I look up at the lady supervising baggage collection and point to the remaining 3 bags on the carousel.
“My bag is missing. Lost luggage.” I say in simplified English to assist her in understanding.
“What colour is your bag?” she asks.
“Black”.
“That bag is black” she points to a bag on the carousel.
“Yes, but that is not my bag”.
“Are you sure, you have black bag, that is black bag” she replied deadpan. We got stuck in this conversation loop a little bit, and she did not appear to be on drugs, just a little slow. Struggling to explain that I was not after just any fucking black bag I tried a new path to exit this obsession it was any black bag I was after not just one with my things… “Mine has 2 wheels, this one has 4” I pointed out.
“Ah, two wheels”, this seemed convincing to her in the way that being selective over black bags was not. I wish I was making this story up as some sort of desperate way of gaining attention on my blog, but it actually happened. Please tell your children if they don’t study at school they might end up being the moron working on the carousel…. you can think that’s harsh, but it was me standing in a strange airport terminal at 3am without any team kit. Whilst it may not be my fault I also worry whqt Becca and Kristina (my teammates) might think, it sucks to be associated with bad news.

Mimi was still faffing with the e-sim shop trying to get setup, I was a little snappy with her, lack of sleep and a mini crisis of thoughts made me frustrated.

“Where do I report lost luggage?” I asked black bag lady.
She shrugged.
“Do you understand my English?” I asked. I was met with a blank look, I was at the capital city’s international airport and English levels seemed low. I shouted across at another lady passing “do you know where I report lost luggage?”
“Over there” she pointed out of the building at another building. I think French waiters in Paris have been known to be more helpful, it’s a big airport, I wasn’t just walking around random buildings looking for lost luggage. Airports are where nosy suspicious people get in trouble.
“Can you show me?” I asked the second super-helpful person.
“Follow me” she said, another lady of few words, probably wondering why I didn’t speak Kyrgyz or Russian. We walked to another building and our bags got re-scanned. I’d just left baggage collection escorted by one of their staff, but this wasn’t enough, they insisted on rescanning my bags. I was tired and felt this was pointless, so didn’t empty my pockets or anything, the buzzers went off, they waved me on because I’d just left a secure area…

The airport lady couldn’t be bothered to walk further, so just pointed at the end. “That door” she said as we squinted in the distance to work out which one. Myself and Mimi walked up to another secure baggage area that was one-way only allegedly containing the door we were pointed towards. A security guard shouted at me, and my paranoia of airport security meant we decided we must be going to the wrong place.

We walked randomly along a corridor hoping this would be more fruitful and found ourselves at a check-in desk which didn’t feel right. Exasperated I asked a bored looking lady “I’ve just landed, where do I report lost luggage?”
“Come with me” she said and took we to the place where the security guard shouted at us. “Through that door” she said as the guard shouted at her.
“Its locked” I replied, but to no avail as a new slanging match had started between her and the security guard. Myself and Mimi played it in silence, figuring being involved would not get a good outcome for either of us.

Just as the security guard walked off, a man in the secure area walked up and opened the door.
“You cannot come in here” he announced.
“I need to report lost luggage” I replied.
“That is in here” he replied.
“Can I come in?”
We ended up in another mini paradox of lost luggage needing to be reported in an area I was unable to access and we circled this loop a few times. Eventually he said “wait 5 minutes” and buggered off.

Sure enough, almost exactly 5 minutes later he returned and said “come in”.

I’m not sure what the hold up was, maybe he needed to tidy the mess in his office or put out a cigarette he wasn’t mean’t to be smoking, or maybe he’d learned bureaucracy off an old Monty Python film, but this time I went though and filled out a form. Despite his unusual start, he was incredibly helpful. He took the details, then said “you must ring this number and contact the airline, here’s my personal Whatsapp…” I’m imagining anyone at Heathrow offering a personal Whatsapp to locate luggage.

What to do? I’m going to a major international event, I will be at a 50,000 seater stadium with 20 heads of state in attendance, and our horse archery team which designed the entire GB team kit, does not have any kit… oh the sick irony. “What if someone accidentally picked up my bag?” I said to Mimi, on account of us not having anywhere to go and Becca and Kristina not being awake for another 5hrs we should wait 1hr outside baggage claim just in case someone returns the bag.

Mimi was partially distracted from running her business empire (the girl is 24/7), but also had the patience of a saint and didn’t even hesitate in loitering outside arrivals checking to see if someone came back in a panic because they’d picked up the wrong bag. Some people queued to get back in, so I asked if I could check the bags again. They recognised me, I got given the “wait 5 minutes” answer by the security guard. He didn’t even move, he didn’t radio somebody, I could see him through the glass doing nothing; then he let me in.

I’m not sure about this 5mins game, maybe a powerplay, maybe a shit-test to see if I’m serious. No bag.

After a quick 24hr café for 3hrs we met Kristina and Becca for breakfast and I had to fess up I’d lost the bag. Although it wasn’t my fault, I felt kind of responsible as any good human would. It had Becca’s medication in the bag, she wasn’t going to die without it, but it’s a serious issue if people plan their things and don’t have them… I started to wonder if the amount of drugs had held the bag up. We are talking serious amount of drugs, maybe immigration got the wrong idea. This is the problem with almost no sleep, my brain is hanging, a thousand questions and recriminations going through my head… but ultimately even as an atheist I am praying I get my bag back.

