Horseback Archery

The bow I have for shooting and hunting is a 65lb drawback..It can be a killer when you've been shooting all day or you're tired, but my aim is so much more accurate with a higher poundage because I don't have to worry about shooting higher for a far away target..until you get into 60+ yards. I definitely don't have anywhere to work on mounted shooting though..a baaad idea for ST at the moment, haha.
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Ok, so I have successfully convinced my friends and family (once again) that I am crazy. "Archery? On a horse? You're going to die"

I went down to a local hunting shop today. The man asked me what I was using the arrows for. I hesitated for a moment before I told him "I'm thinking about taking up mounted archery" That caught him off guard.
He was incredibly helpful though. I could tell he was really running it through in his head to help me as best he could. They had an archery shooting range in the store! I thought that was pretty cool.
I ended up having to special order arrows, carbon shaft that looks like wood with feather fletching. I got 6 for $55. I had no idea how expensive arrows were! We always had plenty at the ranch I worked at. That's a pretty fair deal compared to all of the prices I have seen online. Plus he's going to cut them to length for me and he showed me how to measure my draw to see how long my arrows should be (27")

So then... (Sorry all for the novel) I went to Ace and got some wooden dowels, super glue, and duct tape. I had some feathers I saved from a dove my husband shot and some thread in various colors. Here's my pitiful attempt at making an arrow. No wonder they are so expensive! Ha!


Here's the duct tape arrow. Took all of 10 minutes to make. Doesn't get much more redneck than this folks.

And here's my brothers 55# bow

So, I got my arrows today!! Woo!! And my husband is amazing and got me a bow for Christmas! I feel like such a giddy little kid right now with my new toy. I told him I needed a short bow with a pretty low draw weight, and he got me this!:


He chose the real tree all on his own, and I love it! It's a 48" bow with a 25" draw weight. Should be perfect for mounted archery. I have been talking to Katie "The Flying Duchess" She has a mounted archery clinic coming up near the San Francisco area in March. Not sure if anyone else on here is near there, but that would be awesome to go to! It's $100 a day and it's a 3 day clinic. She's bringing horses. Equipment rental is $20 a day if you don't have a bow. Sounds awesome!

Hi everyone,

I'm jumping in this a bit late, but I just posted a thread about horseback archery and someone linked me to this one. Tessa: I am not very far from SF and would be VERYYYYY interested in attending a clinic for horseback archery. Is there any way you could send me a link or a contact for Katie? I've been doing archery for years and riding for years and now I really want to combine the two. Trying it out would be awesome. I also coach archery, but from the ground, haha. I'm buying a horse very soon, a little arab I've been working with for about a year and have fallen in love with. My goal is to shoot off her back. I posted a thread asking for advice for training, but now i'm not sure if it would work, since V. Said that the horses they use are drafts. Hmm...

I like the idea of it ever since I played Zelda and that was in it. =D

I don't think there's any inherent reason why you couldn't use non-draft horses. Historically, most of the cultures that were heavily into mounted archery - Mongols, the Plains Indians, etc - seem to have used fairly small horses.

Maybe the drafts are being used because this particular archery group grew out of the SCA (IIRC), and were doing jousting?

You might be right, James. I've just looked up pics of people doing it, most people seem to be on normal 14-16 hh horses. I don't think my little arab would want to joust, but perhaps archery off her wouldn't be to bad. You make a good point.

That brings me back to some good ole times. Dat Gerudo Valley theme song




I think it would be so cool to learn horseback archery. Unfortunately I will never in my life have the coordination to do so...

Katie actually rides an Arabian for her mounted archery! Haha. I have seen lots of videos of people using Arabians for the sport. Here's a link to her website Mounted Archery just go to the contact page. She was really good about getting back to me. Here's a video of her on her Arabian shooting and riding bareback.

Haha yes!! I was in love with that game. Lol. Good ol times indeed!