History of the Int'l Horse Archery Festival

Mission:
            The organization is set up to promote the heritage of horseback archery and other archery traditions from around the world, to create an educational awareness of this unique equestrian sport and discuss through lectures and workshops the many cultural traditions that have contributed to it.

Background History:
            Back in 1998, archery guests were dining one night after a presentation at the Blanden Memorial Art Museum in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and were discussing the idea of starting a horse archery festival. Jaap and Kay Koppedrayer knew some friends in the world of archery who were professionals and who would come to an organized event if it ever came to be. With some long shot dreams, initial grant funding and community support, the event was planned for September 7-10, 2000 in Fort Dodge, Iowa. What occurred during those first four days of the event was magical and went far beyond the expectations of the organizers.

            Archers came from Mongolia, Japan, China, Hungary, Austria, France, England, Canada and the United States. Representatives from the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma and the Lakota Sioux from South Dakota were also in attendance. It was a wonderful way for these professional horse archers to come together to share their skills of accuracy and cultural traditions under the open Iowa sky. They gathered at the Webster County Fairgrounds for four days basking in warm temperatures, public adoration mixed in with curiosity about this "horse archery thing". Each international participant had costumes traditional to their society as they marched in daily with a flag representing that country. The day was a arrangement of demonstrations of horse archery skills of many levels for the public, incredible pre-training exercises for archery dating back to centuries long ago, informative lectures for all ages, fascinating stories about a Native American culture passed down from generation to generation and a historical display of bows, arrows and accessories with ornate, cultural imagery etched into each piece.