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Modern Horseback Archery
The Hungarian Lajos Kassai has been instrumental in developing this equestrian sport and bringing some of its history, skills and learning into the current century. Modern horseback archery as a sport and equestrian skill is principally based on the Kassai system. There are several competitions and meetings around the world in any given year - mostly in Hungary and Central Europe but also in the United States (notably Fort Dodge in Iowa).
A horseback archery competition course, as defined by Kassai, is ninety meters long. It is divided into three equal sections, each separated with drove posts.
There are three targets on the course at its centre point - the diameter of each is ninety centimeters. The first target may only be shot from a forward shooting position in the first 30m section, the middle target may only be shot sideways from the second 30m section, and the third target may only be shot backwards (in tribute to the Parthian shot) from the last 30m section of the track. An electronic timing system begins to count down from 18 seconds the moment the competitor enters the first gate and stops when the archer finishes the 90 metres canter. This is the maximum period of time in which the riders must cover the course - the amount of time saved is added to the score reached on the targets. Only a traditional recurve bow can be used in the contest and with the exception of the nocking point use of any other devices is strictly forbidden.
Scoring
The available scores differ on each target reflecting the difficulty of the shots. At the contest, competitors are permitted three warm-up runs followed by nine scored runs, the total score of which yields the final result. If no points are scored from hitting a target ,the total score of that run will be zero, regardless of the spare time. Equally if the run takes over 18 seconds the score is also void no matter how many successful shots land on target. As this goes to show, the faster the archer goes the more time they save, and the more accurately they shoot (with as many arrows as possible) thus the more points the archer will collect.
Techniques
A student in New Zealand demonstrates the proper release technique and how to hold multiple arrows in the bowhand
Originally the Scythians, Mongols and some of the Turkish archers, all used variants of a thumb-ring and a release of arrow from 'inside' the bow. (e.g. for a right handed archer holding the bow in their left hand the arrow sits across the left hand's thumb and on the right side of the bow). This is completely different from the Western tradition of 'three-fingered' or 'Mediterranean' release which occurs 'round the bow' (e.g. for a right handed archer this means the arrow rests over the back of the left hand holding the bow, over the fore-finger's knuckle, and is released round the left side of the bow).
Kassai however has adopted the Western method of shooting
'round the bow' and a three-fingered release. The bows are generally fairly light (from about 30 - 40lbs) and Kassai uses alloy arrows rather than the more traditional wooden shafts.
Ostensibly this is due to the large amount of arrows shot and
the fact that they need to be durable. The 'release' has been largely modified from a traditional Western release and involves a rather emphatic extension of the release hand (the right hand in the case of a right-handed archer) after releasing the arrow. This performs a number of functions - firstly as a focus, and secondly as a counter-balance whilst on horseback to the power leaving the front of the bow.
To ensure rapidity of shooting Kassai has developed a technique
of holding up to a dozen arrows in the bow-hand from which the archer can re-draw quickly. Kassai's re
has shown that the previously envisaged pulling arrows from a back quiver or saddle quiver to be too cumbersome and slow - it is not known how the Mongols or their predecessors managed the task as no records remain of this facet of horseback archery. Kassai himself places great emphasis on this technique and can shoot up to 10 arrows in 12 seconds.[citation needed]
Regarding horsemanship skills, upon which Kassai places equal
emphasis, the aspiring horseback archer must practice first 'bare-back' (without any saddle) to promote good balance. Once past a certain level the archer may graduate to use a specially modified Eastern Saddle. Previously it was thought that the optimum time to release the arrow was rising in the stirrups at the height of the horse's rise in the canter, but as is regularly demonstrated the archer can shoot without stirrups (although generally the top of the rise when all four horse's hooves are not in contact with the ground is still the optimum point for release.)
It has also to be noted that in 2006, using these techniques, Kassai broke his own Guinness Book of Records achievement of shooting non-stop for twenty four hours and maintaining an average of over 200 points on the competition course. He used 10 horses and scored a total of 15,594 points from 5,413 shots over 661 gallops.[citation needed]
