Students prepare to become archers on horseback
BIBLE HILL, N. S. – Cheryl Leask may have been kneeling on a balance ball, but her arrows still found their mark.
Leask was a participant in the introduction to horseback archery clinic, recently held at the MacMillan Show Centre in Bible Hill.
“Mounted archery has always interested me, and the clinic was amazing,” said Leask, who lives in Spencer’s Point, Cumberland County. “I learned a lot – and laughed a lot.
“This is a form of history and it’s another way of being with your horse.”
Clinic participants also fired arrows while bouncing on a ball, timing their shot to the point when all four of a cantering horse’s feet would be off the ground.
Lance Bishop of Seawinds Horse Archers in Canning was the instructor.
“At the first clinic we focus on getting people comfortable with the bow and learning form,” he said. “We learn on the ground before trying it from horseback.”
Bishop remembers, when he was about 10 years old, dreaming of shooting arrows while on horseback. He was already involved in archery, but it was a few years before he began riding, and it’s four years since he combined them.
He travelled to Ottawa, California and Hungary to learn a martial-arts style of mounted archery from Lajos Kassai and then built a 99-metre ‘Kassai’ course in Canning.
He encourages people to ride bareback when they’re first practising archery.
“It forces you to find balance,” he said. “When I use a saddle it’s usually a basic military type saddle with small seat and high pommel and cantle. I usually rider bitless, mostly with rope halters.
“People can do this with any type of horse, but one important thing is that they have a smooth canter. The biggest thing is to have a relationship that works with the horse. You have to be able to drop the reins, and even when your eyes are on the target, have strong enough faith in the relationship to know you’ll keep going forward.”
Leask has a thoroughbred exrace horse she feels will be suitable for mounted archery.
“We do trail riding and a lot of ground work,” she said. “We don’t compete, but I think this is something we could both enjoy.”
“This is a form of history and it’s another way of being with your horse.” Cheryl Leask