Horsebow | Thumb technique | Horses

About the love of the horse bow, thumb technique and fast horses.

I have a horse bow, I pull with my thumb, I shoot from my horse… it's like an addiction, a rush, a flight through time… a longing, a memory…

I was always going too fast. People were constantly telling me to slow down.

Even as a child, I was fascinated by mounted archers, whether Native American, Mongolian, or Turkish. My father showed me Turkish bows in a museum...

That's what I wanted! I never wanted to be a cowboy.

Many years later, I started archery, shooting Mediterranean style, and built myself a wonderful snakebow out of Osage wood... and everyone said: too fast, slow down!

It was nice anyway, but... then at some point my bow broke, and I went with a friend to Szaba Groszer in Hungary and came home with a BC Ottoman short bow.

And so the journey began: nothing fit anymore, the arrows didn't fit, my draw length didn't fit, I didn't know anyone who was familiar with these bows and could help me. I researched, tried things out... switched to thumb draw... the bow was completely different... my wooden shafts splintered like Soletti with every missed shot, it was enough to drive me crazy. No shelf, much wider draw length, no face anchor, I shoot from the back of my hand. As a left-handed shooter, my arrow rests on the left side of the bow. I protect my thumb with a ring, I lock it with my index finger, where can I get a ring?

… but what a feeling!

A horse bow, drawn with the thumb technique, is a fast, explosive, intuitive affair – that doesn't make it any easier… but what a wonderful feeling…

And the best part: I can be fast!

Of course, with this technique and these bows you can shoot not only from the horse but also from the ground (the term horse bow leads to misunderstandings here), and 3D courses are also a lot of fun, and even though I have not met many thumb archers in Austria yet, there are already some.

The highlight of my horseback archery career was a trip to Persia in 2019 to see Ali Ghoorchian and his horses, in whom I found a fantastic teacher. And what archery rides, at a fast gallop in the Persian mountains… that's not quite as feasible here.

In the meantime, I have also been able to pass on the thumb technique; it is a great pleasure for me to make it accessible to people here, if only because it is much more fun when done together.

The journey continues!

Liesl Enders is... born in 1969, lives in Graz, is a Craneo-Balancing practitioner for humans and animals. She practices Kachina Spirit Horseback Archery. TmB (Therapy-Assisted Meditative Archery). She also owns Stuff by Liesl (leather items) – CrazyChick. Contact her for questions or interest: enders@gmx.at