Horse bow/plains Indian bow

[kayakfisher]

A lot of this is still new to me? But what be the difference between a horse bow and a plains Indian bow say of the lakota/ dakota or one of the five tribes of the Souix, or any other mounted tribe for that part ?

[Hillbilly]

The Plains Indian bows were for the most part horse bows, but the horse bow family would also include such bows as the Asiatic composite bows; which were also used by nomadic horse warrior cultures, but were of quite different construction.

[M-P]

Hi,  I second what Hillbilly said.  Horsebow is more a description of use than stlye.  To me it denotes a short bow, to allow ease of use while mounted.  Just to complicate matters I feel it necessary to point out that the japanese still practice shooting 6 + foot long yumi on horseback, and many westcoast indian tribes, that had never seen a horse, made bows even shorter than the ones used by the plains tribes.   Ron

[kayakfisher]

thanks for the reply we learn something  new each day when where not afraid to stand up and ask questions , or in this case sit and type on a  key board, so they can still be recurved , deflexed and so forth it would just denote a different style, correct

[Pat B]

On the shorter bows a bit of recurve is almost necessary to keep the string angle good and keep the string from pulling off the end ...plus, they look cool!     Pat

[Hillbilly]

Most of the Asian horsebows are extremely recurved with big siyahs.

[jkekoni]

Horse bows are ofter, but not always smaller than bows meant to be used on foot.
(Counter example over 2M kyudo bows from Japan.)

Plains idians used ofter but not always short bows.

[Kegan]

The Plains Indian horse bows were for war, which most of the Asian horse bows were for, but also for hunting, something the Asia cousin didn't partake too much in. But yeah, the Plains style is a sub-style.

[Pat B]

Even the Japanese Yumi bows were built for horseback with their asymmetrical design. The shorter lower limb made it easier to ride while shooting or to shoot while riding.     Pat

[mullet]

  The Japanese also shot a shorter bow, hankyu, used in battle. They also had what is called carriage bows. There was  also the yokyu used for fun and the suzume-yumi used for hunting. There is also the maru-ki,or the roundwood bow; and the hoko-yumi, the Tartar shaped bow ,just to name a few.