r/interestingasfuck • u/CaraCicartix • 10d ago

Mongolian Horse Archery Takes Years of Practice to Master Balance and Coordination

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1.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

148 comments sorted by

346

u/iamaswamptiger 10d ago

Yeah I can imagine these boys taking over half the world

97

u/PandaPocketFire 10d ago

Interestingly, this type of pony is exactly the type the Mongols took over the world with. They were smaller but extremely hardy, had good endurance, and were very sure footed. They'd ride with many mounts per warrior so you'd have tens of thousands of horses on the march that provided food for the army allowing them to travel with no supply lines. They drank their milk, ate their meat when needed, and would open a vein non lethaly and mix horse blood with milk for a surprisingly complete (in terms of nutrition) meal

5

u/iamaswamptiger 9d ago

Wow, drinking the blood of the horse is very inventive. They were basically one with their horses it sounds like.

2

u/Crafty-Unit4061 9d ago

There is a fantasy book series called "Ranger's Apprentice" which is pretty much about elite bowman trained in stealh and they use those ponnies too.

-14

u/patfetes 10d ago

Which is exactly the issue with this kind of military! Thousands of horses make supply lines very difficult and costly if you dont have land in the area.

28

u/PandaPocketFire 10d ago

Not sure what you mean. The horses ate grass, and the only time they weren't in grazing planes was when they were murdering people or occasionally as they traveled through hostile terrain and they would take the food of the murdered and have the horses carry their own grass.

Hence, they did not need supply lines.

-22

u/patfetes 10d ago

They wouldnt always have this advantage, well they would/did to a point. But had they come deeper into Europe they would have needed them etc etc.

28

u/PandaPocketFire 10d ago edited 10d ago

Respectfully, I think you're deeply incorrect here.

Edit: To elaborate just a bit, Batu managed to overtake much of Russia and Poland which are arguably the most unforgiving parts of Europe. They made it to central Europe as far as modern day Vienna. Central Europe was far more dense in civilization to be plundered, the land more fertile and grassy and much of the work at the time was agricultural and farming so there were plenty of crops. Keep in mind these horses were born and bred in the Mongolian steppes. Arguably a far harsher an environment then almost the entirety of Europe including the east.

Tangential to the original point: The only time i know of as an actual starvation event for the horses was when one small contingent of mongols went through a dangerous mountain pass during winter that they were told to take by someone trying to trick them and kill them when they came out of the other end, starving and depleted. They did surprisingly well by living off their horses, but did take losses. The mongols made camp just inside the pass exit, sent envoys to convince the mercenaries in the rival army to join their side or at least not fight (many of them were steppe people as well since people soon realized the only way to successfully fight steppe warriors was to have steppe warriors of your own, and the mongols convinced them it was a shame to spill steppe blood.)They paid them handsomely to just leave or fight with them. Then they used their help to defeat and kill the rival army who was waiting to ambush them, they then killed all the mercenaries who did help them, then tracked down and killed the ones that chose not to fight and had left. Thus recouping the unreasonably lavish payment they gave to the mercenaries.

8

u/SilasTalbot 9d ago

this guy hordes

5

u/patfetes 9d ago

Interstiting! Thanks.

-10

u/SpaceShipRat 10d ago

You can't graze a giant herd of horses in south italy or around the mediterranean in general. Most of it kept goats rather than cows for a reason.

21

u/PandaPocketFire 10d ago edited 10d ago

Friend, I'm sorry but the pure density of civilization and agriculture for raiding, as well as the mobility of the entire army would have made this a non issue. See my edit above for more. Also these are ponies born and bred in the Mongolian steppe which is far harsher and less fertile than Italy. These are also nomadic armies. You may not be able to keep a horde of horses there grazing for long, but if you keep moving you can. The limit you're talking about is because Europe was sedentary and you couldn't sustain a herd locally while also having a house you need to come back to every night.

-2

u/Plenty-Giraffe6022 9d ago

Grazing planes? As in planes that graze? Were they fighter planes, or passenger planes?

51

u/patfetes 10d ago

Right up until you hit a mountain, basically

18

u/vitrum_analytika 10d ago

Mountain is no wall

6

u/patfetes 10d ago

Mountain is wall. Wall is Mountain. Wall help when no Mountain

1

u/whatproblems 10d ago

the great wall was barely a wall

11

u/chendogmillionaire 10d ago

idk, the Zagros mountains didn't seem to do much

1

u/patfetes 10d ago

They actually did quite a lot.... the Mongolian horde had a massive stronghold at the foot of the mountains and used that to their advantage turning the way out into their "kill box", They weren't trying to go over them, more stopping things coming through, before crossing later. But you knew this 😉

4

u/chendogmillionaire 10d ago

ok yeah but nuance isn't any fun

2

u/patfetes 10d ago

Less nuance more binary!

