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Mounted archery is a form of archery that involves shooting Arrow while equestrianism.Govaerts, S. (2024). Horse Archery in Medieval Northwestern Europe, 400-1500: A Study of a Forgotten Military Tradition. Journal of Medieval Military History, 22, 1-43. A horse archer is a person who does mounted archery.Hansard, G. A. (1841). The Book of Archery: Being the Complete History and Practice of the Art, Ancient and Modern... London: HG Bohn. Archery has occasionally been used from the backs of other riding animals. In large open areas, mounted archery was a highly successful technique for hunting, for protecting herds, and for war. It was a defining characteristic of the Eurasian nomads during antiquity and the Middle Ages, as well as the Iranian peoples such as the Alans, Sarmatians, Cimmerians, Scythians, Massagetae, Parthian Empire, and Sassanid army in Ancient history, and by the Hungarians, Mongols, China, and Turkic peoples during the Middle Ages. The expansion of these cultures have had a great influence on other geographical regions including Eastern Europe, West Asia, and East Asia.Wood, M. T. (2015). Mounted Archery in Japan: Yabusame and the Modern Setting (Master's thesis).Hacker, B. C. (2015). Mounted Archery and Firearms: Late Medieval Muslim Military Technology Reconsidered. Vulcan, 3(1), 42-65.Berthon, W., Tihanyi, B., Kis, L., Révész, L., Coqueugniot, H., Dutour, O., & Pálfi, G. (2019). Horse riding and the shape of the acetabulum: Insights from the bioarchaeological analysis of early Hungarian mounted archers (10th century). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 29(1), 117-126. In East Asia, horse archery came to be particularly honored in the samurai tradition of Japan, where horse archery is called Yabusame.
The term mounted archer occurs in medieval English sources to describe a soldier who rode to battle but who dismounted to shoot, similar to the later firearm-equipped dragoon.Bell, A. R., Curry, A., & King, A. (2013). The soldier in later medieval England. OUP Oxford.McAllister, D. W. (1993). Formidable genus armorum: the horse archers of the Roman Imperial Army (Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia).Gibbs, S. (2016). The service patterns and social-economic status of English archers, 1367-1417: The evidence of the muster rolls and poll tax returns (Doctoral dissertation, University of Reading). Horse archer is the term used more specifically to describe a warrior who shoots from the saddle at the gallop.Azzaroli, A. (1985). An early history of horsemanship. Brill. Another term, "horseback archery", has crept into modern use.
Horse archery developed separately among the people of the South American pampas and Plains Indians following the introduction of domesticated horses to the continent; the were especially skilled.T. R. Fehrenbach. Comanches, the history of a people. Vintage Books. London, 2007. . First published in the US by Alfred Knopf, 1974. Page 124.
In battle, light horse archers were typically , 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.Jones, A. Elements of Military Strategy. Captain Robert G. Carter described the experience of facing Quanah Parker's forces: "an irregular line of swirling warriors, all rapidly moving in right and left hand circles.. while advancing, to the right or left, and as rapidly concentrating... in the centre... and their falling back in the same manner...all was most puzzling to our... veterans who had never witnessed such tactical maneuvers, or such a flexible line of skirmishers".Carter, Captain R. G. On the border with Mackenzie, or Winning West Texas from the Comanches. p 289-290. New York, Antiquarian Press, 1961 (First published 1935). As quoted in Los Comanches. The Horse People, 1751-1845. Stanley Noyes. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. 1993 p. 221-222.
In the tactic of the Parthian shot the rider would retreat from the enemy while turning his upper body and shooting backward.Elton, H. (2024). Understanding Ancient Battle: Combat in the Classical World from the Unit Commander's Perspective.Rostovtzeff, M. (1943). The Parthian Shot. American Journal of Archaeology, 47(2), 174-187. 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.Alofs, E. (2015). Studies on Mounted Warfare in Asia IV: The Turanian Tradition–The Horse Archers of Inner Asia, c. ce 550–1350. War in History, 22(3), 274-297. Constant harassment would result in casualties, morale drop and disruption of the formation.Gregoratti, L. (2024). The Arsacids vs. Rome (First to Third Centuries CE): Observations on Parthian Tactics and Warfare. Brill’s Companion to War in the Ancient Iranian Empires, 9, 366. Any attempts to charge the archers would also slow the entire army down.Chrissanthos, S. G. (2008). Warfare in the ancient world: from the Bronze Age to the fall of Rome. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
An example of these tactics comes from an attack on Comanche horse archers by a group of Texas Rangers, who were saved by their muzzle-loading firearms and by a convenient terrain feature.Wilson, R. L. (2015). The peacemakers: arms and adventure in the American West. Simon and Schuster. Fifty Rangers armed with guns met about 20 Comanche hunters who were hunting buffalo and attacked them.Dukes, D. (2020). Firearms of the Texas Rangers: From the Frontier Era to the Modern Age. University of North Texas Press. The Comanches fled, easily keeping clear of the Rangers, for several miles across the open prairie. They led the Rangers into a stronger force of two hundred.Jones, K. (2017). The story of Comanche: horsepower, heroism and the conquest of the American West. War & Society, 36(3), 156-181. The Rangers immediately retreated, only to discover they had committed a classic error in fighting mounted archers: the Comanches pursued in turn, able to shoot what seemed like clouds of arrows.Biggers, D. H. (1991). Buffalo guns & barbed wire: two frontier accounts. Texas Tech University Press. The Rangers found a ravine where they could shoot at the Comanche from cover.Gard, W. (2015). Rawhide Texas. University of Oklahoma Press. The horse archers did not charge but kept the Rangers under siege until seven of them were dead or dying, whereupon the Rangers retreated but claimed victory.T.R. Fehrenbach. Comanches, the history of a people. Vintage Books. London, 2007. . First published in the US by Alfred Knopf, 1974.
