HORSEARCHERY IN IRELAND

Gokmen

Hi

My name is Gokmen. I moved to Ireland a month ago. I was one of the few guys in Turkey who researched, practised and promoted horsearchery. My goal is to start horsearchery in Ireland. Hopefully we can go to the 2010 European Championships of horsearchery (www.eocha.org) with an Irish team. Here are the pics from this year (Germany-Sept): http://picasaweb.google.com/TurkishArchers/EOCHA2009BambergGermany#

Horsearchery is an art of warfare which is thousands of years old. It originated in Central Asia. Today it is becoming increasingly popular e.g. in Germany there is more than 100 horsearchers. There is national, European and World Championships. I can tell you it is great fun!

What I need:
-A club which is seriously interested in supporting me.
-The club should have at least 90 m straight place for galloping, at least in the nearby area so we can leave the targets there and set up a horsearchery parcours.
-Good horses, the horses should be fast, agile, and not spooky (I will do special training to get the horse used to horsearchery)
-Interested people

So now my questions:
I am living in Dun Laoghaire and would like to find a place close to me which will seriously foster me and give me the opportunity to promote this sport in Ireland. I have had some bad experience in Turkey with some clubs which were only interested in money and nothing else.

-So which stables would you recommend? I have seen that Carrickmines stables are very close.
-How do you think I could promote this sport in Ireland?
-Is there anyone who is interested in practicing horsearchery?
-Is there any volunteers who would like to help me?
-Any important people I should talk to?
-I have seen they do Polocrosse in Carrickmines, should I ask Polocrosse people if they might be interested?
-Anyone who wants to share a horse with me for this purpose? Dont worry it is not dangerous for the horse

I will post a similar message to the archery section..

Waiting for your answers..
Thanks for your help

Gokmen

MAJJ

Interesting topic this one. When I read 'Good horses, the horses should be fast, agile, and not spooky ' and saw you lived in Dun Laoghaire I instantly thought of Carrickmines and Polocrosse. The horse would have those traits. Many horses used for stunts/jousting/film work as polocrosse horses from this yard.

The owner, Paul, is a keen Polocrosse player so I suggest you contact him. Can't say if he will be interested but no harm in asking him.

I can't spare the time myself but always wanted to try archery and the two together sounds exiciting so best of luck with it and you may see me it a few months time!

Details from their site http://www.carrickminesequestrian.ie/

<snip>

Sorry zaraba - didn't think!

shanagarry

I agree with MAJJ, Paul is a very nice and helpful guy, so just give him a call and have a chat with him about it, and horses used to polocrosse would be ideal as a lot of the requirements would be the same.

Ave Sodalis

Sounds very interesting. Pity it's so far away. You wouldn't consider starting up nearer Donegal once you get started there??

Gokmen

I want to promote this sport in Ireland; Ireland is not only Dublin.
I can give seminars for interested people no problem.

Let me just start in Dub and set up a parcours first..:)

..stay motivated until then

This is a nice video from last year's European championship in Germany:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGlB2m3fp-k

another from Katie Sterns at the World championships in Korea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhlMuzFwHKU

cheers

Gokmen

otwb

That looks brilliant! Was in mongolia recently and we were joking about giving it a try...did the riding and the archery, just not at the same time!

Keep us updated if you get things going.

Gokmen

Hi

Here is an article about horsearchery and Katie Stearns which was published just yday:

http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091207/NEWS0107/912070301/1041&nav_category=

Gokmen

Kamili

Wow I would love to give that a try it looks amazing!!

thegoatherder

Hey,

Very interesting!!! We are not located near Dun Laoghaire, however we do have 90 acres of land, 13 horses and archery equipment for up to 10 people.

We're based near Kenmare, Co Kerry in the South West of Ireland in a spectacular rural location. Let me know by PM if you're interested and we'll see what we can do. Send me your phone number and we can have a chat. We might be able to hook you up with free accommodation (we have accommodation on-site), but you would be fully responsible for promotions and bringing in the business.

<snip>

Gokmen

Hi,

actually I have a job here in Dublin, horsearchery is my hobby although I invest a lot of time (and money) in it. So I wont move to Kerry but we might do a horsearchery clinic there. I looked at your website, the place is beautiful. If there is 13 horses, there might be 4-5 suitable ones for horsearchery.
This is how a friend of mine does it in Canada:
http://eraequestrian.piczo.com/mountedarcheryclinicslessons?cr=3&linkvar=000044
So something similar would be nice. People would stay in your houses, eat and drink there, you would get a share and I would promote horsearchery. To be honest with you, I dont want to make money with it, just want to promote this fantastic sport.
Btw, the archery you practise for horsearchery is a lot different from modern archery. The bow, the technique is different e.g. you pull with the thumb..
(see this video for thumb technique:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q81H-V1_gGo&feature=related)
But I would bring my bows etc and do an archery clinics first, similar to the clinics in Canada..
I will ask you for patience as I have to find a permanent place in Dublin first. Let's keep in touch until then.

