The Spirit of Horse Archery

Mobile Warrior:

The Spirit of Horse Archery, it’s Art, and Mechanics

By Archer Peters

My name is Archer. As my namesake implies, I have been an archer for as long as I can remember. The witchery of archery, the graceful curve of a bow, the whisper of the feathers through the air, and its deadly impact; it’s magic to me, and always will be.

It started out at the age of four, when I could first draw a bow. Back then, I was hunting the cardboard set up at the compost pile. Later in life, tasty critters in wild places. Now, it’s the lifestyle of the Horse Archer. An ancient discipline made up of great martial skill, focus, and horsemanship.

I first learned about horse archery from a series of books – The Traditional Bowyers Bibles. There it told a story of the Scythians, a nomadic tribe of horse archers, and their war against the Persian army of King Darius in 512 BCE. This remains one of the largest military operations to date, with the Persians bringing a force of 72,000 against the vastly outnumbered Scythians, estimated to be 10-15,000 in total. At the time, Persia was the most powerful nation on the planet, but there was one great tribe they could not conquer. Through the usage of guerilla tactics, and their great skill with the horse and bow, eventually the most powerful nation in the world was forced to retreat, defeated, being unable to conquer the indomitable tribe of horse warriors. Since I read this account, I have been inspired to follow the footsteps of one of the greatest warrior archetypes ever known.

Archery may be seen as a sport, but I see it as much more than that. Archery has almost always been a core part of the human experience – something primal that tugs at some deeply latent, forgotten chord of our being. A way to procure food and carry on the species by defending oneself from attackers, whether a great bear, or a malevolent invader. It is a lifelong journey, always with a lesson for you, and a new skill set to learn, and refine - growth through adversity makes us better in all aspects of life.

The main characteristic of horse archers that has given them such great success is mobility; in their style of archery, their horsemanship, and by extension their nomadic lifestyle. The Horse Archer would not be complete without his or her mount; which is a useful tool for fighting, hunting, living, (in our case, also practicing a martial art/ sport in modern times) and most importantly, a beloved companion. Horsemanship and archery is the way of life, and the way of war.

The style of archery practiced by horse archers is unique. By its certain mechanics, it imparts many strong advantages to its practitioner.

Observing a typical, static traditional archer will reveal a certain method of shooting which is not conducive to mobility, as the archer must be stationary to fire accurately. The style of archery practiced at Okanagan Khanate Mounted Archery is based on ancient war manuals and techniques practiced by a variety of different cultures, with some key differences. The core two differences are the thumb draw, and the opposite side arrow principle. The arrow is loaded on the far side of the bow. The thumb hook and drawing hand in unison with the bow hand create and reinforce a frame by which the weapon is controlled, and the arrow is held secure during dynamic movement. Through a combination of these two primary methods (and there are many more) the archer can maintain constant control of the bow and the arrow. This simple principle opens up the door for an extremely balanced style of archery which has a unique and strong ability: mobility. This leads us from base mechanics, to what makes this practice a martial art.

Khatra – the art of archery. This technique is essentially “predisposing the bow to move away from the arrow’s path,” and while this may sound inconsequential, it all but entirely eliminates one of the oldest problems of the bow and arrow: the Archer’s Paradox. In short, the paradox is as follows: the force applied to the arrow from the string causes it to bend around the bow before travelling straight, corrected by the fletching. Khatra allows an archer skilled in its practice to use any arrow they please, all the while giving greater speed and accuracy, eliminating the paradox entirely.

Shoot from any angle, shoot at a gallop, and have fun.