The earliest depictions are found in the artwork of the Neo-Assyrian Empire of about the 9th century BC and reflect the incursions of the early Iranian peoples.Cantrell, D. O. D. (2011). The horsemen of Israel: horses and chariotry in monarchic Israel (ninth-eighth centuries BCE). Penn State Press.
Early horse archery, depicted on the Assyrian carvings, involved two riders, one controlling both horses while the second shot. Heavy horse archers first appeared in the Assyrian army in the 7th century BC after abandoning chariot warfare and formed a link between light skirmishing cavalrymen and heavy cataphract cavalry.Noble, D. (2015). Dawn of the Horse Warriors: Chariot and Cavalry Warfare, 3000-600BC.Anderson, E. B. (2016). Cataphracts: knights of the ancient eastern empires. Grub Street Publishers.Black, J. Cavalry Warfare. The heavy horse archers usually had mail or lamellar armor and helmets, and sometimes even their horses were armored.Bivar, A. D. H. (1972). Cavalry equipment and tactics on the Euphrates frontier. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 26, 271-291.
Mounted archery was prevalent in the cavalry tactics of Meroitic and post-Meroitic Nubia.
Skirmishing requires vast areas of free space to run, maneuver, 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 horse archers, but there are many examples of victories in which horse archers played a leading part. The Roman general Crassus led a large army, with inadequate cavalry and missile troops, to catastrophe against Parthian Empire horse archers and at the Battle of Carrhae. Plutarch's Lives: Crassus, Perseus tufts The Persian king Darius the Great led a campaign against the mounted Scythians, who refused to engage in pitched battle; Darius conquered and occupied land but lost enough troops and supplies that he was compelled to withdraw. Darius, however, kept the lands he had conquered.
According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the Persian general Mardonius used horse archers to attack and harass his opponents during the Battle of Plataea, which was won by the Greeks. Philip of Macedon scored an epic victory against the Scythians residing north of the Danube, killing their king, Ateas, and causing their kingdom to fall apart thereafter. Alexander the Great defeated Scythians/Sakas in 329 BC at the Battle of Jaxartes, at the Syr Darya river. Later on, Alexander himself used mounted archers recruited among the Scythians and Dahae, during the Greek invasion of India.Ashley. p. 35.
The Roman Empire and its military also had extensive use of horse archers after their conflict with eastern armies that relied heavily on mounted archery in the 1st century BC. They had regiments such as the Sagittarii, who acted as Rome's horse archers in combat.Jeffrey L. Davies: Roman Arrowheads from Dinorben and the 'Sagittarii' of the Roman Army, Britannia, Vol. 8. (1977), pp. 257-270 The Crusaders used conscripted cavalry and horse archers known as the Turcopole, made up of mostly Greek and Turks.R.C. Small: Crusading Warfare 1097-1193, pp. 111-112,
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 disorganize 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 because of the armor they wore, could better withstand return fire. The Russian druzhina cavalry developed as a countermeasure to the Tatar light troops. Likewise, the Turkish timariot and qapikulu were often as heavily armored as Western knights and could match the Hungarian, Albanian, and Mongol horse archers.
Vietnam's mounted archers were first recorded in the 11th century. In 1017, Emperor Lý Công Uẩn of Đại Việt opened the Xa Dinh (archery school) in southern Hanoi and ordered all children of noblemen and mandarins to be trained in mounted archery. During the reign of Lý Thánh Tông, the royal guards had 20 horse archer teams, combined into 5 companies named Kỵ Xạ, Du Nỗ, Tráng Nỗ, Kính Nỗ, and Thần Tý, comprising about 2,000 skillful horse archers. They later effectively participated in the Invasion of Song China (1075 – 1076) and caused heavy casualties to the Song army. The Ly Dynasty's horse archers also fought against Champa (1069) and the Khmer Empire (1125–1130) which both were victories for Đại Việt. Later, following the decline of the Lý dynasty, most horse archer teams were disbanded.Phan Huy Chú, Lịch triều hiến chương loại chí, p. 320.
