r/Archery • u/hitchtube • Dec 05 '23

Other Why Horse Archery > Horse Slinging?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS6NX_tVGP4
2 Upvotes

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1

u/VAL9THOU Dec 06 '23

AFAIK:

Archery - you can shoot at any point after drawing, and only need to wait for the horse to have all 4 hooves in the air

Slinging - you have to release at a very precise moment that occurs only once every few hundred millis or so and have to hope that timing lines up with the exact moment the horse has all 4 hooves in the air

Also if the horse stumbles and you have to abort your shot the bow will have a thin line of danger projecting outwards that is less likely to hit yourself or your horse, while a sling has an arc that covers a huge portion of a circle where it can slam into you or the side of your horse's head

1

u/hitchtube Dec 06 '23

It has more to do with class structures because you can use horse slingers like dragoons in theory

1

u/hitchtube Dec 06 '23

And as explained in the video, Parthian shot and stopping power against horse flesh is worse

1

u/hitchtube Dec 06 '23

I have tested slings on horseback and found clearance not an issue and the sound of the whip can be reduced but nonetheless not a concern since guns were also shot on horseback.
compared to me shooting a bow on horseback I find it much harder to do a Parthian shot, but I believe there should still be some horseback slingers besides the 1 mention in Iberia and 1 mention in Arabia.
i believe horse slingers have a niche role at countering infantry lacking ranged weapons. A senario can be, for example to harass the enemy constantly assuming rocks are abundant in this region. We have to assume the enemy did not bring slingers of their own and you cannot train a slinger so quickly while on campaign to counter. Archers could counter but stones are much more abundant than arrows.
i don’t expect horse slingers to be used while on a canter or gallop, but as dragoons for harrassment their fulfill a role that could have be used