Kim Young Sup of the World Horseback Archery Federation has today announced that the 2008, Fourth International Horseback Archery Competition will be held from August 14th - 17th.

The Long Riders’ Guild’s new Equestrian Wisdom and History series has been brought to our attention. The series is designed to re-publish the most important equestrian books previously written, as well as publishing indispensable new works by the world’s leading equine academics, equine investigative journalists and riders. There are approximately one hundred titles scheduled for production and the books will be available in a host of languages.

At present some of the titles include:

Mounted Archery in the Americas (Edited by David Gray and Lukas Novotny)

This fascinating and amply illustrated book charts the history of mounted archery from its ancient roots on the steppes of Eurasia thousands of years ago to its current resurgence in popularity in the Americas. It also provides the reader with up-to-the-minute practical information gleaned from a unique team of the world’s leading experts.

Mounted archery is shooting the bow and arrow from horseback at the canter and after a century and a half of neglect on the Great Plains of North America, interest in this thrilling activity is rapidly spreading from the Arctic Circle to the Tropic of Capricorn.

This is the story of the reappearance of this exciting discipline in the Americas.

Horseback archery has its origins in two of the great grasslands of the world—the United States Great Plains, and the vast steppes of Eurasia. As far back as 3,000 years ago Asian mounted warriors thundered down on their enemies in lightning surprise attacks, loosing showers of arrows which stunned and hopelessly dissembled their pedestrian opposition.

The horseback archery culture of the American Indians reached a similar level of development and sophistication, but emerged much later and was a shorter phenomenon. Horses spread north from the Spanish colony of Mexico through the Plains beginning in the mid 1600’s, but this dynamic equestrian culture virtually vanished with the demise of the buffalo in the mid 1800’s.

The Centaur Legacy (Bjarke Rink)

This immensely entertaining and historically important book provides an in-depth study into how man’s partnership with his equine companion changed the course of history and accelerated human development.

It took a cultural nomad and intellectual maverick such as Bjarke Rink, who was born in Denmark and now live in Brazil, to think outside the box of traditional equestrian theology.

The dedicated horseman spent years studying the symbiotic blending of human intellect and equine speed, documenting how these two unique life-forms connect to each other to create a superior being — the legendary centaur!

“My challenge was to find the human role in the neurophysiology of equitation and to crack the Centaur enigma,” Rink said.

The author’s pioneering research blends the ancient art of horsemanship with cutting-edge 21st century scientific thought, taking the reader on a galloping tale stretching from the ancient Central Asian birthplace of horsemanship to the laboratories which are helping to fuel the great equestrian renaissance which is occurring around the world today.

Read more about the series>  The Equestrian Wisdom and History Literary Collection

We have added some movie clips now to the website. There are a lot more to come but this should give newcomers to the website a flavour of what horseback archery is and how it looks. At present there is only one clip from the meeting that was held in November 2007 showing our guest that day, Christian Schraude. There are a few more clips to be added; slowly over the coming months and years we will get more footage to add.

If you have any clips  of your own, or favourites from You Tube, then let us know and we will add them.

See the current clips here> Horseback Archery Clips