Horseback Archery

[Jimbob]

Is anyone here involved in horseback archery??

[Keenan]

My wife Lulyn has been doing a little bit. There is a world renown horseback archery club just up the road at Sisters Oregon. We have horses and at this point she is just shooting from standing or walking.

[Jimbob]

I was watching some videos on it and if I was to try it, I think I have alot of de-sensitizing to do to my horse.  I was just curious how many people were into it and if there was anyone in NC that does it.

[Keenan]

You are on the right track. We just started out shooting around them allot, and carrying our bows while leading them around. Rubbing them allot with the bow.  Then just sitting on them with the bows and well you get the idea.

[bowtarist]

Jimbob,

??Do you have a subscrip. to PA mag.?  They have articals on HBA fairly regular.  If you look farther down on this page you'll see a post about subscriptions. you maybe able to get a free subscrip. if you order one yourself, 2 yrs. for one.  Check it out if you don't already have a subscription to PA, it's a great deal!!  Read the Post!! 

I don't ride, but man does it look like a good time!!  I only know about this type of archery because of Primitive Archer Magazine.  Good luck Lulyn!! and all others trying this. 

I'm not a sales Rep, just an archer and a PA reader.  Sincerely, dpgratz

[Jimbob]

I do not have a subscription.....yet.....I was going to ask for one for Christmas but I dont know if I can wait that long.  (Havent been this excited about a possible Christmas gift since I was a kid!!)  I have seen that thread, and I think its awesome that they are doing that.

[Bryce H]

Get in touch with Indianguy, I know he does quite a bit on horseback, and I know he mentioned a while back about possibly writing something about training your horse for it. Also, there's a Plains Horse Archery Association, and the Mounted Archery Association of the Americas. I have to wait a couple more years before I get another horse, but then I'll be diving into it.

[wildkatt]

  OK sorry been out of town. Thought id chime in. My wife and i have been doing horse archery for a while now. If you have any questions ill do my best to answer them. I do plains Indian style, and shoot a short bow. I made mention on the 4th of July post that my wife and i would be working on an article on starting Horses on mounted archery. Still working on it Life keeps getting in the way. . But like i said prolly have answers if y-all have questions. There is a few pics on the July post if ya look it up.


Katt

[Jimbob]

Thanks Wildkatt,  what did you do when first starting your horses on it?  I was thinking just take him to the round pen and just let him smell it, then rub it against him until he becomes comfortable with it but I wouldnt know where to go from there.  Would I have someone hold him while I stood next to him and shoot a few arrows into the target or maybe stand next to him and lightly "pop" the string repeatedly until he settles back down.  We use alot of Clinton Anderson methods in other training areas and thought there might be some way to apply it.

[wildkatt]

 :)OK Let me give u some background on the horses.We do a lot of things with our horses.Both my wife and i are mounted shooters,so we shoot guns as well as bows from horse back.We have 7 horses and shoot guns from 3, but can shoot bows from 6.We start by just going out to the field and stump shoot around the horses that allows them to get used to it at their own pace.When one of the horses comes up to see what we are doing we give them a very small treat and tell them how good they are.Pretty quick they figger out that there's nothing scary about the bows and so on, Yes we rub and love on the horses with the bows and so on.Then we move to the next step and put a halter on one and walk them with us as we stump shoot in the fields, Dont take long for them to be OK with it. Then we start the saddle work. We start by saddling two horses, one we shoot on one we dont. The one that we are training is ridden next to the one we are shooting from that way the  new horses rider has both hands to control the horse. Start at a walk and go from there.If you dont have an already trained horse  you  can do the shooting part from the ground walking next to the horse and rider.Be patient no 2 horses are the same.Will get some more typed from AZ. when i get there gotta get packed. Hope this helps.



Katt

[Jimbob]

Thanks, that was helpfull

[Little John]

The more broke and trained your horse is the better, some horses temperment and confidence in the handler can make them  naturals. My horse is very broke and trained and is a natural. When I first started, I shot the bow around him, and he was good with it, rubbed him with it, nothing. got on and moved the bow around and let him see I was not beating him, all went well so I shot an arrow from a short draw, maybe a bit of a flinch but nothing big so kept going and soon was shooting from a gallup. I shoot at a hay bale so so he gets a bite when I pull arrows, then I shot bareback and used the bale to hop back up from. Again this is from a very broke horse so you just got to take each horse and see what they know and how they are going to accept it. The thing is you have to be able to drop the reins ab be able to trust the horse, Mine is a reining horse and will guide to where I am looking and I do not use any kind of a rope fence to make him go where I want to go. Give it a try, have fun, and let me know how he does and any problems you run into.