Joey was shocked when she heard that she had made the team. She works very hard at her archery and horsemanship but she’s not very competitive by nature. That said, she’s bound and determined to do her best and make the team proud in Hungary. Joey has competed three times in South Korea, once in Australia and once in Brazil but this will be her first trip to Hungary.
Greg is the American record holder in the Korean 1-2-3 and Hungarian No Zones Courses. He is honored and excited to represent the U.S. in his fifth international competition. In addition to his U.S. accomplishments, Greg is a five-time medalist at the Korean World Championship including an individual Silver Medal in the Single Shot event.
Cameron is the jet-setter with fourteen trips out of the country. He has competed in Japan, South Korea, Poland, Germany, France and most recently Canada. Traveling a lot with his mounted archery life Cameron is looking forward to meeting up with friends from around the world and shooting together. He tells me the Hungarians are really, really good and it’s one country he’s never been to. He knows it will be a great opportunity to learn from some of the best.
Serena Lynn began her journey into horse archery at the young age of twenty-two, a short six years ago. Inspired by the sport, Serena Lynn has taken the sport of archery by storm. She is currently on the MA3 Board of Directors as the Chapter Liaison, helping people start MA3 chapters in their areas. Additionally, in the last three years Serena Lynn has traveled all over the U.S. teaching clinics on horse archery to help grow the sport. An active competitor with over twenty-three competitions, both nationally and internationally Serena Lynn has competed in Poland, Hungary, France and South Korea.
There is a lot of pre-competition preparation that takes place once the team arrives but the most important one is choosing a horse. Getting the right horse is a big part of how you will do in the competition. Some of the competitors are choosing to arrive early to closely examine their choices. Once a horse is assigned or chosen, you
These are some of the first questions you’ll then ask yourself and after them, we can move on to more precision in your abilities to analyze and adjust for better results and better questions.
As in:
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I’m going to give you some concepts and situations for your consideration relative to these initial questions so that you can apply it to your answers for you and your horse.
Many people are taught to lean into the bow while shooting and of course there are reasons to approach it with these words, but we must, must, must (not a typo) place a high value on the degree to which we lean. Check yourself. How far would you lean if you were standing on the ground? And a lean can be anything from a slight shift of weight in the upper body while dropped into your balanced core, to looking like you’re tilted up on your front foot and… completely out of balance. Would you think it would be a good idea to be out of balance on your horse? And if you didn’t have stirrups, a saddle and pinchy knees, would you be able to maintain that position? If not, could it be correct?
Also for your consideration, if you’re leaning way forward over the horse’s neck when shooting, just where are you going? There’s a good chance that you’re making the horse feel like you’re ahead of her and that she needs to speed up to get up under you. Do you want your horse to speed up? If she thinks this and you don’t say otherwise, you are indeed causing your horse to run faster. If you’re close to flossing your teeth on your horse’s mane, I’d say you’d better straighten up. Don’t get ahead of the horse’s driveline.
If you lean forward and toward the targets i.e. your weight is heavy in that stirrup and your seat bones are also up, out of the saddle and shifted into the lean… shouldn’t your horse, who you’ve hopefully trained to give to pressure, shift or track toward the outside? Might that cause your foot to catch in the track barrier rope or your horse to go off course just doing what your body is telling him to do?
Hmmmmmmm… Aren’t these pretty darned important questions?
And because every great hmmmmmm… deserves a great how (my line) I’ll just start you off with some action steps to get your baseline. To help you challenge assumptions and get yourself straightened out, start on the ground with a shooting stance and see what you tend to do.
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If you’ve seen the recent Bridgestone Tire commercials with the Olympic archery shooters – there isn’t even a hint of leaning. I’ve included this for your consideration.
Now, THINK about sitting on your horse – preferably bareback. But, if you must use a saddle at least drop your stirrups. After all we’re just in your mind here.
1) What CAN you do differently to challenge where you currently are in your position?
Please keep in mind that these are discovery experiments. Don’t get stuck on how you think you were taught or how you’ve “always done it”. Our job is to get you better from here. And what got you here isn’t going to get you to the next level. You need to up your skills, preparation and MINDSET.
Try #1 > something DIFFERENT > get an unexpected reality > get more curious.
Try #2 > something DIFFERENT > get a NEW unexpected reality > get more curious.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
These might be way big different things or it could be as small as a tad less leaning into your bow or cocking your head just bit down the arrow.
Now, go get on your horse and apply what you challenged yourself with while mounted. Don’t get all chompie to shoot and let yourself get off track. Ha! Little mounted archery joke there, particularly if you’re pushing your horse off with that weight imbalance and a heavy leg pushing into his side while your heel kind of digs in as you attempt to keep yourself upright.
Have you come this far to only come this far? I think NOT!
There is nothing to lose. You’re experimenting. You’re on an adventure. Lets go for Exceptional!
Lauren has been teaching and training for over 40 years and is the author of two books that are pure magic for horsemanship – “Curbside Service” and “Balky, Balky, I Ain’t Goin’”. Find out how to be strategic in your best next steps to Exceptional Horsemanship for Mounted Archery by grabbing her “Wouldn’t It Be Great If ____?” Quiz to check your perspective and propel your horsemanship on her exceptionalhorsemanship.com site.
Greg Ogburn of Arizona
Photo by © Leah Earle
Joey Ogburn of Arizona
Photo by © Eric Peek