Preparing the bow for shooting part 6 BRACING THE BOW ON HORSEBACK

As a complement to previous parts, in which we explain bracing and checking the bow slowly and carefully, we can now show - for a change - one of the more “battlefield” ways of bracing a string, that is by mounted archer. In the old days there were a lot of similar “special” techniques, to be used in different circumstances, like bracing while running, or standing in deep water, without getting archery equipment wet. First of all I have to say, that most of those methods are more difficult and/or risky for your bow than “normal” techniques we described before. This knowledge is not really necessary if you take part in modern horseback archery competitions, as you can brace your bow beforehand, on the ground, or else ask some of the “ground crew” for help. Of course it was completely different under battlefield or hunting conditions, when an archer can spend whole day in the saddle and cannot ask his fellow warriors to stop and wait a moment while he dismounts and start preparing his bow before charge, or trying to replace broken string in the middle of a melee. Essential skill or not, I personally will not feel a complete horseback archer without the ability to perform such a basic task without dismounting - even if for the next ten years I'll do this only for training or demonstration purposes.

First method I would like to describe is suitable for most types of bows (on our photos we have Sanczenko and his Saluki Mameluk), more and less curved, with and without string bridges and regardless of limb tip shape. The only exception are extremely reflexed bows, with limb tips closing or even crossing each other when unstrung. Well, but those “crabs” are difficult to string even on-foot and with a helper...

Bracing the bow on hurseback.

We should notice, that old war bows were often less “aggressive” geometry than their competitive counterparts (like Turkish flight bows with half moon "hilal kuram" silhouette vs. war bows of "tekne kuram", boat-like shape, curved only at the ends) which, among other things, gave them more robustness and made them easier to maintain under field conditions.

One loop of the string we fix on appropriate limb tip and we position this end of our bow vertically downward, gripping opposite siyah in right hand, and free string loop in left hand, together with horse's reins (very similar position as when preparing to string the bow on the ground, by “across the leg” method).

COMMANDO BEAR, a comic-book about bear archery

Some time ago I wrote about a connection between "BearWay Archery" logo and the symbol of 22 Artillery Supply Company. I would like to add, that this true story about a bear serving in Polish Army during WWII also inspired authors of a cartoon in which Wojtek The Bear fight alongside legendary Jack Churchill, British Army officer with unconventional ideas about tactics and weapons of choice.
Meet COMMANDO BEAR!
This comic-book include bears, motorcycles, bows, swords and german nazis (and a lot of brutality towards the latter...).

You must see "The Historically Accurate Adventures of Jack & Voytek"!

Also, it'll be good to compare cartoon fiction with biographies of main characters: lieutenant-colonel "Mad Jack" Churchill and bear-corporal Wojtek.

Preparing the bow for shooting part 5 CHECKING THE GEOMETRY - brace height and nockpoint height.

In the last chapter we considered tiller, in other words checking the limbs balance by measuring difference in distance between the string and top and bottom limb. Now it's time to look at brace height, that is distance between the string and the grip of our bow. Measuring this distance is an easy way to check correct string length.

Measuring brace height (BH)

Preparing the bow for shooting part 4 CHECKING THE GEOMETRY - tiller.

In the last part I mentioned that after bracing, the limbs of our bow have to be balanced, but this does not mean, that they will bend exactly the same, even with symmetrical design. Precise regulation of top vs. bottom limb relative strength is called "tiller" and the simplest method of determining tiller is to compare distance between them and the string - in archery language "brace height" or "BH" for top and bottom limb. Weaker limb will bend more, and its BH will be bigger than the other, stronger limb.

Measuring tiller.

Preparing the bow for shooting part 3 CHECKING THE GEOMETRY - axial symmetry and balance of limbs.

As we told in the previous part, we should perform first check of bow geometry immediately after bracing, when we still hold it firmly under control. However, with a bow supported under one's leg or below knees it's a bit hard to see all imperfections of its shape except those most obvious. When we can take it loosely in the hand, it's time for a closer look.
First we should once more take a look on string loops; we already checked that they are properly attached and laying in the middle on the limbs, but now make sure that they are EXACTLY centered and not twisted. Make corrections if needed - there is no point to go further with our checks, if loops are not properly aligned.
Loops have strong tendency to twist if the string is poorly build or it's main part is overtwisted (more about this later).
If our string is of more traditional design, with loops formed by knots, we should also make sure that those knots are laying correctly, so their free ends are sticking outside of the bow and not pressed against it's belly side.

Preparing the bow for shooting part 2b BRACING THE BOW ON-FOOT by one person

While stringing the bow with a helper is the safest method, especially when dealing with strong / deeply reflexed / natural composite design, nevertheless every archer should be able to do it by himself, if necessary.

First we will describe the most popular method, with archer standing and bending the bow across one leg. It's quite easy to learn and convenient in most situations, but it's easy do develop a twist in bow limbs, if you don't pay attention to details.

Bracing the bow by one person.