last year, the event promoted friendship and technical exchange. Next year's event will expand in scale, with sponsorship pledged by the Sokcho city government. We hope to see more teams taking part.

treemarks · Post by **treemarks** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:27 pm

Steven,

thank you for the detailed account.
Would it be possible to post some photos from this very interesting event ?

Rgds & Tks

Markos

barb1881 · Post by **barb1881** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 5:07 am

Hi Steven,
The "Mogu" competition sounds very interesting and simillar to a game we do with spears. I'd love to hear more details on how that particular competiton went!
Barb

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 1:29 am

As none of us had any experience, it was a demonstration more than a competition; but we all had a chance to try it out.

The mogu is a ball made of a rattan frame with white cloth over it. It is about .75 metre in diameter, and it has a hemp cord 4 metres long attached at one point. It is dragged along the ground by the fastest horse. When a drum sounds, the mogu-puller spurs his horse on and two or three riders chase after. The course is around 100 metres in total.

Each shooter has two arrows tipped with blunts wrapped in cloth. The cloth is dipped in Chinese ink (different colour for each shooter). As soon as the puller gallops off, the others can follow, and they try to shoot both arrows at the mogu leaving an ink mark on it.

That's all there is to it, really. The difficulty is in really guiding the horse. And a shooter who can shoot with either hand has a better chance of scoring.

S.