Apologies, as I’m on tour, I have less time to add photos/videos, although will do so later.

Finland was an experience. With the never ending sun you sort of forget to sleep. With my phone data not working properly I was forced into a switch off. Between bouts of training, I felt the joy and peace of boredom. If you’ve forgotten what it's like to be peacefully bored, I recommend you try not turning to your phone next time you don’t know what to do and see where your mind goes… It feels painful at first, but then your mind sort of decompresses and relaxes a little.

The competition commenced with 3 events in 3 days:

• Tower – shoot as many arrows as you like at one target

• Raid – shoot at between 3 and 5 targets mostly in a straight line, 1 arrow per target, high speed accuracy.

• Tabla / Skirmish – similar to Raid, but the shots are more technical.

Before going into the competition I kept getting asked “you came from archery right?”
This was either a compliment on my archery skills, or an indictment of my horse riding… 😂

Tower

Usually for Tower I use a light shooting bow, but all week my arrows had been flying high. You should of course shoot on the equipment you’ve been training with all week, so what did I do?... I woke up and changed setup. I switched from my nice easy flow-shooting 25lb bow (A.K.A. Sexy), to Goldilocks (yes I name bows) my 35lb beast of a Korean bow ( YMG from Freddie Archery). This is not for the faint hearted, it’s 40% harder to pull, but it flicks arrows straight like a dart… if you’re on target it will hit. The down side is Tower requires fast shooting, which is much harder with a stronger bow.

Having prepped all week on my Nemethy bow, the morning of the competition I made these changes:

1. Changed bow to “Goldilocks”.

2. Changed arrow setup to suit Goldilocks.

3. Decided to shoot from quiver rather than hold them in my hand.

4. Removed the nocking point.

This level of change is what most people call a dumb idea, and I’m thinking it goes against all the advice my coach back home had (Simon Harding)… except he does like Korean bows… Usually on Tower I shoot arrows from the hand, it’s quicker. Using my quiver meant I needed to fast draw all arrows, and I’d been miss-nocking most of the week (nocking is placing the arrow on the string, to aide the speed, archers have a nocking point so we know exactly where to go… except I kept missing the nocking point).

Asians would love me, but most of archery Europe upon hearing you don’t like nocking points has a heart attack. No nocking point means at high speed on a horse you’re relying on muscle memory to shoot the arrows.

The result? I got my best competition score on Tower. Not great, but for someone in their first year of horse archery it was a respectable grade HA3. Result!

I was feeling happy, then the Finnish started playing… Valteri got HA7, Anni (our coach) topped the league table with HA7, and Jenni their teammate and friend came 3^rd with an HA6. I was in 4^th with what I got…

Raid

Raid is the competition format most likely to be on youtube. Its frankly more exciting to charge down a 90m track in 14sec usually shooting 2, 3, or 4 targets laid out in various patterns. In each competition I’ve under-performed at Raid, event in assessments with my coach Simon I underperform… basically this leaves me as one of the fantasist individuals saying “I could do better” with zero concrete proof.

On the bright side I always planned on using Goldilocks, as the YMG (brand of bow) is notoriously precise and my favoured target picker, so at least I’m staying on familiar setup.

I was in group 3, meaning watching 2 groups go out ahead of me. Horse archery is a funny thing, its so good natured I genuinely wish the best for my competitors… then there’s this dark side… that kind of hopes arrows go astray and people come off the horse (not injured of course, I’d never wish that on anyone, just to stop them moving). I keep the dark side at bay and think nice thoughts, really hope people get what they want from this.

Watching Anni Jauhainen and Valteri glide on their horse was a sight to behold. Its like the horse is galloping and they’re hovering, perfectly straight. They clearly have the offroad suspension type of legs that absorb each bump and misstep… I’m more the sports tuned stiffened suspension. If the horse steps you’ll know as you’ll see me bobbing along with minimal shock absorption. The amount of instructors that are convinced I’m going to come off, only to see me stay on. Its like I can’t balance, but I’ve become so familiar with my discoordination I can kind of work with it.

Watching the scores I feared I could end up last… everyone was shooting well. We all need that friend that makes us look good, I resolved next time I’d bring an incompetent friend with me as Finland had failed to provide one.

I got Vaino ready with the help of Riikka. I’m getting better at catching a horse and tacking, but I basically lack the confidence to sign it off myself. I’ll be fine, I can stay on the horse, I just don’t want the horse to feel uncomfortable. “I like the fact you’re always positive and happy” I said to Riikka. “I like the fact you always speak your mind” she replied. In English this means she thinks I’m too direct, but in Finland I think it’s a compliment. She wouldn’t be the first to point out no-one knows what meaning the English intend.

I line up in group 3 with David from Spain, and Jenni. David’s a little rusty following a back injury, his shooting is on form but its limited his choice of horse. Jenni is Anni’s friend which means she’s really happy, but I’m also terrified of her. I think there should be rules against coming across softer than a butterfly but remaining deadly with a bow. If there’s a mass killing in Finland I doubt anyone will hear it coming.

