Lockyer Valley woman Stephanie Batterham to represent Australia at the World Horse Archery Championships in Tennessee

A Lockyer Valley resident will represent Australia at the World Horse Archery Championships. Here’s how you could get to see her in action at the Queensland Championships in Laidley.

Steph Batterham in action competing in the sport of horse archery. Photo: Contributed.

Dating back to the 7th Century BC and pioneered by the Assyrian army, horse archery was one of the most formidable forms of ancient warfare.

Taking advantage of wide open battlefields, riders would blitz their enemies with speed and accuracy with forces such as the Mongols and Scythians conquering nations with their use of mounted archers.

Fast forward thousands of years and guns replaced bows and tanks replaced horses, but the traditional warfare is being kept alive through the sport of horse archery.

Now in 2025, Lockyer Valley resident Stephanie Batterham has been selected to represent Australia at the World Horse Archery Championships in Tennessee in September.

“I’ve never competed overseas before, the two other members of the Australian team both went to the 2023 world championships in Mongolia but this will be my first time overseas and certainly my first time at the world championships,” Ms Batterham said.

“I’m excited, but a little bit nervous. You hire a horse and you get a day to get used to it before you compete. It's going to be very exciting to compete against the best in the world.”

Steph Batterham competing in horse archery

Ms Batterham first got involved in the unique sport 10 years ago after moving to Queensland from Melbourne.

“Some of the things I was involved in down there weren’t available and it kind of grew from there,” she said.

“I was into horses first, there are definitely some people that start on the archery side then get into horses but I think most people start on the horse side.

“I love the excitement of going down a run at speed, you have to trust your horse and when you hit the target that’s very exciting as well.”

Steph Batterham horse archery

Ms Batterham said the sport was split into the classes of walk, trot, canter and gallop and was scored through a combination of speed and target points.

“There are three different tracks that have different target configurations, The Raid favours speed because the targets are spread out across the 90m track so you’re never more than 15m from a target, meanwhile The Tower is a central target in the middle of the track and you shoot it as you approach, as you pass and as you retreat from it so the front and back shot could be from 45m,” she said.

“The final track is what they call Hunt Tracks, they are kind of like cross country but instead of jumps you have targets at different distances, ground shots, off side shots, distance shots and animal targets over the length of about two 600-900m tracks or a 1.5km track.

“The faster you go the more speed points you get but you still have to hit the target. The faster you go the harder it becomes to hit the target, because you have less time to load, knock your arrow and draw your bow and shoot the target, you are also passing the target faster and it changes how you aim.”

Ms Batterham said the modern sport drew heavily from its historic roots.

“The tracks are based on warfare. The Raid Track is when they would ride at the face of the enemy and you race along the front of them and then retreat before they had a chance to retaliate meanwhile the Tower was when they were attacking a tower and using the speed of the horse to catch them,” she said.

“There were quite a few cultures that used it for warfare, it was used on the planes, the Scythians and the Mongolians have a big history with horse archery.”

Steph Batterham shoots at a target

Ms Batterham will be in action at the Queensland State Championship and encouraged people to come along.

“It’s a great spectator sport, I haven't met anyone that isn't interested when they see it,” she said.

“It's easy to understand you see them hit the target and see what score they achieved based on how close to the middle it was and you see how fast they go down so it is simple to get the gist of.

“Myself and the two other people competing at worlds will all be competing as well as quite a few local riders.”

The free event will held at the Laidley Showgrounds from May 23-25, 2025.

The Australian Team say they are also seeking sponsorships for the World Championships and encouraged people to reach out.