{"id":33121,"date":"2023-07-01T21:50:34","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T21:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/archers-mount-up-for-silver-arrow-classic\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:06:12","slug":"archers-mount-up-for-silver-arrow-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/archers-mount-up-for-silver-arrow-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"Archers mount up for Silver Arrow Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Greg
Greg Ogburn, ranked second in the nation, rides Titus while competing on Saturday in the Silver Arrow Classic mounted archery contest in Ignacio near Oxford. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Mounted archery is the world\u2019s oldest type of horse warfare. The ancient martial art first appeared in the Assyrian army in the seventh century BC. Mongolian leader Genghis Khan and his troops later built the largest continuous empire in the world using mounted archery in the 12th century.<\/p>\n

Today, the martial art has become a sport, emerging in the last 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the oldest (type of) horseback warfare,\u201d said Carol Queen of the San Juan Mountain Archers. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of funny we\u2019re just bringing it back to the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lauren
Lauren Harwood, 15, stands with her horse, Oak, while competing on Saturday in the Silver Arrow Classic mounted archery contest in Ignacio near Oxford. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s a very traditional sport, trying to bring the traditions and history alive while having fun,\u201d said San Juan Mountain Archers\u2019 Lauren Harwood, 15, noting that a lot of competitors wear costumes and have theme songs. \u201cIt takes elements of war tactics, makes them modern and adds a competitive aspect to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, 25 mounted archers from seven states converged in Ignacio near Oxford for the Silver Arrow Classic, a national ranking event. The event was hosted by the San Juan Mountain Archers, organized by group\u2019s founders Carol and Ken Queen. It was the third year they put on the event. Mounted Archery has several different governing bodies, but the San Juan Mounted Archers are part of the Mounted Archery Association of Americas.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently, we\u2019ve done good enough because some of the top archers in the U.S. are here,\u201d Carol said. She said the first day they opened the event to registration it filled up, but a few of the competitors pulled out for various reasons.<\/p>\n

Two of the archers competing in the Silver Arrow Classic will represent the USA at the upcoming world championships in Mongolia: Heather Lomax and Chris Heffernan.<\/p>\n

Two other competitors, Greg Ogburn and Joey Ogburn of Colorado, are ranked in the top-14 nationally. Greg is No. 2 and Joey is No. 14.<\/p>\n

\"Ken
Ken Queen and his horse Gidget compete on Saturday in the Silver Arrow Classic mounted archery contest in Ignacio. Queen hosted the event. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Because Silver Arrow Classic is a national ranking event, it featured all three different disciplines of mounted archery for the competitors. The Tower discipline took place on Friday, the Raid discipline was held on Saturday while the Hunt discipline will be held Sunday.<\/p>\n

The three disciplines are similar, but each has unique twists. In all three, however, the competitors ride their horses through a timed straightaway section while letting go of the reins to fire arrows at a few different targets.<\/p>\n

The archers use shorter bows so they don\u2019t get in the way while they adjust their body positions while aiming at targets on their horses.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people try to balance themselves while standing in the saddle straps so there\u2019s less movement,\u201d Carol said. \u201cMost shoot when the horse\u2019s feet are all off the ground. It\u2019s definitely a timing thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each horse also has a different gait, and some days they run fast and sometimes they run slow. Harwood has a good relationship with her horse, Oak, which helps a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe runs pretty smooth, so it\u2019s pretty easy to drop the reins and just shoot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For the Raid on Saturday, the par time was 14 seconds, meaning the competitors and their horses had 14 seconds to run through the course before getting penalized. Hitting targets, meanwhile, scores points so the competitors have to balance speed with accuracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince you\u2019re using both hands, the horses have to be trained exceptionally well,\u201d Carol said, noting that a lot of the competitors still can guide their horses using their seat and legs.<\/p>\n

The sport has grown since San Juan Mountain Archers was created about four years ago. The group has 10 members, and six of them compete. Carol said there were five national ranking events when the group started, and this year, there are over 25. Instructors also go around offering clinics, which has helped broaden the sport.<\/p>\n

Harwood, who is from Marble near Hesperus, said her family raises draft horses, so she grew up riding. She competed in gymkhana through 4-H, but later switched to mounted archery.<\/p>\n

\u201cGymkhana didn\u2019t click with me, so I started mounted archery and it just did,\u201d she said. \u201cI like this atmosphere more; if you don\u2019t have an arrow, someone will give you a handful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all cheer for each other, promote each other and help guide each other. It\u2019s a good family to be around,\u201d Carol said. \u201cNot all of us ride and shoot, but the rest volunteer.\u201d With her and Ken both competing in the competition as well as hosting it, Carol said the volunteers \u201care the most important part\u201d of making a successful event.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext time we have a competition, come see us,\u201d Harwood said. \u201cWe like showing the sport to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Abby
Abby Chu, on Zoe, competes on Saturday in the Silver Arrow Classic mounted archery contest in Ignacio. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joey
Joey Ogburn, ranked 14th in the nation, rides Hanna while competing on Saturday in the Silver Arrow Classic mounted archery contest in Ignacio. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Chris
Chris Heffernan, on Luke, competes on Saturday in the Silver Arrow Classic mounted archery contest in Ignacio. Heffernan will be going to Mongolia to represent Team USA in the upcoming mounted archery world championships. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The straight track in the Silver Arrow Classic mounted archery contest on Saturday in Ignacio was hosted by Ken and Carol Queen. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Greg
Greg Ogburn, ranked second in the nation, twists backward while riding Titus, to let go of an arrow at a target while competing on Saturday in the Silver Arrow Classic mounted archery straight track contest in Oxford south of Durango. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lauren
Lauren Davis dances during the Silver Arrow Classic mounted archery contest on Saturday in Ignacio. Anytime a archer hits a bull\u2019s-eye, the person pulling the arrow has to do a dance. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Arrows
Arrows used in the Silver Arrow Classic mounted archery contest on Saturday in Ignacio. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ancient martial art uniting people in modern times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2299,28,1300],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-33121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-archery","tag-headlines","tag-horseback-riding"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82058,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33121\/revisions\/82058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33121"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=33121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}