The funny thing is the hardest group to assess is your own, because they are galloping down the track whilst you’re thinking of your own process. I lined up and Vaino decided we were doing this one fast. I did my best to slow him down, but he was having none of it. The previous day I’d done Tower in 15 seconds, today it was just over 10seconds, 30% quicker. What I discovered about Vaino is the quicker he gets the smoother he gets. As long as you’re ready in time, quick Vaino is slick Vaino!

I go into a mode with sport. When you do well, people want to talk, they want to be around you, but I want to be left the fuck alone to concentrate. It’s a weird thing, people being very nice, but I’m just wanting to zone out. I’d come off the run, receive nice words and I’m just not wanting to talk… but I was having so much fun. People would say “do you know how you did?” I’d reply “I don’t care”.

I literally zoned out and couldn’t remember a run after completing it just a complete zone of being in the moment… so when I got to the end I had no idea how I’d performed.

HA4! This was my personal best in Raid format. I was chuffed. Even Anni said “you’re doing well for someone in their first year”… I mean I wish she’d said something pretentious and poetic like, “as your conqueror your inner spirit you will continue to rise” but the Finnish are straight forward people (and being honest the pretentious version would wind me up, I’m just imagining). Another day concluded and I was treated to a proper Finnish recharge, which meant swimming in a freezing cold lake we’d pretend was warm, then rotating between a sauna and an outdoor hot tub. The other thing I learned about Finnish people is they love blueberry pancakes, and not the chubby American kind the svelte French style crepes. I battled a tough evening of munching on pancakes and spending 2hrs in the outdoor hot tub watching the sun never setting… till we realised it was almost midnight and we had to head back.

Tabla Skirmish Mix

Aside from having the coolest name for a competition format in horse archery, Tabla Skirmish is one of my favourite setups. It starts with 3 runs of Tabla which is basically small targets on round sticks in different sorts of positions.

In warm up I hit pretty much every target… this was not a good sign. I do best when I’m trying to prove a point, not when I’m over-confident. I got to my turn… and something about Tabla having targets higher off the ground I was missing. This didn’t feel good, but something else also happened, my horse Vaino kept up the pace. He didn’t give a damn I was having a slow day, that was my problem to deal with, he just wanted to get it over and done with. I kept bolting down the track… 13 secs, 12 secs, 11 secs… Tabla was over and my target points were moderate… but my time bonus was playing its part.

Of course I had no idea. Mid-competition I can just about work out I’m within time, I have no chance of working out the impact on points… so we flicked on to Skirmish. Now Skirmish is almost the trick shot version of Raid.

· Target 1 = back shot, small target, almost on the ground, we call it a Kikac (pronounced KitKat like the chocolate bar. So we start on basically a quick trick shot.

· Target 2 = front shot, because after you’ve done your back shot at the impossibly small target, why not have you turn around and shoot facing directly straight at the next target?

· Target 3 = ground shot, because you rarely shoot there, so lets give you no time to get a shot off a few feet from your horses legs (remarkably safer than it sounds on account of it being the area you have the most control over)

· Target 4 = back shot, because if you’re doing 3 shots in succession we need to know if you can reload and let one off facing the wrong way.

· Target 5 = straight ahead on the wrong side of the horse with an offside shot… you either need to learn left handed shooting (a.k.a. my friend Kristina) or you pull the bow across the horse and release one in some sort of galloping yoga riding position.

You’d think from the above I don’t like Skirmish… actually I love it!

My plan was simple, hit the first shot nice and quick, charge down shot two and release as late as you can to get off a ground shot. For the ground shot half draw, when you have a strong bow, there is little point full drawing, its quicker to half draw as you don’t need power you need speed. Back shot, then last minute release on the offside.

In practice I made this look easy… hit all 5 targets on my second run. And in Skirmish Run 1… missed 4 targets and hit 1. Damn.

Skirmish run 2… hit 3 targets mostly on low scores. This is better, but damn run 1!

Skirmish run 3… hit 4 targets! Mid-range scores, a late release on the final off-side target landed on 4!

Overall HA4! My first Skirmish and I got an HA4, happy with that, a decent intermediate score in a sport I started just 1 year previous.

Competition over. I have to say Finland was everything horse archery should be. Kind people, good food, awesome horses, dark humour, excellent people, surrounded by nature, a lot of Santa references, outdoor hot-tun, cloudberry picking (don’t ask, they are a thing, they taste awesome, we had a bad harvest), and happy memories. I came 4^th!

I lost to 3 people who are Finnish National team level, all getting HA7s in scoring, so as I call them the Finnish Mafia, and I will be back to take them on again.

(oh, and I didn’t lose to a 14yr old girl, but there was a teenager in the competition who will soon beat me 😂)

From Rovaniemi I was picked up by the wonderful Suvi who provided insights into the Reindeer industry. I’m not sure if this is an every tourist thing, or just my obsession with local economics, but lets go with the idea I might not be eccentric (i.e. horse archery holidays feel normal). In Finland Reindeers are prized for their meat, you can only kill them once per year so the chances are you’re eating frozen or preserved if you have it.

