Question for Mongolian Horsebowman among us

[Caseless]

I was talking to my coworker the other day and she mentioned she has a horse stabled somewhere that she rides every week. This got me thinking...
Do any of you accmplished archers ever practice your archery from horseback?
If so, what bow model or bow length did you use? Are recurves and longbows easier to shoot than a compound from a moving horse?

 

[Bruz]

Do any of you accmplished archers ever practice your archery from horseback?


Used to, but lost more horses than arrows.

Seriously though, I could not imagine trying to shoot an arrow while riding a horse...I guess a very low poundage bow at very short distances, but not practical for my shooting needs.

 

[CWL]

Classical horsearchers like mongols, turks, huns, scythians, tartars usually carried at least two bows while on campaign.

They were made from composite bone, wood and sinew. these were recurved bows and when unstrung, curved in the opposite direction from the string.

Horse war bows tended to have pull weights of over 100 lbs and up to 180 lbs (if I remember properly from my history books). Horsearchers were mean and strong and lived to ride, hunt and fight.

Japanese horse archers used longbows, but these were shorter on the bottom length than on the top to give allowance for their height as well as manageability while mounted.

Western Europeans didn't deploy many horsearchers (geography didn't support nomadic lifestyle) and the few mounted longbowmen I've read about would dismount before going into battle.

 

[Byron Quick]

check out http://www.traditional-archery-scandinavia.com/englisch/englisch.html

Also check out the three volume set-"The Traditional Bowyer's Bible." There is a section on making the composite horse bow.

 

[Penman]

One of the significant inventions for mounted warfare was the stirrup, which helped to provide a stabel platform for a mounted archer. There's a book called "Arrows Against Steel", or something like that, which discusses the Mongol use of mounted archers. I've got it somewhere, pm me if you want more details on the book.

Another tool the Mongols used was a thumb ring, as a one point relase. the ring protected the inside of the tumb, and allowed them to hook the thumb around the bowstring and fold the index finger over the first joint of the thumb to draw the bow. This type of release created less drag than the Mediterranean type of release, which is the traditional three fingered position that's common today.

The Mongols also were innovative in thier communications-the mounted courriers would wrap fabric around their bodies for support during their long rides, and the messengers received priority status and could even demand the horse of a General if they needed a fresh mount.

 

[Sunray]

www.horsebows.com Nice, but expensive.
"... pull weights of over 100 lbs and up to 180 lbs..." That'd be the English longbow of the 14th century.

 

[CWL]

"... pull weights of over 100 lbs and up to 180 lbs..." That'd be the English longbow of the 14th century

Sure they were. I'm talking about real compound warbows fired by horsearchers.

If you are referencing modern reproductions, and while beautiful, they are made for collectors and re-enactors with $$ means (ie. mostly sedentary people with beer guts).

Traditional compound warbows were fired by nomadic horsearchers who lived on a diet of milk, cheese and meat. They had a better diet than over 90+% of Europeans or any other counterpart. Yes, horsearchers were muscular and strong. Their entire lives were spent riding & hunting with fighting thrown in occassionaly.

Warbows had a range (unaimed) of 440yards -that's a 1/4 mile. In Turkey, distance arrows were fired over 680 yards. Armory Turkish warbows have been tested from 97-lbs to 157-lbs.

In Qing-Dynasty China (ended 1911) the entrance test for archers was the ability to draw a bow with 200-lb pull. The excercise regimen for imperial guardsmen was to draw their 180-lb bows 24 times each day.

 

[Crimper-D]

I've used Oriental Archers rings...

When I was an archery buff in High school. These were the real thing, mostly jadeite and bone, some _real_ old. = A friend had a father who collected the things, along with snuffbottles.
THey WORK! took some getting used to, but the draw and letoff with an old Bear recurve bow was very smooth. Much easier to get into use than the Western archers gloves.
Often wonderd what happened to those artifacts

 

[JackM]

The Mongolian Bow
http://www.coldsiberia.org/monbow.htm

Bye
Jack