Pony bow

[tallpine]

  I have seen a few plains Indian bows posted on here but never really gave them much thought until I read a book on the plains Indians of Texas and what formable opponents they were armed with these short bows not to mention there ability to shoot plum through a buffalo weighing close 2000 lbs. I wanted to shoot one so I tried my hand at building one. This is what I came up with. Osage, 1 inch wide, 48 inches tip to tip, draws 46lbs @ 24inches, 3 courses of White Tail back sinew. The skin is a Eastern Mud Snake, I split him down the side and left the belly scales then cut it in half and turned it 180 so the belly scales are opposite on the top and bottom limb. This little bow shoots hard and is surprisingly accurate once you get the hang of it. These pony bows are fun to build and even more fun to shoot.  I learned a lot building this bow and have started another hoping to get 60 lbs. out of the next one. This is my first short bow and first bendy handle so I was just winging it, any constructive criticism on my tiller is both appreciated and welcomed. Thanks for looking , Dan [/img]

[lebhuntfish]

WOW!  Very nice little bow! I love the way you did the skins! Patrick

[wizardgoat]

Cool looking little bow, those skins look fantastic.
Its real tough getting a perfect bend on those little guys.
Your real close, looks to me like the bottom limb could bend more everywhere except the fade, but if it shoots well then just leave it. Cheers

[Pappy]

Lots of bend on that short baby, nice job, love the skins. I am no expert on short's bend handle bow but looks to me like it could use a little more bend in the mid 1/3 before you get to the recurved tips. JMO  Don't look like it took much set so probably if it shoots good ,leave as is. Pappy

[Hrothgar]

Nice looking bow and skins, anything is possible with osage!

[bowandarrow473]

Beautiful bow, the skins are amazing!

[JonW]

Shorties are cool huh Next time get some more work out of the bow in the middle thirds. Most of your bow is working in the handle and inners. I like the skins.

[bradsmith2010]

looks nice,, my favorite hunting bow is a short bow of same design,, I have shot through a buffalo with self bow,,and shot through a few deer with bow like yours,, getting the outer limbs to work a bit more as suggested would be good I think,, stressing the limb a bit more even might make it shoot a bit smoother,,, but heck it might be perfect as is,, B

[ajbruggink]

Not much more be said, great bow! Like was already stated, I like the way you did those skins. I also like your quiver 

[Badly Bent]

Killer looking bow there, those skins have a real nice color and pattern to them.

[Arrowind]

WOW! Very nice!

[riverrat]

awesome pony bow! does it buck in the hand much? the tiller seems to be in toward the center a little much. if you worked on getting that tiller a little further out in the limbs and maybe tillered those resets so they worked as you got close to full draw, id imagine youd get a great cast as for distance. the same power with a little more draw.and a more comfortable release.just my thoughts. but i love that bow. great work! Tony

[GB]

Beautiful bow!

[tallpine]

Thanks guys for the kind words and tillering advice.  I truly appreciate it. Dan

[Hans H]

Yes Sir, that`s a really beautiful bow

Hans