It’s a bit conflicting as the Finnish respect the reindeer but also really want to eat it. We can consider animal rights etc… as the Finns love their nature, but ultimately there is not much else that would make commercial sense in the arctic tundra, and food miles are not exactly planet friendly, so the moral superiority in shipping in fruit and veg dissipates, plus its a darn sight more ethical that factory farming pork or chicken. Basically this story is Bambi all over it, but with a delicious meal at the end. Our discussion resulted in us self organising as “ethical carnivores”.

We then moved on to how Suvi had 10 friends who all had businesses with the word “Santa” in them. As we arrived at Raanch Kaluus I had mixed views if “Santa Horse Archery” might have been a genius or tragic brand name 😉.

Shortly after arrival we were put through our paces by our coach Anni Jauhiainen who gave us a warm up exercise that made me question if I’d been neglecting my cardio a little too much. Then on to ground archery where frankly I was humbled for speed shooting by some of the others who seemed to fly arrows like they were flicking them off their fingers. For those ill-learned amongst us and not direct descendants of Ghengis Khan, in some horse archery competitions the speed you can shoot an arrow directly increases your score, with top horse archers unleashing 1 arrow every 1.5seconds from a moving horse, by reference Olympic archers take up to 40 seconds per arrow. The top methods for speed shooting are either holding 8 arrows in your bow hand next or using what’s called a flying quiver which holds your arrows almost horizontal on your shoulder. I hand fire, and carry spares in a sword quiver.

One of the owners of the ranch was also in our session: Valteri. Seeing him shoot was a key reminder in the difference between being a casual horse archer and a person who can practice most days, he was amazing!

One area I did well was accuracy. People have laughed at me for purchasing 14 bows in 12mths, but that led me to Goldilocks, a 35lb YMG bow from Freddie Archery which meets my need for an easy draw, with aggressive shooting and deadly accuracy. We had a competition in pairs and my other half missed all and I single handedly managed to get us a win. This tells me all my problems are speed and my ability on a horse.

After a morning of Anni making me realise there is so much more to learn about my archery technique we turned to horses.
“Heath you will have Vaino. Whatever happens do not touch the reins…”
“Sorry, say what?”
“Don’t worry the horse is fine, just don’t piss it off”.
Not the most comforting words! Horses can suffer trauma from a past owner which is why its so important they end up in the hands of good people like Suvi and Valteri, but this horse was working through its issues (you also should not touch his ears) and if you pull the reins his energy is going to go up and you might be competing for the Grand National.
With trepidation I took Vaino to the track remembering the advice of “do nothing”. This actually suits me more than you’d think, as given a choice I’d love to be lazy, so if the horse is better with me putting less effort in, who am I to disagree? As we approached the start Vaino tried to wander into the forest, so my paranoid self gave it the lightest touch and spoke calmly. I’m not sure if it understands English, but he decided to turn and face the track, I did nothing, he gave a trot, I clicked, he gave canter and it was beautiful. Smooth, not too fast, not too slow, decent pace, I could work with this. Although I was conscious given I mostly ride draft horses in England there was a risk people would think that’s all I ride.

Anni is deceiving as a coach. She is tiny and has a smile that could melt a glacier… but then I am halfway down the track and clearly hear above the thunder of the horse “Stand up straight, hips under the body, track the target, shoot, that’s it, good back shot”. She treads that fine line all coaches do of making it feel fun to be told off. I get to the end of each run and think…

• How did I do?

• Do I need to apologise to Anni for something?

The answer is always yes. I then need to start working out what I should be apologising for. I think Anni would rather I was listening and adjusting than trying to apologise, but it’s an English thing, we start with sorry and work our way from there. Her coaching has been precise and excellent (I mean it because it’s true, not because I’m in danger or anything 😉🆘).

My challenge as a horse archer is I am competent but have lots of small things to improve which collectively add up to a long journey. It would be easier if it was one big thing, fix that and its all gold. Anni literally picked up on everything, even when I didn’t think she was right I’d watch a video to she was 😂😂 (note to self: if you don’t record things, you can believe you made no mistakes ✅… second note to self: don’t dispute the word of Anni!).

Anni saw through all my bullshit, but also had a sense of humour which is a rare combination and one that frankly terrifies me. Its like two people that can’t be rattled, but one has to listen to the other… I suggested I make one improvement at a time and she replied “that’s absolutely right, but you have 2 days with me so bank the rest for later”. I’m wishing my I’d recorded more advice rather than trusting my brain to remember.

I have spent 2 days under Anni’s tutelage, and am learning so much. Its just great to be in a forest breathing fresh air, thundering along, shooting arrows from a horse. The competition starts on Friday, Anni is entering, Valteri (the owner) is entering, so the battle is really for third given how good those two are, but we’re all loving the process.

Whilst I feel a long way off, this kind of camp is exactly what I need for my World Nomad Games entry. A journey is never about where you are as to where you aspire to be.

