04/06/2025
Last weekend we hosted Elizabeth Gonzalez Tinnan at Sage Knoll Farm for a mounted archery clinic! It was truly the most joyful, fun clinic I have ever been a part of. Many of the participants were new to mounted archery, horses, or ground archery, and 3 of the horses (the ones who live with me) had virtually no experience with archery at all. We'd just shown some broken arrows to those 3 and Kuhl was kind enough to come give Manchego an introduction to MA before the clinic to help me decide if I would participate with him or one of Elizabeth's horses. He was all in!
I'm so grateful for the openness of the mounted archery communities I've met so far in Tennessee, California, and now Kentucky. People from all different backgrounds and disciplines are coming together to have fun and provide their horses with pleasant, stimulating, and fear-free experiences. Everyone is willing to share knowledge and even gear and horses to help one another. It's a beautiful communion we don't see often enough in other corners of the horse world.
I deeply admire Elizabeth's horsemanship, teaching, and horsehumanship, if I may borrow a Nahshon word. She didn't know it until I told her, but everything about how she cares for and teaches her horse and human students is truly classical, despite no formal classical training. She knows how to listen to the horses with her whole heart and feel for what works and what doesn't. She's brave enough to be creative and curious in the work and is unclouded by horsemanship dogma. It was amazing to me how much of what she taught about how to ride for mounted archery is congruent with what I teach in my classical dressage centered rider biomechanics clinics.
I was drawn to mounted archery in the first place because I felt it took the dressage back to its roots-- training horses to be so relaxed, balanced, and understanding of their rider that they could be ridden into battle. It's training your horse to have excellent emotional, mental, and physical posture so that you can do hard things on their back and continue to build your relationship and athleticism as a team.
I wasn't sure if my personal horse, Manchego would like it at first. I was concerned that he would be bothered that so much of what I'd be doing on his back did not need to mean anything to him. Less than a year ago, he would be irritated if I would even call my hound back while riding him. But what I found was that he loved the archery with me. First, because my mind is clear when I'm shooting. I'm not thinking about how to improve or fix anything about him or me-- I'm able to radically accept where we are in the present moment and do something with it, and then thank him profusely for trusting me so much. Second, he's an Andalusian, and Iberians find weight aids to be so very clear and useful. It's how they're wired as war horses and bullfighting horses. When you're shooting, your weight is pretty much all you've got as far as physical aids. Finally, he feeds off of my joy and excitement in a positive way. I was clicking and treating him, but I was also clicking myself for hitting targets and staying on a straight line without my normal postural aids. We were encouraging one another in true partnership.
I plan to host Elizabeth annually for clinics, and I strongly encourage anyone to join. If you're not sure about bringing your own horse, I can assure you that Elizabeth takes the time each horse needs to be relaxed and curious about archery through attunement. She also travels with her own magnificent horses.
Thank you Elizabeth Gonzalez Tinnan for teaching us. Thank you Alexandra Taylor for photographing the event and participating with Corvin. Thank you to all the horses for being brave and open. Thank you to all the participants and auditors for being willing to share what you had to offer and truly commune together. I learned from everyone who came and I cannot wait to continue building these connections and having fun!