History of Horseback Archery

Once upon a time fearless and proud warriors rode on horseback from Central Asia, through the endless plains of the steppes, and into Europe. Their bows were powerful, their archery skills extraordinary, and they all shared the same martial art: horseback archery.

The history of the steppe tribes is very complex and it is little known in the western world despite the fact that they have had a major impact on all the sedentary peoples that settled on the periphery of their grassland empires.

Waves of Central Asia's nomads, starting with the Scythians around the 8th century BC, followed by the Huns, the Avars, the Magyars and later the Mongols, all shared the same lifestyle.They owned only what they could carry and were always moving from pasturage to pasturage over vast steppes, traveled and fought on horseback during their long migrations.

The Scythians used short bows with arrows that had very small cast bronze heads with three edges. These bows were developed further by the Huns, who attached rigid ears to the ends and replaced the tiny bronze arrowheads with huge, triple-edged steel heads. The legendary weapon was further perfected by the Magyars and especially by the Mongols who added the strig-stool to the bow, which enabled a faster cast of the arrows while firing.

Using the nomad bow from horseback, their tactics were characterized by swift attacks and rapid withdrawals. Without slowing the horse they fired their bow on the advance and in retreat. The left flank kept exchanging places with the right, performing a continuous rotating motion. Trying to keep out of the range of the enemy's arrows the heavily armored troops were disadvantaged confronting with mobile forces of the mounted archers.

This military tactic also required a different method of riding the horse - with both hands occupied with bow and arrow, horses were trained to respond to commands from the legs of the rider as well as the reins.

"If you endeavour, the faith will favour you"- Mongol proverb


Traditional Horse Nomad Yurt




The famous Parthian shot