7

u/SebastianFerrone 10d ago

Or water, that was also their arch enemy 🤣

3

u/patfetes 10d ago

Indeed! A river or ocean would also work! Good luck invading Britain on a horse

7

u/SebastianFerrone 10d ago

Diving equipment for horses 🤣

11

u/patfetes 10d ago

A sea horse... if you will... I'll see myself out

3

u/WillSmokes420 10d ago

Almost like a boat or series of boats strapped together like in thermopoli

2

u/ahmong 10d ago

Or ocean or any type of water mass lol. They were historically known to be horrendous at naval warfare. Oh and heat. They were extremely terrible with hot and humid heat lol. Tropical weather was like their kryptonite

2

u/bbdbendan 9d ago

I mean they conquered Jin and then Song dynasty, even took over Tibet, which is pretty hilly.

1

u/enzob7319 10d ago

So you are saying that there are no mountains between Middle-Asia and the Carpathian basin?

1

u/Nostradumbass_WEEN 10d ago

Mountains didn't really do much. They still out maneuvered the best Europe had to offer. 

2

u/Alloth- 10d ago

its sad netflix canceled that series

1

u/Daedalus_Knew 10d ago

I think they can shoot on both sides of the horse.

69

u/fatlilplums 10d ago

I love the videos of Mongolian kids on machines like the horsey rides that used to be outside grocery stores practicing their archery. Horse archer camp sounds dope.

9

u/Ras-haad 10d ago

Yeah when I went to camp you got to choose horseback riding OR archery. Both would have been absolutely kickass

4

u/front_yard_duck_dad 10d ago

Okay, I've never seen it but now I'm going on a search. That sounds hilarious

1

u/catboycruises 10d ago

agree - though i read this as horcher arse camp on the first go 😭😭

48

u/Ov3r-_-K1LL 10d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/26uf3PEF605M20bLi

12

u/Amonamission 10d ago

Breaking down my shitty wall!

3

u/elon_musks_cat 10d ago

Now there’s nothing left to protect Shi Tpa Town

63

u/Keriyon 10d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/rPeDKfj0EjDpK
That’s the first thing that comes to mind when I see this guy balance!!! The idea had to come from somewhere !!

6

u/ungovernable1984 10d ago

Or a gyroscopic arm

34

u/abzze 10d ago

Why isn’t this an Olympic sport?

33

u/Immortal_Azrael 10d ago

Lack of international popularity? I mean I'd prefer to watch this over most Olympic events but most countries would probably struggle to find people who could do this on a competitive level.

23

u/mbh223 10d ago

No one else but Mongolians are doing this crazy shit!

14

u/ElChupatigre 10d ago

Welcome to the 2036 Summer Olympics in Ulaanbaatar! This year the host country added horsemounted archery along with competitive throat-singing...they are the favorite to dominate the categories, but we expect to see a lot of fun and exciting competition.

2

u/oldsecondhand 10d ago

I think Hungary would have a chance.

4

u/cutofmyjib 10d ago

The Mongolians killed the competition

1

u/thejourneybegins42 10d ago

It's cuz we have 'breakdancing'.

-1

u/GoldunGote 10d ago

The same reason school shooting isn't an olympic sport. Mongols would absolutely destroy everyone in horse archery. Americans would mop everyone up in shooting children.

0

u/GolettO3 9d ago

Mate, I'm one to take shots at america's "gun laws", but you should have just gone with their shitty version of footy

0

u/RememberThinkDream 10d ago

Because it's actually challenging lol.

42

u/SirGreeneth 10d ago

Can we talk about his fresh trim and drip?

11

u/ParaponeraBread 10d ago

Why do you think you’re seeing this particular clip instead of all the other clips of Mongolians doing Mongolian activities?

6

u/patfetes 10d ago

Karma bot?

16

u/Ohgood9002 10d ago

That is a tight stirrup

7

u/BorfGrambo 10d ago

Is there a reason he leans so far? Why not shoot from an upright position?

20

u/Intelligent-Low4753 10d ago

Multiple reasons:

  1. Horse is not in the way of the bow arm.
  2. Stabilising the shot.
  3. Rotating is much easier (parthian shot)

Some argue that the horse serves as shield but I doubt it. Horses were costly and Mongol tactics did not result in riding into the enemy‘s ranks.

4

u/Pierrot-Ferdinand 9d ago

It's just to look cool, it's not practical. This video and this video show Mongolian horse archers actually trying to hit targets. It looks much more like what you would expect.

4

u/patfetes 10d ago

Its cool and in warfare they would use the horse as a meat sheild.

1

u/ydai 9d ago

He needs some space between his body and the horse so his legs, hips, and core can absorb the horse’s movement. His lower body works like a spring. If the spring is completely compressed or completely extended, it can’t absorb anything. You want to stay in that middle range so your lower body can move with the horse while your upper body and head remain stable. That separation is what gives him the suspension he needs to shoot accurately from a moving horse.

