Horse Archery, Ground Archery & Horse Bows

Horse archery uses only non-centre shot bows, with centre shot, release aids, sights etc not allowed in the sport. As horse archers shoot off the hand, only feather fletches are used with tape or bow gloves for protection. Protective gear is provided by the club until archers are ready to purchase their own.

We start beginner horse archers off by teaching them the thumb draw technique as this translates well to arrow handling when mounted. However, Mediterranean draw is used by some of the world’s most successful horse archers. If you are a seasoned ground archer, there’s no need to change your draw technique unless you want to.

Horse archery tends not to be at great distances and while horse bows can be purchased with high draw weights, the majority of archers tend to use 20lbs-35lbs.

If you are an existing archer who’d like to try this type of archery or an existing primitive bow archer then you are very welcome to join our ground archery sessions (BHAA riding membership required for insurance purposes). If you are an experienced archer I just request that higher poundage bows (> 45lbs) are left at home (for the sake of the club targets!) and that target points only are used on any arrows that you have. Lower poundage bows are available to try, along with appropriate arrows.

One great thing about horse archery is the different shots that can be used-not only side shots. As a Club coach I can teach side, back and front shots as well as skills such as blind nocking and shooting at speed, so there’s much that we can offer the ground archer as well. The club plans to host higher qualified coaches to teach further skills and types of shots as well as its own postal matches over the year. Ground postals are also regularly held by the BHAA and the IHAA and a great way of progressing the ground archer’s skill set. Those who don’t ride or don’t currently have their own horse, are very welcome to join the club as non-riding members. The club does not have trained horses for hire but a selection of schools that do can be found here BHAA Site