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Apologies, I’ve been scant on my blog posts, its been a crazy few weeks getting registered for the World Nomad Games, up training, delivering in my actual job, and passing my Intermediate Horse Archer Qualification… that’s right I can now say I have a qualification with more day to day use than my degree 😉

I’ve just touched down in Finland for the next competition. This is not the big one, it’s a 2 day training camp led by Anni Jauhiainen whom I’ve heard so many good things about but the side of me that doesn’t fully understand social cues wonders if I already pissed her off (nice one Heath, may have achieved that before meeting). Like any aspiring athlete you stalk the top dogs and I commented on a video of hers on social media and asked a direct question. However, it might have come across as a challenge, it wasn’t intentional, but I tend to ask “why” which makes other people feel uncomfortable, but from my side it adds context which I need for understanding… maybe this is all in my head, who knows 🤷‍♂️ Go in there humble and hope she doesn’t remember me - names like “Heath Buck” are very forgettable...

I know I can come across as fearless, but I’m always apprehensive ahead of an event. Will I perform well or I embarrass myself? It’s hard to say. I’ve done the work, but I don’t feel like it, I think part of it is just how manic this week has been and packing didn’t help. Staying within the 23kg suitcase limit I have to pack 4 bows, 50+ arrows, 2 quivers, riding helmet, and chaps, and all the various bits to make adjustments or flying repairs to gear if needed as well as some clothes for me.

Lapland airport (Rovaniemi) is basically a strip of tarmac in the forest and mainly exists for winter tourism for Santa fantasists or potentially people who actually believes he. exists. Impressively the locals gave up taking Christmas decorations down and just leave them in the airport all year (we’d all have less work if we all took that chill pill).

It is quite something to build your entire local economy on being the official hometown for a person that doesn’t actually exist. Apparently this was a self-declared act by a radio broadcaster in Finland called “Uncle Marcus” in 1927 and the Finnish government just thought lets go with it and see how that monetises.

Leaving Rovanemi Airport which is within city limits we drove for 30mins through unblemished forests to Rovanemi city which is also within city limits… (largest “city” my ass, more like district). I will say I love how sparsely populated countries quickly make you feel suddenly in nature, plus pilots who know one error and you’re spiking on trees must be pretty confident.

I noticed on the drive that traffic is very relaxed and there’s few traffic lights. Brings me to my theory that what makes you a aggressive driver is permanently being told to stop - the human conscience is not wired for oppression no matter how legitimate the aim.

I am awaiting a pickup at 8:30am tomorrow, in a beautiful country that brings tourist in to the see the reindeer whilst also having a massive business in reindeer meat. The competition is “Midnight Sun” and it takes place in the home of Santa, its 10pm and outside is bright light, the shops are selling Christmas decorations, the people are so chilled they couldn’t be bothered to take the airport displays down… yet all I want to know is what are the horses like…

Will update as I get to the competition. A more exciting week for blog posts! (assuming that is the highlight of your existence).

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And for all you premium subscribers there’s something extra…

I shouldn’t say it publicly, but…

“People in Rovaniemi look really inbred, and it does not look like its worked out well for them...” 🤣🤣

And I’m saying that as a boy who grew up in Somerset and has done a comedy sketch on the dangers of inbreeding (and the fact in Somerset instead of a family tree we call it a family bush etc…). They are all about the same height, same build, same looking face. This is worse than the English gene pool (which significantly improved under the Normans, except the noses, Norman noses are not cool).

Also, I totally forgot the flag. On the outside chance I make a podium, they will play the British anthem which as a Republican Atheist “God save the King…” already gives me enough trouble without adding flagless to the feeling. At the airport I found a solution! - or as near as I could, it probably-only-works-in-my-head type of solution.

After a week of almost no sleep due to a combination of unavoidable work events and UK bedrooms not having air-con I woke up at ridiculous’o’clock to get to training because with 32 degrees forecast we either had to beat the sun or cancel in the unseen name of horse welfare.

The temptation in a heat wave is to skip training, but athleticism is about discipline ahead of motivation. The world is full of people who had reasons why not, but any journey worth doing is always a little uncomfortable.

Before hitting the motorway I’d found time to feed my cats, but my breakfast was slurps of rather unimaginative Huel… although technically healthy and filling it lacked the pleasure of real food (at least I went for the chocolate one). This is what busy life has come down to, a congealed mess of powered food in a drink.

Saturday was my assessment for my Intermediate Horse Archery qualification which I must land to be able to compete at the World Nomad Games. I know the material, but having risen through the system so quickly I am the “conditional entrant” so it’s a necessary evil of bureaucracy. I guess if the worst happens and I came off no-one would want to be answering awkward questions like “should we have let him enter?” This qualification is the modern world’s way of saying “he seemed decent”. I wonder what might have happened to the Mongol Horde if they’d all had to qualify first.