Best wishes
Merry Christmas and happy new year.

Gokmen

thegoatherder

Excellent Gokmen - keep in touch and let me know how things go - if we could aim to do something like this over summer 2010 would be fantastic.

Best of luck getting settled in Dublin.

Gokmen

Ok, I settled in and I am mobile as I have a car now.
I asked Paul from Carrickmines Equestrian centre and I found out that he is not interested at all in horsearchery.

Setting up a permanent horsearchery parcours and regular training will benefit the school also because media coverage is usually huge as it is a "different" thing. I have been on TV and documentaries countless times and it shouldnt be different in Ireland.
You would be the first stable to offer horsearchery in Ireland.
I would also give classes and seminars after a while.


So 2 questions:
Do you know any other places near Dun Laoghaire?
As I want to train very often I shouldnt have to drive too far.

Can you all ask the owners of your stables in Dublin south if they are interested in such a thing?

thanks for your help

Gokmen

mylittlepony

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=326416454683&ref=mf

http://www.fwha.net/sub2-1a.html

Anyone from Ireland going?

I just sign up for Archery (on foot with small bow/arrow) training in my local area, hope it go ahead (depend on numbers).
Then hope to progress to mounted archery before the end of the year or if the clinic in kerry kenmare centre go ahead that be brill

Gokmen

I won't go to that one as the flight tickets are pretty expensive.
I will go to England, Poland and Belgium this year. I am happy you started archery. The training will teach you the basics.
I still haven't found a suitable place for horsearchery here in south Dublin. I am still looking, if anyone has ideas, tell me. In the meantime I do archery in the Dun Laoghaire archery club and go horseriding sometimes to keep my riding muscles fit.. need to train for these competitions..

This is a selection of nice horsearchery events in 2010.
As I said I would like to go with an "Irish Team"

“SPTA shoot” 24-25 April 2010 in England
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195764086103
http://www.sptradarch.org/

“Zurawiejki” 3-6- June 2010 in Poland
http://www.horsebackarchery.pl/zurawiejki/index.html
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=350961139077

“Vsetice Nadaam” 25-27 June 2010 in Czech Republic
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184547817507

International Horseback Archery Championship 7-8 July 2010 in Mongolia
no link to this one, I have the contact data..

“6th World Horseback Archery Championship” 13-17 August 2010 in Korea
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=326416454683
http://www.fwha.net/sub2-1a.html

“3rd European Championship of Horseback Archers” 10-12 September 2010 in Belgium
http://www.eocha.org/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=177794676502

“Gallop toward adventure” 24-26 September 2010 Poland
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=361723455154

helibelly

Looks great, hope you can get a club going:)

Simarillion

Which would be easier;

A)train riders to shoot on horseback
B)train archers to ride

I'd imagine it would be easier to train riders to shoot, but there are several archery clubs existing in and around Dublin. The private clubs would be located outside of the city toward Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. Most private archery clubs would have an outdoor straight shooting distance of 90m (Olympic distance for shooting in 70m but competitions go up too 90m).

I'm not sure how they would react to your question, but they might be willing to let you use their land and would probably be delighted to train in new members if they were willing to shoot for the club, standing as well as riding

As an avid archer, who has always wanted to learn to ride properly and combine the two I'd love to get involved but I'm based in Galway and moving to the UK.

http://archery.ie/club.html this is the website of the IAAA (Irish Amateur Archery Association) and there are contact lists there for all clubs.

Alternatively there is an archery forum on boards.ie that is actually the official forum for archers in Ireland. Someone there might be able to help.

Best of luck with the plans
Joe

Gokmen

This was on BBC 2 days ago
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11557730
I am the guy in the blue dress at the beginning.

I have not found any club willing to work together with me in the Dublin area.
The clubs still don't understand the media potential and are afraid.
Insurance seems to be a big problem as well here in Ireland.

We might try another strategy, no club is really willing here in Dublin, but if you read further in the thread there is a nice place in the countryside.
If we get together 6-8 people we might start the first horsearchery seminar in Ireland. This would be a weekend course Sat+Sun covering a bit of theory and history, ground archery, horse exercises without the bow and finally shooting arrows from the horse.
Please contact me if you are interested.

cheers
Gokmen