Mounted archery

A horse archer, horsed archer, or mounted archer is a cavalryman armed with a bow, able to shoot while riding from horseback. Archery has occasionally been used from the backs of other riding animals. Mounted archery was a defining characteristic of the Eurasian nomads during antiquity and the medieval period, including Iranian peoples (Scythians, Sarmatians, Sassanids) and Indians in antiquity, and by the Mongols and the Turkic peoples during the Middle Ages. By the expansion of these peoples, the practice also spread to Eastern Europe (via the Sarmatians and the Huns) and to East Asia. In East Asia, horse archery came to be particularly honoured in the samurai tradition of Japan, where mounted archery is called Yabusame.

Mounted archery developed separately among the peoples of the South American pampas and the North American prairies; the Comanches were especially skilled.

Basic features


The natives of large grassland areas developed mounted archery for hunting, and for war. The buffalo hunts of the North American prairies may have been the most spectacular and best-recorded examples of bowhunting by mounted archers. Since using a bow requires the rider to let go of the reins with both hands, horse archers need superb equestrian skills if they are to shoot on the move.

Horse archers may be either light, such as Scythian, Hun, Parthian, Cuman or Pecheneg horsemen; or heavy, such as Byzantine kavallarioi, Russian druzhina and Japanese samurai. Some nations, like medieval Mongols and Hungarians, fielded both light and heavy cavalry. In some armies, such as those of the Parthians, Teutonic Order of Knights and Palmyrans, the mounted troops consisted of both super-heavy (cataphracts, knights) and ultra-light cavalry.

In battle, light horse archers were typically skirmishers; lightly armed missile troops capable of moving swiftly to avoid close combat or to deliver a rapid blow to the flanks or rear of the foe. In the tactic of the Parthian shot the rider would retreat from the enemy while turning his upper body and shooting backwards. Due to the superior speed of mounted archers, troops under attack from horse archers were unable to respond to the threat if they did not have ranged weapons of their own. Constant harassment would result in casualties, morale drop and disruption of the formation. Any attempts to charge the archers would also slow the entire army down.

An example comes from an attack on Comanche horse archers by Texas Rangers who were saved by their muzzle-loading firearms and by a convenient terrain feature. Captain John Bird rode up the Little River with fifty Rangers. They met some twenty Comanches hunting buffalo, and attacked them. The Comanches fled, easily keeping clear of the Rangers, for several miles across the open prairie before Bird noticed that he was now chasing some two hundred Indians. He immediately retreated, only to discover his classic error in fighting mounted archers. The Comanches pursued in turn, screaming and loosing what seemed like clouds of arrows. Bird's command happened across a ravine where they could shoot from cover. They fired carefully to keep the Indians at long range, always making sure they kept a few of their rifles loaded in case of an assault. The horse archers did not charge, but kept the Rangers under siege until seven of them, including Captain Bird, were dead or dying. The Rangers retreated to the east and claimed victory. Comanches set out on large-scale raids, destroying and torturing over a wide area.

Heavy horse archers, such as Byzantine kavallarioi, Turkish timariots or Japanese samurai, instead fought as disciplined units. Instead of harassing without ever making contact, they shot in volleys, weakening the enemy before they charged him. In addition to bows, they often also carried close combat weapons, such as lances or spears.

Appearance in history


Mounted archery first developed during the Iron Age, gradually replacing the Bronze Age chariot. The earliest depictions of mounted archers are found in artwork of the Neo-Assyrian Empire of about the 9th century BC and reflects the incursions of the early Iranian peoples. Early horse archery, depicted on the Assyrian carvings, involved two riders, one controlling both horses while the second shot.

One of the commanders who won his first battle against an army including large numbers of horse archers was Alexander the Great, however, according to the Greek historian Herodotus, the Persian general Mardonius used mounted archers to attack and harass his opponents during the Battle of Plataea, which was won by the Greeks. Alexander defeated Scythians in 329 BCE at the Battle of Jaxartes (the Syr Darya river). Even so, the Jaxartes marked the north-easternmost border of Alexander's realm in Asia, and he never ventured beyond into the heartlands of the horse nomads. However, Alexander was never interested in expanding his empire northwards since his main goal was to conquer the Persian empire and to reach the ”end of the world”, neither of which were found in North Asia. Prior to Alexander's Oriental campaign, Persian emperor Darius the Great had led a campaign against the mounted Scythians, who presumably out of fear of the Persian troops refused to engage in any battle, thus allowing Darius to conquer and occupy land without having to fight for it. Furthermore, Alexander the Great's father, king Philip of Macedon, scored an epic victory against the Scythians residing north of the Danube, killing their king and causing their kingdom to fall apart thereafter. Another example of combined troops scoring crushing victories against armies mostly of mounted archers is the highly successful Han campaign against the mounted Xiongnu nomads.

