What to Buy
A guide to purchasing equipment
Beginners kit for horse archery is a bit of a minefield - a lot of standard archery kit isn’t useful and many horse bows are not suitable for beginners. However, I know that getting your own gear is exciting so here are some suitable items of starter kit.
Arm guards
Long arm guards are best for beginner archers and you can’t go far wrong, some links below:
Red Frog - Adjustable Armguard
Shooting gloves
Most will be for right handed archers, beware if you are left handed. You can use tape but personally I prefer a glove.
Arrows
Arrows can get very technical and as you are shooting low powered bows, you need suitable arrows for safety. Some nice starter horse archery arrows can be found below and you can choose your fletch colours. The Easton Jazz shaft 1816 are suitable for sub 20lb bows such as the ones listed below - ask me to talk you through the order.
Clicks Archery - Horseback Arrows
Bows
Low poundage is better, below 20lbs. The easiest and cheapest option is a Rolan Snake bow-the 50” youth one at 16lbs is the bow you’ll have used at CVHA. These can be purchased from Clickers or Red Frog listed above but be sure to ask them to send them without nocking points. They are generally around £50.
Both the above stores sell the White Feather Fairy Korean horse bow for about £160. These go down to 20lbs and are another good choice.
Clickers also stock a 48” Youth Korean bow which can be ordered in a 15 or 20lb weight which would be a good option if you want the lighter draw weight or like a more traditional look.
If you don’t mind waiting a few weeks and really want a traditional looking Asiatic bow, ordering from Alibow in China is recommended. Their fibreglass bows have an excellent reputation and are hard to beat for value for money. Their Mongol “Ghengis Khan” bow has a suitable long draw length and can be ordered in at 15 or 20lb for $100 plus shipping. I have 2 Alibows and looking to get another! Again, have a chat with me about the order before you put it through.
Quivers
Quivers are difficult! There’s no one currently making them commercially in the UK and the style of quiver depends on your handedness and also your nocking style. It’s really best to wait a while and try out the club quivers a few times.
However, if you really want a good working horse archery quiver, Knavish Designs (Etsy) in Australia will make you a custom one. Their small thigh quivers are about £100 and will take about 10 arrows. I have one of these quivers and so I know they work! And also, they are 🤩
Knavish Designs have also come up with a horse archery back quiver design which is pretty cool.
Books
And if you want to learn more about HBA history, techniques and competitions this book is a must.