My team-mate Kristina has one of those impossibly happy dispositions and spent the car journey telling me I’ll pass, personally I prefer to wallow in my own fear of what if…

Our coach, Simon Harding, bounded up to us as we arrived…
“We start in reverse order today” he exclaimed taking us straight to the horses before it got too warm. Today’s session was the technique to ride the horse between shots. Simon’s horses are huge, with Eddie being sizeable to the point of cartoon ridiculous he’s so big. I’d challenge anyone not to sit on that gentle giant and feel powerful. However, Eddie and Clump will also play little tricks to see if you’ll let them out of work, you take your shot and if you’re not careful, that moment between shots they will ease off the canter to “help you”. For non-horse riders, Eddie’s head weighs around 90kg, that’s pretty heavy, with all that mass you can’t blame a horse for sometimes trying to get out of moving.

Simon ran through the routine of how to shoot an arrow, collect the horse, keep the speed, then shoot again. On a thundering beast there is a lot going on to get it just right, but then I think of how much knowledge I’ve layered on in the last year. My horse riding has gone from relax on the saddle to stand up with no hands shooting arrows at targets and not even worried about falling off.

The drill was going well until Kristina mentioned something about bareback riding. I think as team mates we might have a problem as Kristina loves to talk and suggest new ideas, and I have an inability to say no… A few minute later we were learning to do horse archery from Eddie and Clump without the saddle or other unnecessary bits that might make us feel secure. Note to self… Kristina talks too much (it was actually a fantastic session, although probably not what you should start with, but I’m down there most weeks, so its fun to mix it up).

As the heat bore down we took the horses in to cool off and started my assessment. First I was taken outside for the archery practical. This part I was confident in. Aside from setting up the track, there was a key part about being able to run a range safely. Mostly this involved Simon and Kristina attempting to test my patience until I figured out I could just role play to excessively strict Range Safety Officer which allowed me to get my own back with some nice safety lectures and threatening to throw Simon off his own range.

As we baked in the midday sun, the decision was taken to move to the pieces inside the stable as Simon relished grilling me on Horse Archery and Equine theory… even I was surprised of my historical knowledge of English longbowmen which was totally unnecessary for the test… After a few hours.. I passed most of the test!

To be clear I didn’t fail anything, but if you put 3 archers in a room… we decided to complete the assessment another week and get out for a final session on the range. As a London based horse archer I rarely get to practice range, Simon took us to about 40 metres. The purpose of this is any error at 40m is much more obvious, so basically Simon can prove the mistakes we’re making. He’s an excellent coach, but I reserve my right to complain about anything I’m asked to do 😉

Coming up, I have the Midnight Sun competition in Finland, and it is now just 2 months to the World Nomad Games!

Later this week I’ll update you on what happened when I went down to Maggie’s Voice to spy on the Welsh.

Basically half the time I use logic to try and work out what’s going on… (okay I might be part Vulcan). This doesn’t bother me, I have a disposition of positivity and humour, and if in doubt laugh, but being honest, joining a new team, living the dream of representing my country, I get a super-paranoid without knowing it I could really piss people off (its not the first time). In fact pissing-people-off is almost my super-hero skill, not deliberately, more obliviously. Don't get me wrong, Kristina and Becca are awesome, but I know in the early days a little bit of Heath can be a lot to handle, once people get to know me, I’m sound as a pound, but I’ve come a cropper before and these two have known each other forever… plus they’re relative strangers and we’ve all agreed to do a pre-games horse archery training camp.

I never got diagnosed as autistic, but the moment the “probably” diagnosis came out it I shared it with my work team, my friends, and any autistic person I’ve met. Not one person has challenged it (at least throw me a bone!). Whether or not it’s true, some stuff makes sense.

• Remember you might be right, but arguing doesn’t make friends.

• Your “helpful directness” might be offensive to others, sometimes say nothing.

• After they’ve got used to you… you can let your real self out a bit, you’re never happy as someone else (this is apparently called “masking” when a neurodiverse person can short term adjust who they are to fit in, but its actually quite stressful to sustain it).

A quick google and I took a wry smile at this: “being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as an adult, I now realize that I have inadvertently offended many, many people during the course of my life.” 🤣🤣🤣

I’ve totally done that! It can cost relationships. I’ve never cared what anyone thought of me, life is too short for that, but when its a team thing, you don’t want to feel awkward either. The good news is the team happens to be 3 Londoners so we’ve built a rapport (I think… it’s also entirely possible I’ve misread the social cues).

We all seem to be slotting into team roles:

• Becca is definitely the organised one who knows what she’s doing and the calm sense of reason.

• I’m the fixer, always good at making things happen (the benefit of ignoring what should happen. I also get OCD when I throw myself into something and think inside 12mths I own 4X the bows and arrows of my team-mates combined… oops!

• Kristina is the chill one, who probably questions if she should do more, but people like this are often the glue that holds everyone else together which should not be under-estimated in a team that needs to get on together - plus she’s got some records, so no pressure but we need you to land gold! 😉🥇

Our current mission is looking for sponsorship, which is doable, but generally involves getting a lot of “no’s” from corporations who misunderstand how loyalty is built (the clue is being linked to something people care about, like a GB Team). In fact, sadly, but true to our culture, some American firms we’re talking to are more excited about the potential of sponsoring team GB than British firms!

The search will go on, it would be nice to have GB. brand alignment, for instance the British make some excellent wines and also some awful ones… the only way you’d really know is by seeing a name on our GB t-shirts 😉

I think I’m also close to getting some press coverage which should support our growing profile (I’ve also had to explain to Kristina we pitch going for gold! not we’d be sort of happy mid-table or somewhere close.

