This years competition was hosted by the Desert Warriors of the Southwest Mounted Archery club in Scottsdale, Arizona with the event being held there, an area also known as the Rio Verde. The competition featured 35 riders from 8 countries and lasted three days. The countries represented were the USA, Spain, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mongolia, Korea, and Germany. Most of the riders arrived one to two days early for practice and horse selection. It is customary in International competitions that the host club share their horses for the foreign riders. The Desert Warrior’s own Joey Ogburn did a fantastic job matching the horses to the riders.
The three days of competition consisted of two events on each of the first two days and a 9 target cross country course on the last day. Even though this was the first competition hosted by the Desert Warriors the five core members of the club all have International competition experience. In addition to their International experience the Desert Warriors have some of the highest Horse Archer Rankings in the World.
Day one was the Korean two shot followed by the Triple Ambush courses. Both of these courses are run on the 90 m track with a 14 second minimum time. The Korean double shot is a forward shot followed by a back shot spaced just 10 meters apart. On this course the rider may not touch their arrow until passing the starting gate so loading for the first target as well as reloading for the second target happens very quickly. The Desert Warriors own Greg Ogburn won this event with Oh Hyeok from Korea taking second and Maia Denzler from Oregon taking third. The Triple Ambush has three targets with the first target 15 meters from the track, the second target 7 meters from the track, and the third target 9 meters from the track. The rider can go in loaded on the first target but then must draw the next two arrows from the quiver. This event was won by Lukas Novotny from Florida with Kent Wright from Oregon taking second and Oh Hyeok from Korea taking third.
The second day was the Qabac and the Hungarian events. Both of these events are run on the 90 meter course with a 14 second minimum time for the Qabac and 16 second minimum time for the Hungarian. The Qabac course has three targets, a forward shot, then shooting a rubber tipped arrow vertical hitting a cymbal on a 25 foot flag pole, followed by a back shot. The rider was able to hold the arrows in their hand but to make sure they fired the rubber tipped arrow at the Qabac. This event was won by Serena Caballero from Texas, Second place was taken by Lukas Novotny from Florida, followed by Park Beom Nam from Korea in third place. The Hungarian 
course is a three sided target in the center of the course set back 9 meters from the track. The rider can hold all of the arrows in their hand and as many arrows as possible into the three sides within the allowed 16 seconds. This event was won by Lukas Novotny from Florida, second place was taken by Andrea Siedel from Germany, followed by Donat Koeller from Canada.
The final day was the Comanche War Wheel, this course was a 9 target cross country course in the shape of a figure 8. The rider was given 1 minute and 25 seconds to Gallup around the course while shooting all 9 targets. This event was won by Maia Denzler from Oregon, second place was taken by Andrea Siedel from Germany, followed by Tegshee Nachin from Mongolia.
The overall winner and Wild Wild West Champion was Lukas Novotny from Florida, Second place was Greg Ogburn from the Desert Warriors of Scottsdale, and Third place was Andrea Siedel from Germany. As a club the Desert Warriors finished strong with Greg Ogburn in Second place, Club Owner Diana Troyk in Eighth place, and Joey Ogburn in Twelfth place.
If you would like to try Mounted Archery contact the Desert Warriors of the Southwest Mounted Archery Club and get started!
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Story by Greg Ogburn
Photography by Vicky Kramer