By contrast with the above mentioned successes of combined forces against armies mostly of mounted archers, the amateur general Crassus led a large army, with inadequate cavalry and missile troops, against Parthian horse archers and cataphracts and to catastrophe at the Battle of Carrhae. It should be noted, however, that well led Roman troops managed to score crushing defeats against the Parthians and even sacked the Parthian capital on three occasions.

The medieval Battle of Liegnitz is a classic example of horse archers contributing to the defeat of armoured troops, via demoralization and continued harassment. However, it is a fact that most historians subscribe to that the Mongols were employing Chinese fire weapons at the time,   which diminishes the merits of mounted archery to the Mongol Empire's successful expansion.

Skirmishing requires vast areas of free space to run, manoeuvre and flee, and if the terrain is close, light horse archers can be charged and defeated easily. Light horse archers are also very vulnerable to foot archers and crossbowmen, who are smaller targets and can outshoot horsemen. Large armies very seldom relied solely on skirmishing mounted archers.

Heavy horse archers first appeared in the Assyrian army in the 7th century BCE after abandoning the chariot warfare and formed a link between light skirmishing cavalrymen and heavy cataphract cavalry. The heavy horse archers usually had mail or lamellar armour and helmets, and sometimes even their horses were armoured. Heavy horse archers, instead of skirmishing and hit-and-run tactics, formed in disciplined formations and units, sometimes intermixed with lancers as in Byzantine and Turkish armies, and shot as volleys instead of shooting as individuals. The usual tactic was to first shoot five or six volleys at the enemy to weaken him and to disorganise them, and then charge. Heavy horse archers often carried spears or lances for close combat, or formed mixed units with lancers. The Mongol armies and others included both heavy and light horse archers.

Heavy horse archers could usually outshoot their light counterparts, and wearing armour, could stand their shooting. The Russian druzhina cavalry developed as a countermeasure to the Tatar light troops. Likewise, the Turkish timariots and qapikulu were often as heavily armoured as Western knights, and could stand the Hungarian, Albanian and Mongol horse archers.

The German and Scandinavian Medieval armies made extensive use of mounted crossbowmen. They would act not only as scouts and skirmishers, but also protecting the flanks of the knights and infantry, and chasing away the enemy light cavalry. When the battle was fully engaged, they would charge at the enemy flank, shoot a single devastating volley at point-blank range and then attack the enemy with swords, without reloading. The invention of ratchet cranequin allowed the mounted crossbowmen to use heavy crossbows on horseback.

Decline of mounted archery
Mounted archery was usually ineffective against massed foot archery. The foot archers or crossbowmen could outshoot the horse archers and a man alone is a smaller target than a man and a horse. The Crusaders countered the Turkoman horse archery with their crossbowmen, and Genoese crossbowmen were favoured mercenaries in both Mamluk and Mongol armies. Likewise the Chinese armies consisted of massed crossbowmen to counter the nomad armies. A nomad army that wanted to engage in an archery exchange with foot archers would itself normally dismount. The typical Mongol archer shot from a sitting position when dismounted.

Horse archers were eventually rendered obsolete by the development of modern firearms. In the 16th and subsequent centuries, various cavalry forces armed with firearms gradually started appearing. Because the conventional arquebus and musket were too awkward for a cavalryman to use, lighter weapons such as the carbine had to be developed, that could be effectively used from horseback, much in the same manner as the composite recurve bow presumably developed from earlier bows. 16th-century Dragoons and Carabiniers were heavier cavalry equipped only with firearms, but pistols coexisted with the composite bow, often used by the same rider, well into the 17th century in Eastern European cavalry such as Muscovites, Kalmycks, Turks and Cossacks. Mounted archery remained an effective tactical system in open country until the introduction of repeating firearms. The Comanches of North America found their bows more effective than muzzle loading guns. "After... about 1800, most Comanches began to discard muskets and pistols and to rely on their older weapons." Bows were still used in the fighting that ended the freedom of Native Americans in the United States, but almost all warriors who had immediate access to modern firearms used their guns instead.

Technology
The weapon of choice for Eurasian horse archers was most commonly a composite recurve bow, because it was compact enough to shoot conveniently from a horse while retaining sufficient range and penetrating power. North Americans used short wooden bows often backed with sinew, but never developed the full three-layer composite bow.

Modern revival of mounted archery


Mounted archery and associated skills were revived in Mongolia after independence in 1921 and are displayed at festivals, in particular the Naadam. Despite the formidable history of Mongolian horse archers, the sport is very limited in Mongolia itself today and at most Naadam festivals the archery and horse-riding competitions are conducted independently; the horses are raced with one another, and the archery is traditionally practiced from a standing position rather than mounted. In the past five years a desire to revive the tradition seems to have been addressed with the foundation of the Mongolian Horseback Archery Association whose members have competed in South Korea and Europe.

Horseback archery has also been revived by Kassai Lajos and other modern Hungarians. European horseback archery as a growing sport and equestrian skill is principally based on the Kassai, or "Hungarian" system. There are several competitions and meetings around the world in any given year – mostly in Hungary, Germany and other Central European countries, but also in Canada (Mt Currie, BC), the United States and also in South Korea. Amongst participants of this growing sport there is a dream of one day finding acceptance as an Olympic equestrian event.