Anyway, it’s late, for those on the premium tier I will get an update which includes a full wrap up of my first competition in Barcelona (which on arrival I wasn't sure if I’d just entered the right place or was going to be an overseas travel statistic…).

“Where can I learn horse archery?”

The problem is most the advertising is on Instagram and if you don’t follow the right people you won’t hear about them. I’ve collated a list of places to train without owning a horse, most of which I’ve trained at (name hyperlinked to their best contact details).

England

• Alphamstone Arrows (Suffolk) - 1.5hrs from London in heartiest Suffolk is Simon Harding, expert on all things horse archery, where you can train on some of the biggest horses you’ve ridden in your life! (yes a 19 hands Clydesdale at canter you can shoot arrows from!) 🎯

• Centre for Horse Combat (St Albans) - Excellent horses and training in the green fields of a stately home. Many people get their first taste here with the irrepressible Karl Greenwood who’s performed across the world. A bit pricey, but excellent horses and you get a full day of it on an amazing track.

• Maggie’s Voice (Abergavenny) - A horse school branching out into horse archery, I’m on the list to go there, review coming soon!

• Knights of Middle England (Warwick) - Good luck booking a weekend session! (it gets solidly booked which is kudos of its own kind). If you can get there mid-week, local horse archers swear by it.

Kyrygzstan

• Gulsary Stables - If you want light touch horse archery with glamping, or they can organise coaching with members of the Kyrygz national team, Gulsary build custom trips around your needs. Think cantering at a target with snowcapped mountains as your backdrop, and maybe downtime hunting with eagles.

• Tengri Bows - “Mountain edition” - live like a Nomad in the mountain valleys of Kyrygzstan, sleep in a yurt, wash in a stream, and learn horse archery how it was meant to be learned.

• Tengri Bows - “Training centre” - if time is pressing, or you prefer comfort to vista’s, Jiri can run sessions in Cholpon-Ata where he will take you from beginner to thumb draw and shooting targets thrown in the air!

South Africa

• Griffins Horse Archery - for horse archery as a martial art, Daniel Griffin is a disciple of the Kassai technique and has the most fancy horse archery setup in the world! He’s literally at the bottom of Africa, with flowers growing on a perfectly manicured archery track, and I also swear when I see his form it’s the archery equivalent of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian man!

Finland

• Ranch Kuulas - I’m booked for their Midnight Sun training camp and competition, totally looking forwards to it, will report back afterwards.

Hungary

• Nemethy Academy - I’ve not been there, but reputationally everyone who knows anything about horse archery has heard of Nemethy. I met Christophe Nemethy, the man himself, at my Barcelona competition and he’s as impressive in person as his reputation beholds, he kindly gave me some free pointers (and sold me a bow, but I like to focus on his kindness 😉).

Once you start following a few horse archery places on Instagram, everything else starts to appear in the feed… 🎯🏇🏹🏔️

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I stared at the email. I’d been hoping for this, I had a suspicion it was coming, but until it was in writing it always felt a little uncertain. I took up the sport 1 years ago, but I’ve been working hard. If you think this whole message is weird, you are aligned with everyone I tell…

“Is it a real sport?”
“What do you shoot?”
and…
“no seriously, what do you actually do at weekends?” (one poor internet date who thought I was making things up to cover up a dull life or an affair).

The true story is more insane than realistic. About 1 year ago I saw some guy on youtube doing horse archery, I tracked him down and dropped him an email saying “can you teach me that?”

After some back and forth, him explaining he was good at horse archery but didn’t usually teach, me agreeing to transfer money to this veritable stranger to secure my place in a horse archery training school that didn’t yet exist, him agreeing not to inappropriately touch me when we’re in the mountains, and me booking a flight to get out there. This was step one.

I got hooked and decided I might be able to start a GB Horse Archery team. A quick search on the internet and it turned out was already a team, its an established sport, and GB has some horse archers who are good… so I set about ruining my free time and bank balance trying to master this sport with the single goal of getting to the World Nomad Games. This blog is about my journey to the WNG - I was too nervous to set it up until after I knew I’d made the team! 🤣 🤣.

I hastily entered competitions to try and get a ranking, and then came the application form. Its always unnerving being an outsider, everyone else is in the horse archery setup, my application was along the lines of…

I suspect there was some disbelief reading my application, the selection body (HBAA) doesn’t know me, but I thrive under unconventional.

I re-read the email… my inclusion was on the condition I get qualified. I didn’t know horse archery had qualifications 🤷‍♂️ I considered my poor life choice of a business degree when I could have been a horse archer 🥲

Three of us are in the GB World Nomad Games Team

• Kristina, an experienced GB horse archer ranked 88 in the world (out of 840)

• Becca, who has chaired the horse archery association with many years experience.

• Me, a conditional entry who needs to get better with tacking a horse who has trained unconventionally with Nomads, but ranked 6^th in my second competition.

