A modern-day warrior: mastering mounted archery

Always exercise responsibly and safely. Ideally under the guidance of a trained fitness and/or medical professional, who can match the exercise or sports regimen to your present level of fitness.

To call Lukas Novotny an expert horse rider paints an incomplete picture… actually, Novotny is one of the world’s leading horse archers, almost single-handedly keeping the tradition alive.

Archery while mounted across the ages has been a highly successful technique for hunting, for protecting the herds and for war.

It was a defining characteristic of the Eurasian nomads during antiquity and the medieval period, as well as the Iranian peoples, (Alans, Scythians, Sarmatians, Parthians, Sassanid Persians) and Indians in antiquity, and by the Hungarians, Mongols, Chinese, and the Turkic peoples during the Middle Ages.

By the expansion of these peoples, the practice also spread to Eastern Europe (via the Sarmatians and the Huns), Mesopotamia, and East Asia. In East Asia, horse archery came to be particularly honoured in the samurai tradition of Japan, where horse archery is called Yabusame.

Horse archery developed separately among the people of the South American pampas and the North American prairies; the Comanches were especially skilled at the skill.

Since using a bow requires the rider to let go of the reins with both hands, horse archers need superb equestrian skills if they are to shoot on the move.

View the original video here.

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