German and Scandinavian medieval armies made extensive use of Crossbowmen. They would act not only as scouts and skirmishers but also protect the flanks of the knights and infantry, chasing away 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. In some instances, mounted crossbowmen could also reload and fire continuously on horseback if they used specific "weaker" crossbows that could be reloaded easily, as mentioned in the 13th-century Norwegian educational text Konungs skuggsjá.Heath, Ian. Armies of Feudal Europe 1066-1300. Wargames Research Group; 2nd Revised edition (Sept. 1989). p. 165. The invention of spanning mechanisms such as the goat's foot lever and the cranequin allowed mounted crossbowmen to reload and fire heavy crossbows on horseback.Payne-Gallwey, Ralph. The Crossbow: Its Military and Sporting History, Construction and Use. Skyhorse Publishing; First edition (April 1, 2007). Dezobry and Bachelet, Dictionary of Biography, t.1, Ch.Delagrave, 1876, p. 704
Horse archers were eventually rendered obsolete by the maturity of firearm technology. 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, which could be effectively used from horseback, much in the same manner as the Composite bow recurve bow presumably developed from earlier bows. 16th-century and 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 Europe, especially with the Russians, Kalmyks, Turks, and Cossacks. For many armies, mounted archery remained an effective tactical system in open country until the introduction of repeating firearms.
By the 18th century, firearms had largely displaced traditional composite bows in Mongolia, whereas in Manchuria horse archery was still highly esteemed. In the 1758 Battle of Khorgos, mounted Mongolian Dzungar Khanate troops armed with muskets faced off against Qing Dynasty mounted Manchurian, Mongolian, and Chinese archers armed with . The battle was won by the Qing forces. Wars in the Age of Louis XIV, 1650-1715, C. J. Nolan, p.g. 224 Traditional Manchurian archery continued to be practiced in China up to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Russian Imperial Army deployed Cossack, Bashkir, and Kalmyk horse archers against Napoleon's forces. Marcellin Marbot writes that on the eve of the Battle of Leipzig, his forces encountered mounted archers:
Although general de Marbot describes the horse archers in disdainful terms, the general was himself wounded in the leg by an enemy arrow, and Baskir troops were amongst the occupying troops in Paris in 1814.
It has been proposed that firearms began to replace bows in Europe and Russia not because firearms were superior but because they were easier to use and required less practice.Donald Ostrowski, "The Replacement of the Composite Reflex Bow by Firearms in the Muscovite Cavalry," Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 11, no. 3 (2010): 513-534 However, discussing buffalo hunting in 1846, Francis Parkman noted that "the bows and arrows which the Indians use in running buffalo have many advantages over firearms, and even white men occasionally employ them." The 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."T.R. Fehrenbach. Comanches, the history of a people. Vintage Books. London, 2007. . First published in the US by Alfred Knopf, 1974. Page 125. Bows were still used by Native Americans in the late American Indian Wars, but almost all warriors who had immediate access to modern repeating firearms used these guns instead.
At the Guozijian (Imperial Academy), law, mathematics, calligraphy, equestrianism, and archery were emphasized by the Ming dynasty Hongwu Emperor in addition to Confucian classics, and were also required in the Imperial Examinations. Archery and equestrianism were added to the exam by Hongwu in 1370 like how archery and equestrianism were required for non-military officials at the 武舉 College of War in 1162 by the Song Emperor Xiaozong. The area around the Meridian Gate of Nanjing was used for archery by guards and generals under Hongwu.
The Imperial exam included archery. Archery on horseback was practiced by Chinese living near the frontier. Wang Ju's writings on archery were followed during the Ming and Yuan and the Ming developed new methods of archery. Jinling Tuyong showed archery in Nanjing during the Ming. Contests in archery were held in the capital for Garrison of Guard soldiers who were handpicked.
Equestrianism and archery were favored activities of Zhu Di (the Yongle Emperor).
Archery and equestrianism were frequent pastimes by the Zhengde Emperor. He practiced archery and horseriding with eunuchs. Tibetan Buddhist monks, Muslim women and musicians were obtained and provided to Zhengde by his guard Ch'ien Ning, who acquainted him with the ambidextrous archer and military officer Chiang Pin. An accomplished military commander and archer was demoted to commoner status on a wrongful charge of treason was the Prince of Lu's grandson in 1514.
He was disinterested in military matters but had prowess in archery (Hongxi Emperor).
Archery competitions, equestrianism and calligraphy were some of the pastimes of the Wanli Emperor.
Football and archery were practiced by the Ming Emperors.
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 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 track, approximately one target every or so. In all three static target competitions, additional bonus points are awarded for style and form.For a pictorial presentation, see: Korean track
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).
When the arquebus was introduced by the Portuguese to Japan in the 16th century, archery became outdated. To maintain traditional Japanese horse archery, Tokugawa Yoshimune, the shōgun, ordered the Ogasawara clan to found a school. Current Japanese horse 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.
The Yabusame school of horseback archery has found a following in Australia, with the setting up of the Australian Horse Archery School which today conducts public shows in various parts of the world.
His life and work was dramatized by Géza Kaszás in the film A lovasíjász ( The horse archer), which premiered in January 2016.
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