After fretting over my experience in Korea for a week. I thought I might share this. As many know, Darran and I traveled to Korea to compete in what is known as the World Championships of Horseback Archery. We knew their would be around 70 competitors going, 17 from the United States. We had signed up early and by the time we heard how many archers would be there it was too late to back out. We know how hard it is to supply well trained horseback archery horses for a competition as we had held one ourselves in September. Fortunately, in the US we have several clubs that train regularly and had generous members willing to share their horses for others to compete. Of course, you will never be able to supply a perfect horse for everyone, but truly we did the best we could to find the right riders for the right horse. In order to be used in our competition, all horses had to be experienced and proven safe horseback archery horses. In Korea, with so many shooters it soon became apparent that they had turned to ex-racehorses to fill in the need for archery horses. I was deeply troubled by this from the start as I had worked with ex-racehorses in the past. I knew how difficult it would be to train this breed with a loose rein after living life as a track horse. As an experienced horsewoman I trusted in my skills to keep me safe and the officials to put me on a horse that had at least some horseback archery training. My trust faded as soon as I mounted up. The horses were kind enough in the eye, but not respectful on the ground or in the saddle and certainly had no stop. If given time, most of these horses might take to the sport. But, months not minutes would have been needed. After trying three horses that were not suitable, I decided that it would not be worth the risk of losing life or limb in a competition to prove my value as a horseback archer or a woman or whatever other vanity seeking I would be chasing. I have suffered in my self inflicted humiliation ever since. At least until last night. I thought of a little story. I will share it with you, as I think it explains everything. A young man needs his field plowed and he doesn’t know much about horses. He goes to a local auction, sees horse he likes and buys him. “He’s big enough he’ll be just fine,” the man says to his boy. They take the him home and the next morning they bring the new horse out to the field. The horse is a little jumpy, that’s okay, ex-racehorses tend to be a little nervous, he thought, but he’s strong and that’s what we need. The boy holds the horse by the bridle while the man hitches the rigging. As the blade hits the dirt it clinks on a rock. The racehorse thinks back to a familiar sound, a gunshot; a gunshot that is followed by a little man on his back beating him with a stick and his only job was to run as fast as he could until that stick stops slapping him in the ass. The man notices a change in the horse’s eye, a shift in his demeanor, this horse isn’t on a field needing to be plowed, he is on a racetrack and the gate just opened. The horse pulls out of the boys hand, then leaps forward knocking the boy to the ground. The blade is sure to follow. Now, I don’t want to get graphic, but here is the moral of the story: Get the right horse for the job and don’t expect a race horse to be something other than a racehorse unless it has proven itself otherwise. This is not to compare horseback archery to plowing a field. However, it does speak to the idea that a horse only knows the job it is accustomed to and if we expect it to change jobs we need to transition them not throw it in without concern or care. We also need to know our own limitations. If a horse doesnt feel right, dont ride. Horseback archery can be a safe sport if we do our part to train the horses not to bolt and run wildly into the range and to stop safely, stay in control. Otherwise it is a rodeo. Dont get me wrong rodeos are fun, just not safe and with a bow and arrow, actually, could be quite deadly. Thats my take on it. I will say nothing else about the matter. I am not angry at the officials...just disappointed that I trained so hard and flew so far to learn these lessons. However, in exchange, I now have a deeper understanding of the discipline and training I must continue to have in order to keep myself and others safe in this sport. As a side note, this was my experience, others at the competition that were provided with good archery horses and had a great time. I just happened to draw horses that I didnt think were suitable for the sport. I am not sure exactly how horseback archery can ever be fair if you are riding someone else horse. By its nature, horseback archery is a very intimate sport. You become one with your horse. Definitely the challenge. I may just stay home and shoot for fun. Im just not sure right now. As for the rest of my archery brothers and sisters, stay safe and happy shooting.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 19:27:15 +0000