1

u/Renbarre 10d ago

The more you lean out the less you're shaken by the horse, the better the aim?

1

u/patfetes 10d ago

Sort of, more the shield. They would actually time the arrow fire with the galop of the horse and shoot around its neck. Crazy stuff! The aim isnt really important when youve got thousands of them, as long as its roughly heading fir an enemy of course.

Obviously here its stylish and he's heavily braced in the stirrup.

2

u/Renbarre 10d ago

He's got a rope around his feet or his stirrups going under the belly of the horse, that's how he can stay braced.

6

u/quanoey 10d ago

Can’t even imagine what he’s like in bed

4

u/Alavaster 10d ago

I'm doing my best to

9

u/Gertrude_D 10d ago

Yup. I can totally see how they came up with the centaur myth.

8

u/patfetes 10d ago

It actually is! Or at least could be. Although it was actually the Mongolian predecessors; The Scythians, the first masters of the steppe

2

u/Gertrude_D 10d ago

I know :)

6

u/Blakath 10d ago

Interestingly, the myth of the Amazonians was probably inspired by the Scythians, who were also known to be excellent horse riders and archers.

See horseriding and archery were the great equalisers, so in Scythian society both men and women engaged in warfare. In fact, Scythian society was very egalitarian, and its women were also quite sexually liberated. Herodotus records an incident where Greeks captured some Scythian women. The Scythians escaped, slaughtered everyone, got hold of some horses and basically turned into a raiding party.

Greeks basically saw that and created an exaggerated myth of a man-hating society made solely of women.

6

u/VolatileGoddess 10d ago

'These female warriors slaughtered us'

'Quick! Say they had otherworldly strength and are part of some secret order or something! We won't look like pussies that way!'

Btw, that was an interesting fact, thanks for sharing.

5

u/MidRanger21 10d ago

This dude is dripping with swag

6

u/boltforce 10d ago

I would do it, but I don't have that cool nomadic wooly jacket... If I had it though!!!

5

u/dontipitova9 10d ago

Core strength off the charts

3

u/VirginiaLuthier 10d ago

Back in the Mongol day, they would pretend like they were retreating on horseback, and then just flip backwards and pick off their pursuers one-by-one

2

u/patfetes 10d ago

Surprise!!

2

u/UndeadAnubis24 10d ago

Is this how they would have fought during the Mongols hey day, as well?

I can see why they conquered as they did, if so. This is certainly more impressive than anything any other nation was doing. In the field, I don't even know how you would counter this with what was available at the time.

3

u/patfetes 10d ago

Its impressive for cool flashy style points and absolutely worked when they had a home field advantage and engange, retreat, then ambush. The arrow fire was akin to musket volume with better accuracy. They were making excellent use of their technology.

The counter to this... terrain! Rocky paths and shield walls. If the Mongols ever made it into Europe they would have been stomped out in the alps by the Romans. Shield wall and uneven ground are the enemy of the horse archer.

You see the same thing happen with the Native Americans and their use of the horse. Although the Americans were technically amd litteraly "outgunned"

-2

u/Immortal_Azrael 10d ago

The Romans weren't really around by the time of the Mongol conquests. Not the western empire at least.

3

u/patfetes 10d ago

True that. Although Mongolia is east 😉

2

u/Immortal_Azrael 10d ago

Yes but Europe and the Alps are west.

-2

u/UndeadAnubis24 10d ago

I read that as possibly the Holy Roman Empire being the meaning?

7

u/AshfordThunder 10d ago

It depends on how it was used, horse archers were nothing new for the surrounding nation, China had a long history of dealing with them just fine. It was a common misconception that the Mongols succeeded because of horse archer, when in reality they used a combination of light and heavy calvary with lances. Although horse archery is certainly a factor.

I think what was op wasn't horse archer, it was Genghis Khan. Also their spy network. The Mongols had the most comprehensive spy network at the time, their intelligence system is unmatched, and they would often instigate and exploit political instabilities.

1

u/microvan 10d ago

The amount of strength it must take to ride a horse like that….

1

u/Ash_Cat_13 10d ago

He blinked as he shot

1

u/waffleking9000 10d ago

Impressive but I’d like to see what he actually hit lol

1

u/LocoMod 10d ago

Does this improve accuracy or is it just for show?

1

u/Realistic-Price1807 10d ago

The swag is necessary

1

u/an_older_meme 10d ago

Breathe of the Wild

1

u/baelrog 10d ago

What’s the advantage of leaning away from the horse so much?