I’m so unknown I’m a literal dark horse… (although potentially blowing that with this blog). However, I have trained all over the world, I am blowing my savings on equipment and training (I’m a firm believer what you lack in talent you can compensate in tools). And there’s one other thing… Poland!

The Nomad Games is a little wild and apparently shooting lethal weapons from a moving horse whilst standing up no hands is dangerous. Add in a spirited animal to the mix… apparently normal people get nervous. There was a recent competition in Poland where the horses were challenging and on balance many sensible people decided you’d be mad to go to Kyrgyzstan which really boosted my. chances 😉. I have the advantage of being naïve to the extent wild horses don’t bother me, plus I’ve trained in Kyrgyzstan and think the speed of the animals is hilarious (I have a weird relax reflex when I get nervous… which in horse riding helps).

Please follow my journey as I document my journey to the World Nomad Games trying to do Britain proud (its got that bad, I’m the hope we have 🤣).

If you join the premium tier you will get the inside track of all the shenanigans. I’m also trying to make this site a resource to learn about horse archery and save the many hours of ChatGPT I had to do 🥲 - I can help you find places to train and avoid mistakes (premium tier allows access to a chat room, Nomadic Horde tier means I’ll sort you out a cap!).

Early days yet, but it’s going to be one hell of a ride and hopefully I stay alive throughout!

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Camp - Karakol, Kyrgyzstan - 🏔️

This is not a roll off the plane 5min job. 4hrs drive from Bishkek I met him about halfway to the camp. We then travelled via local taxi to Karakol on the Eastern shore of lake Issyk Kul. A quick stop for supplies and to a village to start our adventure. You have a several hours riding up a mountain valley to get to a place so picturesque it belongs in a movie. This is your camp. It has horses, local Nomads, yurts for sleeping, a fresh stream, and not much in the way of mod cons. The camp is awesome, but it’s off the beaten track and you should only attend if you’re of the adventurous persuasion and able to give up luxuries for a week. There’s no shops, so bring what you need!

Technique

Jiri is a thumb draw archer at heart and from what I know he’s only done natural bows and horse bows.

For a beginner he is a perfect starting point

I’ve had more expert coaches, but Jiri got me going quicker. He’s very much: show you, then let you have a go. If this is how you learn, he’s great (theory is for intellectuals, hands are my thinking). You train in an open area, so no big safety lectures and videos in a room, just common sense and good close 1-2-1 training.

The only limit is Jiri’s not a competitive horse archer, so if you’re expert you may find you have less to learn. He has competed and done well in Kyrgyzstan, he rides and shoots everyday, he can shoot a 100lb warbow, but he’s not on the competitor circuit which will mean he’s outside the ebb and flow of imitating working techniques. Anyone below competition standard will have a lot to learn!

Horses

You are with the Nomads. The horses are trained for riding, but not schooled. Your technique will work, however, also copy the locals and relax. Relative to Europe these horses are halfway to wild (not actually wild, that’s further up the valley), so your balance matters and your confidence matters. Personally I prefer horses like this, but you need to exert control and sometimes just go with the horse. The locals over-ride their horses, but it's their land so no judgements, and sometimes it means you have to do similar. The other very typically Kyrygz thing is they have lots of horses and Jiri is expert, so if you need to swap over you probably can.

Vibe - relaxed and off-road

Jiri and his Nomad friends (he’s not Nomad) are the consummate hosts. You should offer to cook. If you’re vegan give him very good warning, as basically every meal will have meat. Washing is in cold stream water, but Jiri has built a rudimentary sauna, so you’re roughing it with off-grid living and small slices of luxury.

Jiri himself is at your disposal and super-helpful. If you want to spend a day on horse archery, you can, if you want to do it for the morning, or ditch it entirely he’ll offer you a ride up the valley (a must do) or shooting marmots (something I declined). There’s not much to do, sit back, tune out, and relax in nature (and take a kindle).

A final thing I will say is the locals don’t speak English, so if you are travelling solo the interaction with Jiri can be intense. He’s a good guy, and you’re safe, but obviously spending multiple days with an introvert stranger you just met can be intense and you’ll need breathing space. His communication style is also very direct, and whilst he doesn’t realise it, to a subtle communicating Englishman it can come across as rude. Most experienced travellers know to create their own space, and in fairness I’m mildly neuro-diverse meaning I sometimes just need to tune out, also if you’re travelling in a group this a non issue. I still went back for a 2nd trip with Jiri, but 1-2-1 with any guide can be challenging.

Epicness = 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You are in a valley at 2,700m with snow capped peaks running along the side! You will see herds of sheep, goats, cows, and wild horses (which allegedly have owners). The stream cuts through the valley, and you are truly alone with the Nomads. I cannot say it is possible to have a more epic setting to learn horse archery.

Summary

This is not the most convenient camp, your toilet is a tent with a hole in the ground, mountains do get cold at night, but you have to ask yourself if you want to do a holiday that will make every single one of your friends jealous? This is it!

Perfect locations, fields of wild horse, learning with someone who makes traditional horn bows for a living. What’s more, although Kyrgyzstan can be a ball ache to get to, once you're there the prices are decent. This is not the glamping experience, its the Nomad experience and its Epic!

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