HONORA BAY—The riders gallop around the fenced in arena, their bows drawn with newly acquired facility as they stalk their prey, which include a tiny white plastic unicorn squeaky toy on a pilon, a large purple plastic dice and an only slightly larger stuffed hippopotamus perched precariously on another orange pilon located across the arena. Onlookers cheer as the unicorn emits a pitiful squeak while an arrow is pulled from its diminutive body. It’s horse archery time at the Honora Bay Riding Stable.
The whimsical targets are only three of the targets the riders were competing to hit from their saddles, others were more traditional multi-coloured circles.
The riders were making their bow-armed circuits under the watchful gaze of coach Barb Leeson in a competition that was the culmination of a weekend-long course on horse archery. Yep, it’s a thing—the art did not die off with Attila and his hordes—and it looks like a lot of fun to boot.
“It is a lot of fun,” laughed Honora Bay Riding Stable owner Kyla Jansen who took part in the course herself. “I am enjoying this so much that I might just build a horse archery course here at the stables.”
The 10 participants in the workshop were drawn from all across Ontario, with riders coming from Hamilton and Markstay as well as closer to home on Manitoulin.
“I came in last in the trot competition, but I did better on the faster rounds,” laughed Ms. Jansen. It was a duo from Hamilton, Caleb and Tom, who took the top positions in the standings during the competition.
Each rider carried three arrows in each of the two halves of the course, utilizing a thumb draw to bring their bows to full draw. That the riders could hit the tiny targets from horseback at a standstill was amazing, let alone sending the unicorn, die and hippo flying through the air at a gallop. It speaks volumes for both their ridership skills and the bow training they received under the tutelage of Ms. Leeson. Most of the riders scored impressive hits on the larger targets even if they spared the tiny unicorn.