Kassai school of horseback archery
A horseback archery competition course, as defined by Kassai, is ninety nine meters long. There is one target with a rotating face on the course at its center point – its diameter is ninety centimeters. An electronic timing system gives the archer a maximum of 20 seconds to cover the course; to encourage speed as well as accuracy, the number of seconds less than 20 is added to the score reached on the targets. Any traditional bow or a modern fiberglass replica can be used, and with the exception of the nocking point, use of any other devices is strictly forbidden.

Please see here for a pictorial presentation of the Competition Course.

Hungarian technique
Originally the Scythians, Mongols and the Turkish archers all used variants of a thumb ring and they released arrows from 'inside' the bow. (For example, for a right-handed archer holding the bow in their left hand, the arrow sits across the left hand's thumb and on the right side of the bow.) Kassai, however, uses the later, Western method of shooting 'around the bow' and a three-fingered release (for a right-handed archer, the arrow rests over the back of the left hand holding the bow, and is released round the left side of the bow).

The bows are generally fairly light (from about 30 – 40 lbs) and Kassai uses carbon arrows rather than the more traditional wooden shafts. The 'release' has been significantly modified from a traditional Western release and involves a rather emphatic extension of the release hand (the right hand in the case of a right-handed archer) after releasing the arrow. This helps balance on horseback by allowing a slower adjustment to the transfer of momentum as the arrow leaves the bow.

For fast shooting, Kassai has developed a technique of holding up to a dozen arrows in the bow-hand from which the archer can reload quickly. Kassai's research has shown that the process of pulling arrows from a back quiver or saddle quiver is too cumbersome and slow - it is not known how the Mongols or their predecessors managed the task as no records remain. Kassai places great emphasis on this technique and can shoot up to 12 arrows in 17.80 seconds, while mounted.

Kassai places great emphasis on horsemanship. The aspiring horseback archer must first practice 'bare-back' (without any saddle) to develop good balance. Once past a certain level the archer may graduate to use a specially modified Eastern Saddle. Previously it was thought that the optimum time to release the arrow was rising in the stirrups at the height of the horse's rise in the canter, but as is regularly demonstrated the archer can shoot without stirrups (although generally the top of the rise, when all four horse's hooves are out of contact with the ground, is still the best point for release.)

Traditional Korean school
Korea has a tradition of horseback archery. In 2007, the Korean government passed a law to preserve and encourage development of traditional Korean martial arts, including horseback archery.

In Korean archery competitions there are five disciplines that are competed separately. The major difference in Korean archery is that all arrows must be stowed somewhere on the archer or horse, unlike Hungarian style where the archer can take the arrows from the bow hand. Traditionally this is a quiver on the right thigh, but it may also be through a belt, a sash, a saddle quiver or even held in a boot or arm quiver.

The first competition is a single shot to the side. The track is 90 m long (as in the Hungarian method) but carries only one target set back around 5–10m from the track. This has a unique fascia that consists of five square concentric rings which increase in point score from the outer to inner; the inner (often decorated with a 'Tiger' face) is worth the maximum five points. Each archer has two passes to complete, and each run has to be completed within 16 seconds (or penalty points are incurred).

The next competition is very similar but is known as the double shot which features one target in the first 30m, slightly angled forwards, and a second target in the last 30m, slightly angled backwards.

The final competition for the static targets is the serial shot which consists of five targets evenly spaced along a 110 m track, approximately one target every 20 m or so. In all three static target competitions, additional bonus points are awarded for style and form.

Another major difference in Korean archery style is the Mogu, or moving target competition. This consists of one rider towing a large cotton-and-bamboo ball behind their horse while another archer attempts to shoot the ball (with special turnip-headed arrows which have been dipped in ink). The archer attempts to hit the ball as many times as possible. A second Mo Gu event consists of a team of two trying to hit the target towed by a third rider. Points are awarded for how many arrows strike the ball (verified by the ink stains on the Mogu).

Traditional Japanese horseback archery
The history of Japanese horseback archery dates back to the 4th century. It became popular in Japan, attracting crowds. The Emperor found that the crowds were not appropriate to the solemn and sacred nature of the occasion, and banned public displays in 698. Horseback archery was a widely used combat technique from the Heian Period to the Sengoku Period. Nasu no Yoichi, a samurai of the Kamakura Period is the most famous horseback archer in Japan. Three kinds of Japanese horseback archery (Kasagake, Yabusame, and Inuoumono (dog shooting)) were defined.

When the arquebus was introduced to Japan in the 16th century, archery became outdated. To maintain traditional Japanese horseback archery, Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun, ordered the Ogasawara clan to found a school. Current Japanese horseback archery succeeds to the technique reformed by the Ogasawara clan.

Traditionally, women were barred from performing in yabusame, but in 1963 female archers participated in a yabusame demonstration for the first time.