Shooting arrow from galloping horse - they took the sport to Sweden

Jimmie Bergkvist took the archery to Blekinge a few years ago after he, together with a handful of other people, had established the sport in Sweden about ten years earlier. On the farm at home in Kallinge he trains with his partner Christine Karlsson, who he has learned. Ridden archery is growing all the time and it's great elsewhere in the world. Although it is a narrow branch in archery yet in Sweden, they have both competed in the SM this year where Christine Karlsson ended up on the podium. She took a total of silver and is thus second best in Sweden on a ready archery right now.

- Both Jimmie and I cried when I took a gold medal in one of the branches, says Christine Karlsson.

She has not practiced the sport for a long time but has learned quickly, as the SM medal proves. It is not uncommon to compete with a borrowed horse that you are not entirely familiar with, and Christine did during this year's racing season. Sometimes you borrow a horse several competitions and sometimes just one competition.

In addition, the last day at the Swedish Championships was a branch she had only tested a little once before, even though she took silver in that branch.

- That's what I love, that there are constantly new challenges. It never ends, she says.

There is a lot to think about before swinging up in the saddle. It is a dangerous sport where a lot can go wrong if you are not careful. The bow must be kept in the right direction away from the horse and it should be kept right so as not to injure the hand. Jimmie Bergkvist says that concentration is the most difficult thing to shoot a bow from a galloping horse's back.

- You should not focus on shooting and even less on riding. You just have to concentrate on meeting there and then. The other is to sit in the spinal cord, like cycling, he says.

Christine agrees, and thinks it can be hard to catch up when things are going fast.

- Our horse Cadillac is very fast, so it is good to train with him to get up his pace on reloading the next arrow. At the same time, it is important to train the horse to be able to gallop at a slower pace as well, says Christine Karlsson.

In November, they will both travel to Iran to compete in archery. It is their instructor, AliGhoorchian , who has invited the couple to their home country, and there awaits another type of competition and branches.

- It's going to be really exciting. We get to borrow horses down there and it gives new adrenaline when you don't know the horse, they both agree.