Lukas Novotny, at a Fall 2003 demonstration in Baltimore, Maryland and the Director of Training at the Fort Dodge Festival 2003.
International Horse Archery
Fearless and proud warriors once road on horseback from Mongolia through Central Asia and into Europe. Their bows were strong and powerful; their skills in archery extraordinary. In the Americas there were also powerful warriors whose knowledge of the bow and of the horse was unsurpassed. And elsewhere – Japan, Persia, India – bow culture, horse culture was highly developed. In many places these traditions have continued. In others they are being revived. And this year in North America there will be an extraordinary opportunity to participate in the fourth international gathering that will draw people from some of these different cultures together. On September 8-12, 2004 the Fairgrounds at Ft. Dodge, Iowa will host America's Fifth International Horseback Archery Gathering and Competition.
Lukas
Novotny, at a Fall 2003 demonstration in Baltimore, Maryland and the
Director of Training at the Fort Dodge Festival 2003.
For additional information on the International Horse Archery Festival, visit the website at: http://www.intlhorsearchery.org/
Here are some of the forms for your convenience:
Training Liability Release and Proof of Medical Insurance
Riding and reading along!
Six books for the horseback archer
Visually feast on some of the rarest views of equines in authentic contexts in deserts, jungles, steppes, and mountains around the world. Twenty years of indigenous travel, research, and photography by Fulvio Cinquini has resulted in Man and His Horse: An Enduring Bond. The images are indeed art pieces; the text demands a serious reading by anyone who cares for horses, learning, and culture. I cannot exaggerate its value. Oversized, 2003, 288 pages, hardcover, $60.00.
Go back about 5,000 years ago when humans captured the horse first for a source of food, then to pull things, and finally to ride. Sandra Olson, a zooarcheologist shows how horses changed ancient societies. This groundbreaking work on the domestication of the horse in Kazakstan and Russia is handsomely presented in Horses Through Time. Modern horse topics are included as well. Good illustrations, many in color, 222 pages, 2003, Paper, $24.95.
Aspiring horseback archers will find some of their roots in the very readable Warriors of the Steppe: A Military History of Central Asia, 500 B.C. to 1700 A.D. Join the adventures of the Scythians, Huns, Avars, Sarmatians, Magyars, and Mongols, and mark their violence, as well as their more positive cultural legacies. By Eric Hildinger. 1977, 260 pages, paper, $18.00.
Ride 1,000 miles across Mongolian steppes before the implements of modern culture alters age-old patterns of behavior and nature with Stanley Stewart In the Empire of Genghis Khan. 2003, $24.95. Positive review in the January , 2004 Smithsonian.
Two final rides take us to Turkmenistan, and then Afghanistan. Jonathan Maslow, a journalist, takes a prolonged trip to Turkmenistan to experience a probable forerunner of the Thoroughbred—the Akal-Teke in Sacred Horses:The Memoirs of a Turkmen Cowboy. 1994. Finally we visit the violent game of buzkashi in Afghanistan. A goat or calf is gutted, beheaded, and de-hoofed to be used as a “ball” to be carried to a designated goal on horseback with no holds barred. By a distinguished French writer, Joseph Kessell in The Horsemen. 1968. Both these last two books are out of print but I usually have used copies on hand for reasonable prices.
Shipping on all these books is $4.00 except the first oversized one is $10.00.
If we can get our people back up on horses, at least vicariously through reading, learning about the world’s rich history of culture and art will also be enhanced. Thanks for riding and reading along.