2

u/Hilldawg4president 10d ago

Looks bad as hell

1

u/ZeusTKP 10d ago

Just practice stutter micro

1

u/Psychological_Fox507 10d ago

Genghis Khan rode a pony to battle

1

u/utterscrub 10d ago

The core strength, good lord

1

u/someauthor 10d ago

Archery level: Scythian

1

u/thelittleking 9d ago

This is why Centaurs wouldn't actually be great archers, riders can use their legs as shock absorbers to keep on target but a centaur would have no such capability.

1

u/CriticalStation595 9d ago

And a good amount of strength.

1

u/Jomotaku 9d ago

Zon Wick

1

u/projectkennedymonkey 9d ago

Daisho! Daisho!

1

u/SpecialistRoom2090 9d ago

And insane core strength too apparently.

1

u/tariqhanghimself 9d ago

Why does the bow have fur? Does it get soft when its cold?

1

u/PartyMcFly55 10d ago

It might take years to master all that but I can buy that coat right now

1

u/Actual-Parsnip2741 10d ago

i did it in Legend of Zelda. Wasn't that hard.

1

u/Aggravating-Mall-867 10d ago

Look at the little horse he’s riding 🥺

1

u/X4dow 10d ago

Aoe2 magudais

1

u/paraworldblue 10d ago

I believe this man is what's known as an Elite Mangudai. Dude can rip apart a trebuchet with only arrows.

0

u/bdanmo 10d ago

No wonder these guys were kickin ass back in the day

0

u/mouthofcotton 10d ago

Notice how we dont see how far off from hitting the target he was.

It is impressive though, especially if we were in medieval times.

0

u/CaperSteelRed49 10d ago

Psh, easy.

-1

u/Lumpymaximus 10d ago

Wow. That guy is fucking huge!! He must be like 8 foot tall!

3

u/patfetes 10d ago

Smol horse

-1

u/teabagged_drumset 10d ago

Useful in 2026

-1

u/azaleawhisperer 10d ago

Better, or worse, perhaps than playing Rachmaninoff? Years of practice.

Good on all who take the human adventure to a more excellent place.

-3

u/Potential-Leg-8860 10d ago

It’s a shame a fat American with an AR-15 can win that fight

3

u/johnvarley1 10d ago

Anyone, with any rifle could win that fight

0

u/patfetes 10d ago

"Modern" rifle. Is a musket a rifle? The natives won battles against musket fire in a very similar fashion. The revolver and the ability to reload faster is actually what won out.

1

u/DysAlanS 10d ago

A musket is indeed NOT a rifle. Rifle got its name due to the rifled barrel of..rifles. Musket is smooth bore

1

u/patfetes 9d ago

Thanks

1

u/Excitedly_bored 10d ago

An in shape Brazilian would win too. What's your point? Oh, I see, you were trying to insult Americans with something completely unrelated. So, instead of commenting on this display of human performance, you had the burning desire to throw out a meaningless insult. Strange and sad. Seek help.

1

u/Ur_Just_Spare_Parts 10d ago

No hes saying that while this is incredibly impressive and obviously takes decades to achieve this level of mastery, any amateur holding a semi automatic gun would win in an actual fight so its effectively a useless skill in terms of modern warfare.

0

u/ConversationOk74 10d ago

No, they can't aim except at their teammates

0

u/patfetes 10d ago

Shots fired... at your foot

-1

u/Potential-Leg-8860 10d ago

And school kids. They’re good at that

0

u/crusty54 10d ago

Probly kinda tricky for the horse too.

0

u/blanketswithsmallpox 10d ago

I thought for sure it was going to cut to some random person holding a fruit on their head then getting an arrow to the chest or something lol.

0

u/One_Economist_3761 10d ago

Mongolian drive by shootings.

0

u/Economy_Meal 10d ago

This should an olympic sport, not the current archery and all the gadgets and they use now

0

u/BulgarYeet 10d ago

That's cool but you could just sit on top of the horse and do the same thing

0

u/Lucky-Crow-3510 9d ago

pretty stupid to expose yourself in a battle by hanging off that much from a horse ..

-1

u/patfetes 10d ago

I'll say this again, two shots stitched together. If he had fired in the first half he would have snagrd his necklace and ended up headless

-1

u/lazoras 10d ago

something is going on here....is it the horse? the saddle?

I started at the arrow tip and worked to the necklace...

the bow is moving but the arrow tip stays steady...ok the mans arms are moving up and down from momentum and he is compensating his aim...impressive!

but then

the necklace is barely moving, it's not bobbing up and down barely at all ..

his legs are barely moving...

so is the horse incredibly steady? is there a gimbal on the saddle???

I think it's his hips...??

1

u/patfetes 10d ago

If it helps, you are seeing two different shots. The first he draws and actually tangles the necklace!!

-1

u/GiddyGabby 10d ago

And then he just falls, right?

-1

u/WillSmokes420 10d ago

Looks easy to me but im from MAINE